Most Candy Candy fans might agree with me that Candy, the main heroine, was a strong-willed girl. She wouldn’t say yes just to appease anyone. For example, Neil asked her out twice, once in the hospital and once on the street. Candy disliked him so much that she flatly rejected him without giving him any false hope. However, when Albert asked her out, she gladly accepted his invitation. In the manga, right after Candy refused Neil’s offer, Albert appeared with a very old car. She happily got on his car as though it didn’t matter where he was going to take her.
In Candy Candy Final Story (CCFS), Albert made another surprise visit at Pony’s Home one day, taking Candy all the way to Lakewood; the details of this day trip were described in two lengthy letters, one to her Prince on the Hill and one to Anthony in her head (see The day her life changed (Part 4)). Note that these two letters were the last ones shown in CCFS epilogue, and they were both about Albert. ❤ ❤ ❤
Soon after Candy described the wildflowers on their way to Lakewood, she brought up the ride when she had been thirteen years old, leaving Pony’s Home to be a playmate for two spoiled kids. Feeling disappointed that nobody had adopted her, she had been excited for the new change in her life nevertheless. Then immediately she added (CCFS Vol 2, P. 318):
それをまさか、今、丘の上の王子さまと (ごめんなさい ! 最後です)
そして、ウィリアム大おじさまと (これも最後 ! )ーーー。
わたしがどんなに胸がいっぱいだったか、わかるでしょう、ちっちゃなバト !?
In this context, the bolded words, まさか, means incredible, unbelievable, no way, etc. Candy was essentially saying (I have paraphrased the sentences):
Incredible! Now, (I am) with Prince on the Hill (I’m sorry! This is the last time)
And, (I am) with Granduncle William (This is also the last time!) —-
Cutie Bert, you understand, do you, how emotionally overwhelmed I was!?
Do you see that Candy wrote three stages of Albert’s roles in her life? First, he had been her Prince on the Hill. Then he had become Granduncle William, and finally he was her Cutie Bert. The previous stages were in the past, because she now promised him she wouldn’t call him with those names again. 🙂
Also, at first glance, you would think Candy was comparing two different times, when she had been a young teenage girl and now a grown-up. The first time she had gone with Stewart the chauffeur, and this time she had gone to Lakewood with Albert.
However, did you realize that Candy didn’t use past tense? In Japanese, the verb was omitted, but she used “now”, so definitely she meant to use present tense. 😃
Besides, you see the “line” after she mentioned Granduncle William? It’s as though she couldn’t express her thoughts, but she expected Albert would know her feelings and what she was trying to say. Thus, I suppose she wasn’t talking about going with him for the trip. 😉 In other words, Candy was saying she was with Cutie Bert now.
So… does it mean they were in a relationship? 🙄 Even if not yet, I bet Candy was aware that Albert was the only one who understood her more than any other. ❤💓 In CCFS, Candy in her 30s recalled that she could tell Albert everything, including things she couldn’t tell Annie. Sigh…
Have you ever wondered why Candy was emotionally overwhelmed during the ride to Lakewood? 😕 Remember, being adopted or not should no longer bother Candy as an adult (after all, she’d rather live in the orphanage).
It’s true that the ride many years ago had been the beginning of a change in her fate. Due to the hardships under the Lagans, little Candy had run into the vagabond Albert, the man who had completely changed her life by adopting her. Since then, Candy hadn’t forgotten about the guy who looked like a pirate, and because of that encounter, she had decided to take care of him when he had lost everything including his memory.
And now, this same man was willing to confess to her that he was her Prince on the Hill. What’s more, he deeply cared about her happiness. He said so himself in his letter to her before this trip, telling her that he couldn’t thank her enough.
I’ll continue Part 2 by going back to Candy’s letter to Vincent Brown. Yes, I have more to say regarding this letter even though I have talked about it in my recent posts already. 😀 🙂