Chapter 9 : The Age of Love and Romance.

Today, as well, beautiful piano music flowed from the piano room of the Ashcombe ducal estate, past the windows.
The sound made the surrounding scenery look even more picturesque.
However, the scenery inside the piano room was not so.
The atmosphere inside was grim because Selene was playing with a determined and serious expression, like a soldier going to war.
The reason she had become so serious was that she had chosen the main piece to be performed at the international competition a few days ago.
It was a lyrical piano piece with the theme of a heartfelt sonnet, ‘The Age of Love and Romance.’
The content of the sonnet that served as the motif was about a man who had lived in poverty, met a woman he loved, and after getting married, worked day and night to make his wife happy, only to discover one day that his wife was sick and dying, and then realizing the love and romance he had forgotten.
As soon as Selene read the sonnet, she felt her breath catch.
She couldn’t understand the man who, while claiming to love her, was so obsessed with making money that he didn’t even notice his wife was getting sick, nor could she understand the woman who didn’t say a word to her husband even as she was dying.
Nevertheless, the reason Selene chose this piece, which she would never understand, was because she thought selecting such a lyrical piece would be advantageous at the international competition.
And perhaps her expressiveness would improve a little if she played a piece filled with such heartfelt emotions.
Hoping for that, she was practicing to memorize the piece, but the more she played, the more she could only think of the man as a fool and the woman as frustrating, and her worries deepened.
She might end up switching to a familiar piece with flashy techniques a month later and regretting the time she had wasted.
“Selene, I’m coming in!”
Just as Selene was frowning so hard that her eyebrows were about to meet, unable to understand the piece, the door burst open without permission along with a cheerful voice.
“This mansion feels like time has stopped. The scenery is the same every time I visit. Selene Ashcombe playing the piano.”
The person who appeared with playful words was Selene’s cousin and Colonel Orlando’s only daughter, Evelyn Ashcombe.
She was a beauty as tall as a man with a stylish bob that fell just below her ears.
Evelyn, as if accustomed to her cousin not stopping her piano playing whether she came or not, picked up a slender pipe lying on the table.
“Borrowing this for a bit?”
As Evelyn put a cigarette in the pipe and was about to light it, Selene gave a firm glance towards the window.
“Over there.”
Selene strictly forbade smoking near the piano.
In fact, not just smoking, but drinking water or eating food was also not allowed.
Because if anything fell, it could contaminate the sacred piano.
“You’re really too much. Telling me to smoke in the corner before even saying hello.”
Evelyn frowned, holding the pipe between her slender fingers.
“Who asked you to come?”
“If I didn’t come, you’d be cooped up like a cleric in a deep forest, oblivious to the outside world, just tapping on the piano keys.”
That would have been paradise for Selene, but knowing it would be difficult to concentrate on the piano with her talkative cousin around, she slowly stopped playing and closed the lid.
“You used to say you liked it when I played the piano.”
“That’s because you look pretty when you play the piano. You’re pretty even when you’re still, but you’re even prettier when you play the piano.”
Evelyn smiled sweetly at Selene.
“In that sense, I like that you play the piano. This is an era where you can’t make a name for yourself in high society with just a title or the halo of your family. What’s important these days is an individuality that will make you shine.”
Selene didn’t play the piano for the individuality to make herself shine, but arguing with Evelyn would only make her own mouth hurt.
So, instead of replying, she sat down in the armchair in the corner.
It felt as if the muscles and joints she hadn’t noticed while playing the piano were screaming belatedly.
Selene massaged various parts of her body, half-listening to Evelyn’s talk.
Meanwhile, Evelyn’s lecture continued.
“My dad is an old-fashioned man and a soldier, so he still preaches about the importance of honor and dignity, but who cares about that these days? Popularity is ultimately honor, and money is dignity. Isn’t that right, Selene?”
“What are you trying to say?”
Selene was only half-listening, but she knew that when Evelyn talked on and on like this, it was because she had a favor to ask.
“You’re quick on the uptake. Actually, I launched a jewelry brand behind my dad’s back. I’ll be the model myself, and it’s already been decided that we’ll be in department stores. So… if you could wear our products…”
“No.”
At the immediate reply, Evelyn’s face fell.
“Why!”
“It’s big and heavy.”
“You haven’t even seen our products yet!”
“It’s obvious just from the necklaces you usually wear.”
Evelyn was very interested in adorning herself.
Not only that, but she seemed to be popularizing things like bobbed hair and large belts in high society, but Selene’s tastes were too different from hers to go along with it.
“Forget it… I wasn’t really expecting much anyway. Just don’t ask me for one of our products later.”
To Selene, who was just massaging her sore shoulder, not caring one way or the other, Evelyn stubbed out her cigarette, sidled up to her, and pulled a nearby chair to sit.
“Selene. Forget the necklace, tell me about the man who’s been coming and going here for a while.”
Just as Theron Cox’s face was almost forgotten, about to be remembered as just a slightly more handsome stone than other stones, Selene stopped massaging her hand when her cousin mentioned him.
“Not for a while, but twice. Both times he left within 30 minutes, and one time it was for a little over 10 minutes.”
“You remember that precisely? Theron Cox must be really handsome.”
‘Why did the fact that it was such a short, insignificant meeting conclude with him being handsome?’
She had invited him to her home precisely because she didn’t want to go to the trouble of going somewhere to meet him.
Selene couldn’t understand.
But Evelyn spoke as if she was even more dumbfounded.
“What’s with that disapproving look, Selene? You have eyes, so you must have known it’s a handsome face, right? He’s also excellent in ability, his voice is gentle, and unlike those scrawny stock market guys, he has a good body. I’ve run into him at parties from time to time, and his chest muscles are so good it looks like his shirt buttons are about to pop!”
“Even if he’s handsome, he’s just a handsome stone…”
At Selene’s indifferent reaction, Evelyn narrowed her eyes.
“That reaction…! Don’t tell me… you didn’t spew venom at a man again, did you?”
“…”
“You did! What were you thinking! You’ll be running into Mr. Cox from time to time. Besides, do you know how small this high society is? If rumors spread here that you’re a tongue-lasher, how are you going to get married!”
Evelyn was worried that her cousin’s reputation, who had just returned from the Kingdom of Velora, would immediately plummet in high society.
“Not many people here know your true personality, so I was going to package you nicely…!”
Selene’s face showed she couldn’t care less.
That was because, contrary to Evelyn’s worries, Selene had no intention of getting married here or living here for the rest of her life.
It was only natural, as her dream was to go to graduate school after winning this international competition, and then travel the world as a pianist.
But if she said that, her overly loving cousin would burst into tears right here and wipe her snot on her clothes, so she decided to postpone the confession of this grand dream.
“Don’t worry. I won’t be seeing him again.”
“What do you mean you won’t…! You’ll run into him at the Saint Sa launching ceremony this weekend.”
Ah.
Selene had forgotten for a moment.
She had intended to devote herself to piano practice without going out unless it was really important, but as Saint Sa was a shipping company where the Ashcombe family owned most of the shares, the attendance of the family members was mandatory.
“If I just see the launching ceremony and come right back…”
“If you do that, you’ll be smearing mud all over grandmother’s face.”
At the mention of her grandmother, Selene became as quiet as a mouse in front of a cat.
Taking that opportunity, Evelyn quickly hammered in the nail.
“Anyway, not this time. Selene Ashcombe. You’d better stay put until the reception on that day, no matter what.”