Bitter Truth

“An investment contract from Fairfax Bank.”
“…”
“It’s confirmed, our company’s investment!”
Yes, it was clearly a joyous occasion.
Joyous enough for Lysander to barge into the mansion at sunset when the traffic was heavy, just to show this one piece of paper.
In fact, Theron had also been constantly waiting for this piece of paper to be delivered to him.
But the reason he didn’t feel any particular joy was probably because he had started the construction of the company’s second building last year to receive this investment, and due to the resulting cash shortage, he was unable to buy the Rigus Coast property he had been eyeing.
That’s why he had visited the house of the woman who was mercilessly shaking his mood today and was suffering from a wretchedly miserable feeling.
“What’s with that expression? This is something we’ve been waiting for for so long.”
“What. What’s wrong with my expression?”
“You look like you’re not interested. I heard from your secretary that you went to the ducal estate. Did that woman bully you or something?”
“Bully me?”
Theron frowned.
It was true that he felt completely drained after dealing with that woman, but he couldn’t say that Selene Ashcombe had treated him with malice.
“Or did you really fall for that woman and get upset? As it is, your crazy confession is the talk of the town wherever you go. They say the design of the bouquet you offered to Ashcombe that day is selling like hotcakes in every flower shop.”
In fact, Theron hadn’t even chosen the flowers himself, so he didn’t even remember what kind of flowers were in it.
“Fall for her? It’s all an act, a play.”
“Then why do you look so down after coming from the ducal estate?”
Theron couldn’t confide the reason to Lysander, even if he was his best friend.
It was related to a very shabby, dusty memory that he didn’t even want to recall.
The piano.
Yes, it was a memory solely about the piano.
He had run away from a miserable poverty and the worst parents in his childhood, but at the tender age of 12, there was no place that would take him in.
Then, luckily, he was hired at a thriving pub.
Although he spent most of his day just mopping the floor, the reason he didn’t think it was bad was because of the musician who visited every day at 9 p.m. to play the piano.
The moment that musician placed his hands on the piano keys, the atmosphere of the dreary pub changed.
People danced on the floor, tapping their heels to the jazz tunes, and men and women lost in the music whispered sweet words of love with sweet faces.
For Theron, who had lived in a basement room with no wallpaper and full of cobwebs until then, it was another world.
A perfect world with no poverty or misfortune, only people’s laughter and romance.
Perhaps that’s why, when the pub owner suggested he learn the piano, Theron learned diligently without a second thought, and about half a year later, customers started visiting to hear him play.
Theron was a pretty good player.
He worked hard, but he also had talent, and one day, an employee from a renowned piano manufacturer came and gave him a business card, saying he was interested in sponsoring him.
His heart pounded.
He knew that if he became famous, his father, who was looking for him with bloodshot eyes, or his mother, who would eventually succumb to his father, would try to take him away, but for now, the joy and excitement were greater.
He had achieved this much in just three years, so he had hopes that in 10 years, he would have money and power and be able to put those bad adults in jail.
Theron dreamed of bigger and bigger things.
Starting with this pub, he dreamed of becoming a famous pianist, with many people coming to hear him play, and buying a large grand piano for his home and creating his own piano room.
But not long after, Theron realized in a very cruel way how insignificant that bright, grand dream was in his situation.
Unlike his growing dream, he was still a part-time pianist at a pub, and the fact that he sometimes had to deal with despicable people also hadn’t changed.

“What are you doing, you insolent brat. If an adult gives you money, you should take it!”

Theron vividly remembered the day his dream shattered into pieces.
That day, a drunkard who was making a scene threw a bill on the floor as a tip, and Theron, despite feeling bad, reached for the floor to avoid any more trouble.

“Oops…”

But the man, who was stumbling and completely wasted, accidentally stepped hard on Theron’s hand as he was picking up the bill.
An immense pain shot through him.
Even so, Theron was seized by the anxiety that his finger might be damaged, more than the immediate pain.
He went to the hospital the next day, but his condition was not good.
Although there was nothing visibly wrong, the joints of his finger, crushed by the hard heel of a shoe, had permanent damage.
The more he played the piano, the more the pain grew, so it was a natural course of action to distance himself from the keyboard.
The sharp pain traveled up his finger and spread to his chest.
Even though things went well after that and he walked the path of a businessman, completely unrelated to the piano, and even though there were countless things that made him happy other than the piano, the memory of that time, like a deeply engraved, indelible scarlet letter, remained locked in a corner of his heart with musty dust.
The reason he hadn’t felt good even after seeing the grand piano in the magnificent space today was along the same lines.
Enviously envying a woman who knew nothing, and projecting his own misfortune onto her.
The reason his mood had turned so foul at the piano he could no longer play properly was all the same.
‘Like an idiot.’
In the first place, that grand dream the boy had was so insignificant that it crumbled at the mere stumble of a drunkard.
To Theron, who continued to not answer with an expressionless face, Lysander bent his eyebrows and came closer.
“You’ve been really strange since earlier. Did you really fall for that woman and get upset…”
“Listen carefully. I’ll tell you why I can never fall for that woman.”
As Theron suddenly reacted seriously, Lysander replied dazedly, “Huh? Uh…”
‘He was half-joking, did he get angry at just this?’
“Alright… let’s hear it.”
“I heard a very interesting story when I was on a business trip to Velora.”
“What kind of story…?”
“That Selene Ashcombe’s uncle, Colonel Orlando, bribed the judges.”
It was purely by chance that Theron heard that story.
Playing the piano only brought back dirty old memories, so he had lived without much contact with it after becoming an adult, but his business trip destination happened to be close to the Lumière Auditorium, the largest concert hall.
Even though he didn’t particularly want to go, the staff who was guiding him suggested they go inside for a while, saying he would show him the newly renovated auditorium.
Theron, thinking it was ridiculous to refuse so vehemently, had gone along with it.

“By the way, did you know, Mr. Cox? There’s a competition being held here today, and the candidates for the winner are very strong. There are quite a few from the Empire among them.”
“I suppose so. The competition held in Velora is like a gateway for musicians, isn’t it.”

At Theron’s words, the staff smiled meaningfully.

“But in the end, the winner of this competition will be Selene Ashcombe from the Empire. It’s a settled matter, no matter how much the ants struggle.”
“…What do you mean by that?”

The staff nonchalantly confessed what he had secretly overheard.
A judge from the competition, who had visited the bank to prepare the prize money, had been talking secretly.
Colonel Orlando Ashcombe, who doted on his niece, had already bribed two of the judges.

“Is that for sure?”
“If it weren’t true, why would they have said such a thing? It’s obvious that she asked her uncle, who has a wide network of connections, for help, afraid that the ducal family’s face would be lost.”

At those words, Theron laughed.
It was out of disbelief.
The fact that a woman who received such generous support and practiced without any shortcomings was so afraid of not winning that she asked her uncle to manipulate the victory.
What made that laugh even more hollow was the beautiful piano sound coming from a nearby practice room.
‘Ashes Nocturne.’
It was a piece he also truly loved.
Besides, even at a glance, it was a flawless performance, so he listened to the piano sound for a moment.
But the more he listened to the performance, the more bitter his mouth tasted.
The most wretched piano practice room on the first floor, which was clearly used by commoners.
Not knowing that the winner had already been decided, they were probably practicing until their fingers ached until the very end.
“That person should have won…”
Theron, who was muttering to himself, suddenly turned his head and gave Lysander a sharp look.
“So, I will never fall in love with a hypocritical woman who acts all high and mighty on the outside but does such petty things behind the scenes.”
“…”
“Did you get that?”
Lysander slowly nodded his head.
“Um… well, for the most part…”
He thought it was a part that was so different from her image that it was enough to make one lose affection.
Nevertheless, Lysander slyly expressed a doubt.
“But she’s pretty…”
“Get out.”
A cushion flew at him immediately.