With love and gratitude (Part 5)

I assume you have read my previous posts in this topic already. Of course you don’t have to, but they give you a background of what I’m going to say here.

Anyway, as I have mentioned before, it’s very interesting that Candy kept referring to Albert as her prince in her letters. She did that so many times that Albert started feeling uncomfortable and asked her to stop doing that.

In her last letter to him in the epilogue of Candy Candy Final Story (CCFS), we read that Albert had told Candy his nickname given by his late sister, “Little Bert”, which Candy gladly used over and over in her letter. She even promised that this would be the last time she called him her prince (although she was apparently very excited that her prince had taken her to Lakewood).

Well, it is likely a secret between them both about Prince on the Hill being her first love (I have explained why in my earlier post “Candy’s first letter to Prince on the Hill”). Granted, it was just an innocent love, probably more like her childhood fantasy. Yet, Prince on the Hill had always been a special memory to her even after all these years, not to mention that she still kept his badge close to her as though she was hoping to see him again one day. Now that she knew that Albert was actually her prince, she openly admitted to him in writing:

“… I feel like I’m floating.
I have never forgotten about the Prince on the Hill.
I don’t think I will be able to sleep tonight… ”

(This picture is from the colored version of the manga in Korean.)

So Candy was very happy to find her prince at last. If she hadn’t had any special feelings for Albert, she would have been terribly mortified. Her “prince” was legally her adoptive father, and on top of all that, he had known her thoroughly well, including all her love histories. Hence, he knew about her secret crush for him (or a teenage version of him).

However, not only she didn’t feel slightly embarrassed, she was ecstatic with the new discovery, even casting a “spell” on Prince on the Hill so that he would come to Pony’s Home for her upcoming birthday.

Throughout the manga we can tell that Candy is not a playgirl. She didn’t flirt around with boys even though she knew that they had fallen for her. Hence, when she wrote to Albert that she wanted her prince to have a holiday such that he could “stay with her a lot and talk with her a lot”, she really meant it with her heart.

Why would Candy want Albert’s company on her birthday? It’s because she treasured him above everything else in the world.