The day her life changed (Part 7)

As I have mentioned more than once, there is no concrete evidence in Candy Candy Final Story (CCFS) that Candy was blindly (or indefinitely) waiting for Terry to leave Susanna and come back to her. I’ve explained in many posts that Candy had happily moved on in her life, accepting without grudges or jealousy that Terry and Susanna were already a couple. Candy said so herself in her letter to Terry, which she wasn’t going to send to anyone, so there was no reason for her to lie (just like she had honestly expressed her feelings in her diary). In fact, by the time Albert confessed to Candy that he had been the mysterious Scottish teenager playing a bagpipe many years ago, Candy was not in love with Terry anymore. She had, beyond a doubt, changed even though Terry claimed that he hadn’t changed in his ambiguous letter to her.

If you disagree and insist Terry had remained the love of her life, then please explain why Candy was deeply affected when reuniting with her Prince on the Hill, as portrayed by Mizuki in Candy’s first letter to Albert in the CCFS epilogue (CCFS Vol 2, PP. 286-287). It’s a brief letter, but we can tell Candy was in a daze. She wrote that it was like she was still dreaming at the moment (わたしは、まだ夢を見ているようです。), and she could hardly believe Albert or Granduncle William was her prince. She used the expression まさか, which means this can’t be true, impossible, no way, no kidding, etc. I suppose Candy had never associated Albert with her prince (she had only mistaken Anthony for her prince), and she found it incredible that her Prince on the Hill had been by her side all these years! 😉 Overall, her tone was ecstatic as shown in her last few sentences below. 🙂

… まだ驚きと感動で震えています。
…
だから、いっそう夢のような気がするのかもしれません。
体がふわふわと浮いているようです。
丘の上の王子さまのことは、忘れたことはありません。

なんだか今夜はとうてい眠れそうにありません。

To translate the above, Candy wrote that (I have paraphrased the lines):

I’m still trembling with surprise and emotions.
…
For this reason, it feels like it might have been a dream all the more
My body seems floating, like a puffy and fluffy cloud.
About Prince on the Hill, I haven’t forgotten about him.

For some reason, it looks like I won’t possibly be able to sleep tonight.

Candy then ended the letter abruptly, as if she didn’t know how else to describe her great astonishment. Note that the term ふわふわ  is often used to describe soft, feather-like, puffy and fluffy objects, like soft pillows, clouds, etc.  Here it describes the way her body was floating. 🙂 😛

Come to think of it, if Terry still completely occupied Candy’s mind, she wouldn’t have written such a letter to Albert. Since she could always confide in Albert, who had not only read her diary (see More than words (Part 1)) but was also fully aware of her feelings for Terry, Candy could simply explain to Albert that Prince on the Hill was a fantasy in her childhood. Now she had grown up; Terry was her true love and always would be, etc., etc. I’m sure Albert would understand and respect her, so he would never bring up this topic again to make her feel uncomfortable.

Likewise, if Candy had no romantic feelings for Albert, that he was merely her dear big brother or legal guardian, then she would have been terribly embarrassed and shocked to know the truth. She might even shun Albert for some time until he got the hint that she would never see him as a love interest. Do you grasp what I mean? 🙄

Yet, precisely the opposite had taken place. Candy wrote a short letter to Albert almost right away and claimed that she hadn’t forgotten her Prince on the Hill. What’s more, the fact that he had come all the way to Pony’s Hill, in spite of his frantic schedule, just to confess to her in a perfect setting and weather made her unable to fall asleep that night. Most of us have experienced at least one night of sleeplessness. There are different reasons why we can’t fall asleep as usual, like being too excited, nervous, or upset. Whatever the cause, it shouldn’t happen too frequently (unless you unfortunately suffer from insomnia), and you probably remember when was the last time you were up all night and why. 😛 😉 I hope it was because you were too happy or excited about someone or something, like an upcoming trip or a significant event in life (such as a graduation or a best friend’s wedding). Sometimes this boils down to our impatience to see what will take place in our lives. For example, a woman might be unable to sleep, counting down the number of days her husband will return home from war. Or a young man can’t sleep because he just starts a relationship with his dream girl.

I think this is the case for Candy. To me, this short letter is her love letter, implying that she was more than elated to know that Albert was none other than her first innocent love, Prince on the Hill. ❤❤ So it was because of him and nothing else that would likely keep her awake that night. 😉 Just put yourself in Candy’s shoes, and you’ll probably understand why. 😉

Not only that, after getting a prompt reply from Albert, Candy penned a much longer letter back to her prince, describing his appearance, his confession, her emotions and reactions, and so on. The whole incident, from his sudden visit to his departure with George, might have lasted at most thirty minutes or so? Roughly two weeks or more had elapsed since then, right? It’s unclear how long ago the important confession had happened, but I have a feeling Candy must have relived that special half an hour again and again. 😛 That’s why she could remember all the details very well. Besides, at the end of this letter, Candy openly demanded Albert to come on her birthday to spend lots of time with her and talk to her a lot. She was desperate and wanted him to come, so much so that she cast a spell on her Prince on the Hill (CCFS Vol 2, P. 295).

… 丘の王子さまに魔法をかけます!  (cast a spell on Prince on the Hill!)
…
… 会いにやって来る! (come to see the girl!)
…
… その子とたくさん一緒にいて、たくさん話をするために! (in order to spend lots of time with the girl, to talk to her a lot!)
…

For those who haven’t read CCFS, you might not know that Candy used plenty of exclamation marks (almost for every sentence starting with the spell) without feeling a bit awkward, like this was the most natural thing for her to make such a bold request for Albert to take a holiday for her birthday. Don’t you think she behaved like he was already her boyfriend? That it was his fault not being able to spend that special day with her, alone? 😆 Not to mention that Candy was acting like herself again, a playful and cheerful girl that we are familiar with. For sure Albert was not a father figure to her (because back in that era fathers were stricter and more reticent compared to fathers nowadays).

Albert’s last letter to Candy in the epilogue was particularly sentimental, which reminds me of the early days when he had been amnesiac, and I have already discussed how grateful he was to Candy for what she had done to him in Her happiness. Candy also expressed that she was the one who couldn’t thank him enough in her last reply to him after the day trip to Lakewood. In other words, they both felt indebted to each other, and the gratitude was mutual between the two of them.

Have you heard of the following?

“Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.” ~ Seneca

Don’t you find their relationship pure and beautiful? It’s only natural that they had developed special feelings for each other over time. Sigh… 🙂

Talking about this last letter from Candy to Albert, near the end she wrote that she wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight, again. This implies that last time after writing that first letter to her Prince on the Hill, Candy hadn’t slept a wink that night. I guess her head had been full of Albert or his teenage image. 😆 Yet, before ending this lengthy letter with love and gratitude, Candy wished Little Bert the exceptionally marvelous dream (CCFS Vol 2, P. 322): とびきりすばらしい夢がみられますように。

Do you know that this very last sentence of wishing Little Bert sweet dreams means a lot? First, Candy addressed Albert as Little Bert again, a cute nickname that only she could use. What a privilege and I’m sure Candy knew it! 🙂 Secondly, she wanted Albert to know that she cared about him, even when he was sleeping. For your interests, here are some good night quotes for your special someone in life. 😉

Therefore, other than ending this letter with love, to me this is yet another love letter from Candy to Albert. Their correspondence displayed in the epilogue were filled with emotions and feelings such as love, affection and gratitude. If you still insist they were only friends, or that Albert was merely Candy’s brother or adoptive father, I urge you to think again. Come on, she couldn’t sleep because of him and she was honest with him about that. If you were Albert, how would you feel reading this from Candy? 🙄

From Korean Manga version

Last but not the least, the ending of the epilogue was basically the description of the end of the manga in words. Anohito said something (in a gentle voice), smiling at Candy (she loved his smile so much), and she reacted by (CCFS Vol 2, P. 331):

「おかえりなさい!」
わたしはこの言葉が言える幸せに声をつまらせながら椅子から立ち上がると、あのひとが広げた腕の中に飛びこんでいった。

The following is my attempt to directly translate the above,

“Welcome back home!” 
Being able to say these words, my voice choked with happiness while I got up from the chair, running into Anohito’s outstretched arms.

The verb 飛びこむ has meanings like plunge into, leap, jump, dash, etc. It implies eagerness and speed.

In CCFS, who was consistently gentle? Whose smile Candy talked about time after time? 🙂

I think Mizuki used the entire epilogue to show us that Candy and Albert had fallen in love with each other. The ending of the epilogue was indirectly pointing out that Anohito was Prince on the Hill, which matched perfectly with the ending of the prologue. The day Candy’s life changed significantly when Annie was adopted because Candy met her prince.

It was a full circle indeed. 😀

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