The Trader’s Elation

I stood outside the restaurant and watched Lady Mary leave.

Sir Orsein, the captain of the royal guard, carried Lady Mary away in his arms. She looked over his shoulder at me before they turned the corner. When I saw that, the corners of my lips arched upward into a smile. It was as if she had wanted to stay and talk some more. I loved her stunned reaction when I waved her goodbye.

I shouldn’t act so familiar with the princess of my country, I thought. I was a bit surprised by my own actions, but Lady Mary didn’t remonstrate with me; she just bashfully gave a little wave of her own hand in reply.

Oh, what an adorable sight. I used my right hand to obscure my complacent grin. The name Julius zu Eigel was well-known in this city, and I didn’t want my mercantile reputation to be affected by the soppy look I had on my face at the present moment.

I fled back into the restaurant, finding a woman waiting for me with her arms crossed. Her ice-cold glare pierced me through.

“I didn’t think you were capable of smiling so happily,” Lady Bianca von Diebolt quipped through a sigh. “What a change from that shady smirk you have plastered on your face twenty-four seven.” I realized how cheerful I’d looked, which made it impossible for me to argue against her insult.

I smiled wryly as I rubbed at my chin. “Do I look so strange?”

“Oh yeah. If you were capable of smiling like that at a woman your own age, you’d have found a wife long ago.”

And you would’ve found a husband, I thought, but I kept that to myself. We didn’t have a long history together, but I had learned how to avoid rousing her temper.

“It grieves me to hear you say that,” I replied. “After all, you’re the one who rejected our engagement.”

“You’re hung up on that? We both knew at first glance that we weren’t a match.”

“No, you made the right choice.” I shrugged, and a smug smile appeared on Lady Bianca’s beautiful face.

My first encounter with Lady Bianca had taken place almost a year ago. I’d met with her at the behest of a meddling great-aunt of mine. Our introduction had been to test our suitability for each other, although both of us had more or less been tricked and were unaware of the plan.

As a second son, I had no claims to titles or inheritance, but I was over thirty now, and my bachelorhood had started to reflect poorly on my family. At seventeen, Lady Bianca was much younger than I, but most noblewomen ended up married in their midteens.

To put it bluntly, our meeting had been a ploy to rid our respective families of their leftovers.

However, the hopes of my engagement to Lady Bianca were dashed within minutes of our meeting, to the despair of our families. After everyone else had shuffled off and we were left alone together, she’d scanned me intently, looking me up and down, before declaring, “It’ll never happen.”

I’d been surprised by how calm I’d felt. If anything, I’d been struck by her audaciousness. She hadn’t held back, despite the difference in our families’ ranks —my father was a marquis, and hers was only a viscount.

I’d been intrigued. She was a different kind of woman from the ones I usually kept company with. However, I knew that I wouldn’t have wanted her as a lover or a wife. Though her beauty was one in a million, I couldn’t view her as a woman. She was more of a man than most men I knew.

I’d put an end to our prospective engagement with a quiet word to my great-aunt, so as to keep the matter private. Lady Bianca and I had parted amicably, without leaving a bad taste in our mouths, but against all odds, the new friendship between my nephew and her younger brother had brought us back together.

“I think it was the right call too,” she continued. “I wouldn’t want to be caught dead with a fiancé who bends over backward for such a tiny little girl.”

I raised both hands slightly in a gesture of surrender. “Now, now... To stand up for myself, I don’t have any improper feelings toward her.”

Lady Bianca immediately reacted with a glare and an indignant retort. “Well, duh. I would never let you leer at that little angel.”

“She seems to have caught your fancy,” I remarked.

“Oh, yes! Meeting that cutie-pie was the best thing that’s ever happened to me. It’s the first time I’ve ever felt glad to know you.”

Doe-eyed bliss and a blush replaced Lady Bianca’s angry scowl. I knew that this teenaged friend of mine had a soft spot for girls—and younger girls in particular—but I’d never seen her so excited.

“Says the woman who was trying to use my connections to get on board a ship.”

“But that’s just fair. You and your nephew whispered in my brother’s ear and got him to leave the country, so it’s the least you could do.”

Her fierce look made me regret my naivete; I should’ve kept my mouth shut. Lady Bianca didn’t care about men, but the sole exception was her little brother. She doted on him and cherished him like he was the most precious thing in the world. Although they were born only a year apart, their relationship was more akin to mother and son.

However, her brother had a tendency to make bold decisions despite his generally timid disposition and despite the wishes of his overprotective sister: he’d first ignored his sister’s objections and had begun priestly training, then he’d become an apprentice sorcerer, and now he’d left for a foreign country.

“What do you hope to achieve by chasing after him?” I asked. “He’s begun to live his own life.”

Lady Bianca fell silent, looking sour, and her face made it clear that she recognized and acknowledged my point. I knew that she didn’t actually think that I’d tempted her brother into leaving. She was simply at a loss; the brother whom she’d always led around by the hand had suddenly become independent.

“I wanna find out what changed him,” she stated.

What changed the once-reclusive Michael?

How would Lady Bianca react if she knew that the greatest cause of his change was the girl she’d been entranced by a moment ago?

“You’re not planning to bring him back, are you?” I asked.

“I’ll decide once I talk to him.”

“Once a person’s changed, it’s no easy task to change them back.”

I smiled while picturing her brother. His face had still looked as soft as before, but in his eyes had burned a passion that marked him as a man who’d made up his mind. He wouldn’t bend easily, not even for his beloved sister.

Lady Bianca grimaced with disgust after seeing my smile—or my “shady smirk,” as she would have it. “Is that experience talking?” she asked.

“Sorry?” I thought that she was asking whether I’d ever failed to change someone else, but I’d apparently misunderstood her.

“Is your sincerity stemming from the fact that you’ve been changed as well?” she clarified. She was truly asking, Does Lord Julius know what he’s talking about because someone has changed him before?

I guess I’ve never considered that.

I called upon memories of my younger self, back when I’d been a boy from a wealthy household who’d lived a life devoid of want. Without the pressure that came from being an heir like my brother, or the weight of parental expectations, I had done whatever I’d fancied. I had been carefree.

Probably as a result of that, I’d never been easily impressionable. If I were to put it nicely, I could say that I’d been strong-willed—but truthfully, it was just stubbornness and the need to have everything my way. “Self-centered” would’ve been the best word to describe me. I’d often been praised for my soft-spoken manner and approachability, but all of that had just been a facade. On the inside, I’d been—in no uncertain terms—the complete opposite of that... More like faulty merchandise, the sort that never finds a buyer.

My approach to business had been no different. I’d possessed a bad habit of only going after the products that had caught my personal interest. I’d listen to people’s advice just to hear it, but I would always make the final decision based solely on my own instincts. My selfishness had known no bounds, and it was truly a wonder that I’d managed to survive so long.

Although, I’m not all that different now.

At that point in my thoughts, something seemed odd. I stopped moving and mumbled to myself. “Wait...”

I tended to chase after the things that interested me. That description of me wasn’t exactly wrong, but it wasn’t entirely correct either. But lately, I’ve been buying books on cooking and medicine left and right. Those fields don’t interest me. And each time I come across a new seasoning, whose face do I picture?

I’d also thought that disregarding the opinions of others when making a final decision was one of my traits, but that didn’t seem quite right either. I’d stipulated two conditions with regard to Lady Mary’s request, but the plan at large had been hers. I could’ve effortlessly put on a performance and maneuvered her into recrafting the plan to fit with my views.

But I hadn’t.

“My word,” I croaked, astounded. I’m not impressionable? Yeah, right. Everything I do recently has been shaped by Lady Mary. With a new understanding of that part of myself, I erupted into laughter. “Ah ha ha!”

“Hey?! What’s gotten into you?” Lady Bianca recoiled at my sudden outburst. “Have you finally lost your mind?”

Anyone would’ve doubted the sanity of a man who went from silence to fits of laughter in an instant. However, I didn’t bother to cover for my odd behavior.

Now that I thought about it, Lady Mary had never stopped surprising me since the day we’d first met. She had a wealth of knowledge and cunning ideas beyond her years. But at the same time, she was childishly sweet. She was easy to get along with and never acted haughty, but I’d occasionally get a glimpse of her prowess as a princess.

There’s never a dull moment with her, I thought. I was more excited than my age should allow, and I felt the winds of change beginning to blow in my once-boring life.

“She’s something special... ‘Goddess’ really is the right word,” I whispered, exhilaration causing my voice to tremble.

Goddess. I’d wanted to use that word on the product for the sole purpose of boosting sales. However, it now began to take on an additional meaning in my mind.