A Bird’s Nest

“Oh, right. Look at me. Nothing else happened, but a letter came from a welcome person after a long time.”
‘A welcome person?’
Selene had to search her narrow circle of acquaintances to see if she had such a person.
“Judging by your expression, you don’t seem to have anyone in mind. Mr. Pembroke would be disappointed to know.”
“Pembroke… Logan?”
“Yes. Mr. Logan Pembroke.”
Selene heard that name after a very long time.
When they were young, they used to be attached at the hip, but it had been a long time since they had seen each other after Logan went to study abroad, and she herself went to study abroad in Velora.
“Why did Logan send a letter?”
Selene knew Logan’s personality well.
Logan, who was as uninterested in others as she was, was not the type to write a letter of greeting just because the year or season had changed.
“Well. Wouldn’t it be written in the letter?”
That was true.
She had asked a foolish question, perhaps because of Theron’s strange attitude when she had seen him off a moment ago.
She just had to check the letter herself.
Selene tore open the outer envelope on the spot and checked the contents of the letter.
The dry handwriting, which represented Logan’s indifferent personality, filled a single sheet of paper.

[To Selene.
It’s been over a year since you returned to the empire, right? And yet, you haven’t sent me a single letter. I believe it’s because you’re crazy about the piano. You’re the type of person who wouldn’t even know if a clown were performing a circus right next to you when you’re engrossed in one thing. So, of course, you must have completely forgotten the fact that I’ll be returning to the empire soon.]

‘Logan is coming back to the country.’
She had completely, utterly forgotten, to the point where she couldn’t even let out a small “ah.”
Looking at the calendar and roughly calculating the years, it seemed that the date of Logan’s return, which he had once mentioned, was approaching.

[Now that this damn study abroad is over, I plan to live as I please for a while. I’ve told my father that firmly, so you should make sure to clear your schedule, Selene. As far as I know, your competition will be over by the time I return, so don’t even think about using the piano as an excuse.
This is also the price for you unilaterally breaking our engagement. So, I hope you feel a sense of responsibility for this matter.]

From Logan Sinclair Pembroke.
Selene, who had read all the way to the name at the end of the letter, remained still.
It was a habit of Logan’s to write his full name at the end of a letter when he was not in a good mood.
Even without that, a displeased atmosphere emanated from this letter itself.
It was true that she had forgotten about Logan’s return, but since he knew her personality better than anyone, he was not the type to be upset over such a trivial thing.
‘And how did he know I was preparing for a competition? There’s no way he would have heard news of me while being in another country.’
Besides that, there was a part she particularly disliked.
As if it weren’t enough to say she had broken the engagement on her own, he was now telling her to feel a sense of responsibility.
“What was written in your friend’s letter that you received after a long time?”
Gwendolyn asked, as if curious about the silent Selene.
“He said I broke the engagement unilaterally.”
“Oh, dear.”
But Selene remembered.
The light conversation they had had on the day they broke off the engagement.

“Logan, you know I’m going to study abroad in Velora soon, right?”
“Yes, Selene.”

It seemed Logan had a slightly resentful look in his eyes, but it wasn’t that important at the time.

“Before that, I want to break the promise of the old-fashioned adults.”
“A promise of the old-fashioned adults…?”
“The engagement. In fact, it was a promise our parents made on their own, so there’s no reason for us to continue it.”
“…”
“So, let’s sort it out before I go to study abroad. You agree, of course, right, Logan? You don’t see me as a woman at all.”
“What if… I wanted to continue the engagement?”

Logan had unexpectedly asked a strange question.
But Selene easily concluded that it was because Logan was too lazy to find a new fiancée.
‘Logan was the type to say that there was no institution as old-fashioned as marriage.’
For that reason, he had said it wouldn’t be bad to just marry me.
So, there was only one answer she could give.

“Why make such an assumption? We’ll remain friends forever.”

Those words had silenced Logan.
The next day, the Grand Ducal family of Pembroke had sent a message saying they agreed to the breakup, so it was a confirmation that Logan had been thinking the same thing.
Nevertheless, the reason he was suddenly shifting the responsibility to her, calling it a unilateral breakup in this letter, was probably because his habit of picking fights over trivial things from his childhood remained.
Selene, having finished her speculation about Logan, folded the letter roughly.
“How can he be so childish even as an adult?”
“You’re probably the only person who would call Mr. Pembroke childish, my lady.”
“He probably doesn’t look that way to the public.”
‘Acting like an adult, acting mature.’
But in Selene’s memory, his image as a mischievous prankster was engraved.
‘Still, it’s a relief that he’s coming back around the time the competition is over.’
Selene planned to focus solely on practice, not seeing even Theron for a while.
Because there was really not much time left until the international competition to make any other excuses.
Although she didn’t know what would happen to her study abroad with the variable of Theron, her desire to win the competition was still there, so Selene planned to do her best until the end.
Selene, who had already erased Logan’s letter from her mind, said to Gwendolyn, “I’ll be in the piano room until evening.”
‘It would be better if you rested until today…’
Despite Gwendolyn’s concern, Selene shook her head and headed to the familiar space.

The weather had become noticeably warmer.
It was probably because spring was coming.
Theron, as if to warm himself in the warm spring sunlight, came out in front of the mansion and silently looked up at the sky.
Chirp, chirp.
A gray bird, diligently carrying food into its nest built on a lamppost, caught his eye.
And that sight reminded him of the news that all the lampposts in this area would be replaced soon.
It was because the mayor had taken a bribe and done a shoddy job during the period when gas lamps were being replaced with electric ones.
Because of that, the lampposts on this street would often go out, and as soon as the new mayor took office, he announced that the lampposts in this area would be rebuilt.
In fact, the original Theron would not have been particularly interested in whether the lampposts were replaced or not.
But the sight of the bird, diligently building its house without knowing that it might be destroyed one day, did not feel like someone else’s business, and Theron felt dejected.
Looking back, the relationship between him and Selene was like that.
Without knowing that he would fall so deeply for Selene, he had dreamed of seducing the daughter of a ducal family and taking half of her fortune.
He had diligently built his relationship with Selene like that bird, without knowing that he would regret it so much.
Even though it might be destroyed tomorrow and he would have to build it anew.
‘It would be a relief if I could build it anew.’
That uncertain future was what frightened Theron the most these days.
The anger of Selene that would come back when he revealed the truth.
More precisely, it wasn’t that he was afraid of an angry Selene, but of her coldness as she would firmly cut off their relationship and turn away.
That’s why Theron had been suffering from nightmares every day lately.
In the past, he would suffer from crappy dreams of Selene asking him to show her sleeping with another woman, but now he dreams of running and running towards Selene’s back, but never being able to reach her.
When he woke up at dawn after having that dream, his body would be drenched in sweat, regardless of the temperature.
Theron’s throat bobbed.
‘It’s my karma.’
‘I should have revealed it in the hospital room that day when I mistakenly thought Selene was burned.’
‘Selene had smiled at me for the first time in a long time and had spoken as if she could understand everything about me.’
But he couldn’t say it.
‘That I had approached you for the ducal family’s fortune. But not anymore.’
The confession that had been on the tip of his tongue had disappeared without a sound at Selene’s answer.

“Let’s think about it the other way around. Is there anything you can never forgive?”
“A person who lies.”

‘Yes, anyone would be like that. Who would like a person who lies?’
But since the other person was Selene Ashcombe, since he liked her so much that he could give her his all, Theron couldn’t bring himself to confess the truth.
‘That I deceived you.’
Although he had cowardly avoided the situation by bringing up his father’s violence, the sight of Selene comforting him, who had lied, had pierced his heart.
The more it did, the deeper Theron was sucked into a deep pit where he couldn’t see an inch ahead.