Chapter 2: ss - 2.1

Stanley’s point of view.

***

Sometimes I still feel as if it is a dream that she is standing on her feet.

Surrounded by her beloved flowers in the bright sunshine, she smiles at me and says, “Stanley,” and I wonder if it is an illusion.

But it is not an illusion.

She had survived the painful illness and the terrible surgery.

No longer did she have to fear that her eyes would never open again as she slept. No more fearing that she would never open her eyes again as she slept, or hear her cry out for her parents or Dana, unable to bear the pain.

That fact still brings me to tears at times.

***

The next few years must have been tumultuous for Miss Florence, but it was the same for me.

After the surgery, Miss Florence recovered at a speed that even the doctors were astonished.

Without the surgery, she wouldn’t have lasted more than a few years, and it was unlikely that she would even be able to get better than she was before the surgery, but she managed to get the doctors to say that she didn’t need any more treatment and that it was a miracle.

Thanks to the surgery, the bomb inside of her will endure for a long, long time, maybe even until the end of her life.

As if to prove the doctor’s words, her limbs, which were thin and slender and seemed to break at the touch of a hand, gradually began to have flesh on them, and her cheeks, which had been pale, began to turn red with emotion.

Her cheeks, which had been pale blue, now had an emotional vermilion tint to them. She was able to participate in the unveiling ceremony in the royal capital at the age of eighteen, when she would normally have been sixteen.

No one could believe that she had not been able to get out of bed until a short while ago, but she had grown so tall and confident. She was a miracle girl who had defeated the god of death, and even though she was surrounded by younger girls, her dignified beauty did not fade in the slightest, and she captivated the men around her.

After returning to her domain, she received a number of offers of marriage, and among them, her father chose a fiancé who accepted even the surgical scars on her body and eagerly proposed marriage to her.

Of course, he did a careful background check to make sure that he was an honest and intelligent man who did not play with women or gamble. Finally, he showed the young lady a picture of the man he was going to marry, and she smiled a little shyly and said he was a wonderful man, and that was the deciding factor.

If there were no abnormalities, the young lady will marry a man in the royal capital next year, before the heat of the summer sets in.

I was sad that I would no longer be able to see her wild words, actions, and blooming, flowery smile so close by, but I was filled with a joy that was tens or hundreds of times greater than that.

She will be happy. How long I had waited for that day.

But a few months later…

Her life and mine would be flipped upside down at the same time, like a glass being knocked over.

It was only two days before my father came to talk to my master about his intention to make me his heir that I found out that she was unable to bear children.

When I sent the report, prepared for an immediate breakdown, My Lady’s fiancé replied in surprise that he would do something about it.

He had been trying to adopt a child from his younger siblings and relatives, but his parents were very much against it. What we ended up receiving was a breakup letter.

I looked down at it, stunned, as he handed it to me.

This man was my last hope. I knew that he, the man who was so in love with My Lady, would make her happy no matter what.

“It was inevitable. In fact, I’m rather surprised you’ve stuck it out this long.”

The Master, who was sitting on the sofa with his forehead resting on his folded hands, looked up and said forcefully.

I gulped a shaky breath. There were still a number of marriage applications left. However, after eliminating the men who did not meet even the minimum requirements, only men older than the master, My Lady’s father, remained.

He would take a wife who was older than his daughter as his future wife. Of course I know what that means. She would be a lapdog.

I remembered the lustful gazes of the old men who came to the house to spy on the young lady. It was horrible to imagine how they would treat her.

I felt my hand tighten as I held the letter. The paper crumpled, and the Mistress, standing beside me, gently took it from my hand.

I looked down at her face in dismay.

“He was your last hope, wasn’t he? I’m sorry too, Stanley.”

She put the letter back in the envelope, her eyes sadly downcast, much like the My Lady’s.

Master let out a breath that seemed to echo in the depths of the earth.

“It’s me, Florence. I love her so much. I can’t help it, she’s so cute. I’d rather keep her than give her a hard time at home.”

He stroked his forehead again and again, seemingly unable to look up.

“Soon my eldest son in the capital will come back here and take my place. You know that, Stanley. My eldest son’s wife is very strong-minded. She won’t be very fond of Florence after my wife and I are gone. You never know what she will do to her… it’s not a world where a woman can live alone…”

He handed the envelope to his wife and tossed it to the top of the pile of letters.

Next to it, letters from men who wished to be her wife laid neatly arranged.

“Please wait…”

I pressed the letter with my hand.

“Two more months, no, one more month is fine. Please give me some time.”

I knew. The conditions would become worse and worse when you are over 20 years old. I understand why he was in such a hurry because he was thinking about her.

And I didn’t have much time left either.

I felt like I was going crazy.

I hadn’t even accepted the reality that I would be carrying the Arliss Trading Company on my back. I would have to leave  the master to whom I had sworn to devote my life, and the engagement of the young lady to whom I had wished for her to be happy was not even close to being over.

I couldn’t believe I had to leave here alone and take over Arliss.

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“…Okay. I’ll give you some people, you can use them.”

“Thank you.”

As I bowed my head, I quickly put together a schedule in my brain.

There must have been a distant relative of the Master’s who had not yet been touched in the South. Many of those who served as branch managers of the Arliss Trading Company were upper class and wealthy, even if they didn’t hold titles. I’ll use my authority as the next president to explore that area as well. One month was not enough time to reach out to the neighboring countries.

Anyway, I looked up and said that it was a race against time. It was the Master who stopped me from doing so.

“You really think a lot about Florence, don’t you?”

He stroked my slightly frayed hair and gave me an exhausted smile.

“It would be best if you were the one to take her.”

I rolled my eyes at his joking words.

We stared at each other for a few moments, and then I slowly shook my head when he said, “I’m just kidding, okay?”

It hadn’t even occurred to me.

If…

What if My Lady married into the House of Arliss?

I looked up and opened my trembling lips.

“With all due respect, My Lord.”

“….Stanley.”

“The House of Arliss will not allow My Lady to live a life of inconvenience. If I were to take over the Arliss business, I would be able to provide your daughter with the same level of medical care that she has been receiving here, should anything happen to her body. I would… know when your daughter would get sick. I would…!”

“Stanley, sit down.”

The Master said in a calm voice and pointed to the couch across from him.

I’d never sat on a guest sofa in this office. I think he wanted to talk to me as the heir of a merchant family.

I bowed my head and sat down shallowly on the sofa.

“I know that you have always intended to devote your life to me without marriage.”

“Yes.”

“But you have come to a turning point in your life. You have the right to take a wife and spend the rest of your life surrounded by your children.”

“It may be an irreplaceable happiness for someone else, but not for me.”

I had been fascinated by her personality, her weaknesses and even more so her strengths, and I had been watching over her.

The nineteen years that I spent with her were just too painful to be balanced by the fact that everything in my life from now on must be happy.

She deserved to be happy.

And if I could make her happy, I will.

“What if…?”

I look up. It was the Mistress who murmured this.

“If only Stanley… you could be there for her.”

“Marlene.”

The Master called her name and she covered her mouth with her hand. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she covered her face and turned over.

The Master stopped her with the palm of his hand as she tried to stand up. Pulling her hand back and holding her shoulders, the Master looked at me once more.

“I’ll give you some time to think about it.”

“…I understand. I will think about it for one night.”

“One month.”

That was too long. In the meantime, My Lady would remain downcast with anxiety and despair. I indicated my dissatisfaction with his expression, but he shook his head.

“Think about it for a month, and if you still don’t change your mind, we’ll talk again. Until then, I’m going to put any other engagements on hold.”

“…Yes, Sir.”

I stood up and bowed deeply once more. I was about to turn on my heel when my back was turned. “Stanley,” said the Master’s voice.

“If you could see us, you would understand. A child is a… a blood-related child… is a lovely, lovely thing.”

“Of course, I know exactly what you mean. I’ve been around them for ten years, and I know how you love and care for your children.”

“We want you to be happy, too, after ten years of service.”

His wife, who was still looking down with her face covered, nodded her head several times. At a loss for words, I put her hands on my chest and bowed my head to express my gratitude.

“Thank you… I’ll think it over for a month.”

I looked up and opened the door.

“Excuse me.”

Through the closed door, I could see the Mistress sobbing on the sofa and the Master gently holding her to his chest.

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