First of all, I really enjoy reading your comments regarding my previous post. Thank you CKati, QuevivaCandy, Reeka, Antlay, and Agnès, for your interesting thoughts and insights. QuevivaCandy helped by providing more spoilers to us, and Antlay actually raised a good point — Albert himself had been misjudged by others merely based on his casual appearance. No one had ever suspected that he was one of the wealthiest men in the country because he looked so much like a homeless or a vagabond. Also, Agnès pointed out that Albert even got kicked out of his own premises because the guard assumed he was an intruder. LOL… Therefore, Albert could use himself as an irrefutable example to explain why people should not ‘judge a book by its cover’! 🙂
Anyway, I’m going to describe what Candy said about Albert then and now in Candy Candy Final Story (CCFS). From the spoilers, Candy wrote,
… Albert was just Albert. It wasn’t something I had to wonder about.
His presence gave me a marvellous feeling of security.
Now I can understand the meaning of the bond that tied us with invisible threads.
As I have told some of you already, I can read some Japanese, though very slowly and not without effort. Nonetheless, I must say I enjoy reading CCFS excerpts, which helps improving my Japanese reading skills! Without further ado, let me show you the second last sentence in Japanese first:
アルバートさんが、存在しているだけで不思議な安心感に包まれた。
Basically, the Candy Candy fan who has kindly given us the spoilers above has done a good job translating this sentence, but now that I can read the original text in Japanese, I’d like to share with you my interpretation. Hence, I will rewrite the line using my own words, so what Candy said was,
Albert-san, by simply being present, I was wrapped in a marvelous sense of security.
Guess what? With these words in mind, this manga scene popped up in my head, which occurred when Candy had just discovered Albert’s true identity. With tears streaming down her cheeks, she remembered his proposal to share her anguish and sadness from now on (the famous sandwich scene) and his words after that, “will you promise me?”. Then she continued her inner thoughts about him (I’m translating word for word here) as below:
Albert-san… warmly wrapped me, a tender (gentle) person… at any given time, that surely unchanged…
To rephrase it, Candy was thinking, “Albert-san, a tender person, embraced me in his warmth (or warm hug). No matter when, this would surely remain unchanged.”
I don’t think Candy referred only to the touching moment of the sandwich sharing proposal. Very likely, she meant Albert being very tender to her in general; it was like she was engulfed in his warmth always, and he would never change.
Such beautiful words!! Don’t you think? 😀
Back to Candy’s description of Albert in CCFS, note that she said “just his presence” (存在している). The phrase だけで is typically used to mean “just this method/location/person will be necessary to accomplish whatever the task”.
The adjective Candy used to depict her feeling, 不思議, actually has many meanings, including wonderful, mysterious, marvelous, curious, strange, weird. In some situations, it gives a hint that something is inexplicable. This link shows you a list of examples of what this word can mean under different contexts.
Last but not the least, the phrase 安心感に包まれた is commonly used (please click the links for more examples) when people express emotional safety and security. It essentially means ‘being wrapped in a sense of security’, which conveys freedom from anxiety or fear.
To conclude, Albert’s sole presence was sufficient to make Candy feel wonderfully safe, or she felt inexplicably secure in his presence alone, as though nothing could harm her so long as she was with him.
Wow, isn’t that something? No wonder she felt so lost after he had vanished in her life later. Poor Candy… Remember, that happened before she realized that he was actually the mighty Uncle William or her handsome Prince on the Hill!!! Sigh… 😉
Since this post has covered a lot already, I will talk about the invisible thread next. Thanks for being patient! 🙂 I’d like to hear from you, so please leave your comments below. Have a nice weekend!