Why angry, for so long?
In the manga, the moment Candy realized who Albert really was, she was dumbfounded beyond words. While she was trying to register the truth, not only she was filled with mixed emotions, but tears gushed out of her eyes incessantly.
Those could be tears of joy of reuniting with Albert after months of longing to see him or meeting her mysterious but generous benefactor at long last. At the same time, I wonder if she was terribly confused, or even upset, that the man she had been pining for so long turned out to be the kind ‘old’ man who had adopted her.
Uncle William and Candy colored by Milady Andrew
Nonetheless, she didn’t blame him at all for keeping their legal relationship a secret all these years. She did ask why, but he only apologized without giving her any explanation (not until later in the old Candy Candy novel). Even then, she simply accepted the fact and even decided to express her most sincere gratitude to him. Yet, her genuine, fond regard embarrassed him so much that he had to interrupt her speech.
In the anime, Candy wasn’t as emotional. Yes, she was surprised, but not so astonished. Albert did give Candy some explanation why he had to keep his identity a secret all this time, and Candy asked no more question. Neither of them appeared flabbergasted or emotional, which was kind of odd in my opinion.
What about Candy Candy Final Story (CCFS)? Below was Candy’s recollections for the equivalent scene (in two different parts of CCFS):
Many things which give me a great surprise may happen in the rest of my life but probably this ”The most surprising event in my life number one” will stay unchallenged.
I finally could meet Granduncle William in Lakewood …!
William A. Ardray was,
he’s … Albert.
Based on the spoilers, Candy was also shocked but didn’t mention anything about shedding tears or being emotional. She recalled being frustrated, and she even blamed Albert for worrying her. Interestingly, Albert didn’t take this seriously and acted a bit inconsiderate by teasing her back.
After I met Albert again and when all kinds of mysteries were solved at a burst, I blamed him frustrated, “You’re so…, I worried so much and I felt I’ve suddenly got old!”
Albert laughed, however, straightened his face, “It suits me if you look a little more grown-up rather than people think you’re my sister …” he said and winked teasingly.
Albert is pretty good at dodging the subject.
Anyway, I got the impression that both Candy and Albert seemed out of character in this particular scene in CCFS.
Throughout the manga, Candy and Albert had always been very caring to each other. Their friendship had grown stronger yet over time. Not only that, she was grateful to him for helping her again and again in the past, and she liked him a lot as though he was her real brother. Similarly, he was always there for her whenever she was down and needed a shoulder to cry on.
However, once Candy knew Albert’s true identity, she was angry, and not for a day or two. In fact, her anger or frustration lasted for many months. Remember I talked about the grand opening of a resort in Miami in When did Candy get married?? After going there with Albert and George, George came down with a flu, and Candy wrote a letter to George. In that letter, she wrote the followings:
— All of us had believed that Granduncle was a feeble old man!
— Now that the mystery was solved I call him intentionally “Graaandpa!” as if he were an old man – he’s not happy about it, saying “Forgive me now, pleeease”.
Well, don’t you think I can pay him back a little bit!?
This sounds like Candy had often been doing that to Albert as a way to “greet” him, and she hadn’t stopped being kind of childish on purpose.
This is almost like a completely different Candy whom we are familiar with, don’t you think? After all, she was indebted with everything he had done for her so far, and before meeting him in person, she had been immensely grateful to an imaginary old man. Remember how much she had yearned to pay back his kindness when she had mistaken old William McGregor for her “Uncle William”?
How long ago had Candy found out that Albert was her legal guardian? We don’t know for sure. As described in Living together… how long?, she had been living with him for two years or longer (still living together around April 1917), and this grand opening event happened after the great war was over (some time after November 1918). Some time in between these two dates, Candy had discovered Albert in Lakewood.
So what had happened to Candy?
After Albert had revealed to her that he was her prince, she wrote a brief letter right afterwards. In his reply to that letter, he wrote,
I don’t blame you for getting angry.
…
That’s why I bear patiently even if you formally call me “Graaanduncle!” and sometimes treat me like an old person.
Does it mean Candy had been acting “bitter” toward Albert until that day? That’s a bit too long, or is it? 😛
Note that in other places in CCFS, when Candy was writing about “Granduncle William” to others, she had high respect for him, but when she meant “Albert”, her tone changed. For example, in her unsent letter to Terry, she wrote,
Granduncle William was — Brace yourself! Albert-san whom you also know!
Can you believe! It’s terrible, isn’t it?
…
I’m glad he didn’t want to be an actor. Brilliant poker face! He could have become your biggest rival.
No doubt Candy had conflicting feelings for Albert. On one hand, she owed him her life and well-being. On the other hand, she had a deep affection towards him, not as a family member though. As a matter of fact, she knew he had a special place in her heart. In CCFS, Candy recalled in her own words,
Brother and sister.
Albert and I had been living together pretending so.
Is it like this if I live with my family?
No, it may have been slightly different from family.
I don’t know how to describe it but somewhere inside me, I knew that Albert was special.
What kind of thoughts does Albert have about us …
Argh, he’s driving me crazy …
So he was driving her crazy? 😆
Is that why she didn’t know how exactly she should behave whenever she was with her “guardian”? That she was flustered by their legal relationship, and she didn’t know how to treat him? So she resorted to teasing him whenever they were alone?
In a sense, Mizuki was loud and clear that Candy was not in the least afraid of Albert, and she unconsciously asserted that he was her equal by her behavior. In other words, she simply couldn’t regard him as her “benefactor” or “adoptive father’. Even after many months, she still couldn’t change her mindset or adjust her attitude.
In light of all this, one day, Albert finally decided to confess his last secret to Candy. Imagine her response! 🙄 If she had been perplexed by their legal relationship for such a long time, she would have been more dumbstruck after knowing that Albert was actually her Prince on the Hill.
She wrote this to him after his reply to her letter after the revelation:
The person called William Albert Ardray never stops surprising me!
My weak heart won’t stand any more!
They had a very complicated relationship indeed. Don’t you think? 😉
Note: the above manga scene colored by Milady Andrew was downloaded from Candy & Albert World.
Ms puddle, I have a very irrelevant question: did Albert ever mention the nurse who resembled Candy when he was in Africa in CCFS? If so could you tell us more? Also Happy New Year! 😀
-N
Hi there! Happy new year!!
Good question, but I don’t know the answer. I don’t recall reading that from the spoilers. Why? 😉
Peut-être que Candy était en colère car si effectivement elle avait des sentiments pour Albert, il ne lui a pas fait part tout de suite qu’il était l’oncle William. Elle savait qu’il avait retrouvé la mémoire, mais il ne lui a rien dit, il devait savoir qu’elle s’ était rendue à Rockstown pour le chercher. Encore une fois elle a dû réalisée que c’était un amour impossible. Mais pourquoi Albert lui révèle qu’il est son Prince sachant que c’était son premier amour ? Aurait-elle fait le lien entre eux à un moment donné ou Albert voulait simplement lui faire comprendre qu’il était et qu’il voulait qu’elle le considère comme étant Albert et non comme un membre de sa famille…c’est sûr qu’il était amoureux d’elle sinon il aurait été extrêmement gêné de lui faire cette révélation.
Agree with you totally, Antlay! Indeed I believe they both had feelings for each other but their relationship was the major obstacle other than Terry. It was impossible for Candy to “speak up” her feelings to her “adoptive father”, or that she was confused and was uncertain about Albert’s perspective.
The fact that Albert confessed to her that he was Prince on the Hill speaks volumes. Why had he waited though? I’ll talk more in a post. 🙂
Es la primera vez que escribo, ante todo quiero felicitarle y agradecerle que comparta sus ideas, dibujos y conocimiento sobre la obra de Mizuki; sobre todo para los seguidores de habla española que no tenemos acceso a ninguna de las dos versiones de las novela directa de Mizuki y que solo conocemos esta hermosa obra a través del manga. Desde mi particular punto de vista cunando Mizuki expresa este intercambio de ideas entre Albert y Candy no solamente quiere exponer los estados de animo de ellos sino también sus posibles miedos internos en relación a los sentimientos del otro. En concreto Albert considera que Candy esta enojada y en realidad al expresarse así manifiesta un temor interno de que ella mantenga un sentimiento de resentimiento para él y a la vez Candy expresaba cierta molestia en la forma burlona de dirigirse a Albert no por guardar enojo o un resentimiento hacia él, más bien por un temor interno de de que los sentimientos de Albert no coincidan con los de ella o que por las circunstancias de los acontecimientos presentados sus sentimientos tuvieran que tomar otro rumbo.
Thank you for your long comment, Vera García! Nice to meet you here.
Yes, I also agree with you, and that they both felt something for each other but unsure how to respond to those feelings because of their legal relationship. I will actually talk a bit more along this line in my next post. Thanks again for writing a comment! 🙂
Hi Ms Puddle! 🙂
I really really have much in mind to talk to you regarding this topic, but it’s midnight here and actually I was about to sleep when I checked this post. Mmm so it’s not good to keep your phone near you when you sleep. 🙂
For now I just want to tell you that I never think Candy was really angry to Albert, though. If you mean angry in literal meaning. Angry that she would avoid Albert because she’s hurt by him keeping this huge secret. No.
Frustrated, maybe. But more to a reason that she had realised she might fall in love with him. Albert being a Granduncle made Candy think that Albert’s affection to her after all just due to his responsibilty as a benefactor. She might be confused, a little bit of irritated by Albert because if he had been honest from the very first time, (she thought) she wouldn’t let her feeling grow.
But reality bites. She realised none to blame, as Albert explained he had his own reason for keeping it secret. And it’s not only her that Albert kept this secret from. To the whole world actually, beside Aunt Elroy and George.
But you know, sometime we, especially women/girls, we’d like to keep mentioning our man’s fault just because we wanted to get attention from them. Or just because we wanted to know their reaction. I think that’s what candy actually did.
About part of some scenes in CCFS that you thought Candy and Albert were a bit out of character, I assume Mizuki deliberately did it because she wanted to give us that feeling of their growing affection. I believe Candy was always forever grateful to Uncle William as her benefactor, but clearly Mizuki didn’t want us to think that Candy was treating Albert as her adopted father/tutor/benefactor. So was Albert to her.
That’s why I never accepted those who said Candy would never love Albert because she called him Uncle William several times in CCFS. Apparently these people ignored the whole scenes and they just read what they wanted to read.
Hi there, Reeka!
My honor indeed that you were willing to read my long post just before bed. 😉 Not a good idea to keep your phone nearby before bedtime? I’m not so sure 😛
I used ‘angry’ because that was the word Albert used when writing to Candy. Of course I didn’t mean that she hated him for many months. As you said, it was more like Candy had been feeling flustered / upset or frustrated.
Like you, I believe that Candy was masking her feelings for Albert behind her anger or frustration. At the same time, Mizuki showed that her friendship with Albert was much stronger than their adoptive relationship, so much so that she could act like a spoiled ‘girlfriend’ to upset him. I’ll talk more in next post.
Yup, some people just read what they want and ignore the context intentionally. Sigh.
I think she had every reason to stay angry with him for a longer period than is usual for her. After all, he was the most important person in her life. Not only as Albert, but also as Uncle William. If someone that important to you keeps this huge secret from you which he/she knows affects you, it will undoubtedly be quite upsetting. Or so I imagine.
That’s very true, CKati, but I have other things in mind that I will continue next post. 🙂
I love this part. <3 <3
Thank you Olenka for reading!! :* <3