He Opened A Matchmaking Agency In 18Th Century London [EN]: Chapter 46

46. The Son of Earl Maxwell

◈ 5 days later, Tae-oh’s study in Hampstead, London.

Tae-oh was organizing a notebook filled with the personalities and characteristics of his matchmaking clients.

‘Whew, it’s getting harder and harder to organize and classify data by myself.’

Recently, word-of-mouth had spread, and he was struggling with a constant stream of consultation visits and inquiries.

On his days off, he had to stay cooped up in his study all afternoon, organizing the member data he had been putting off.

In a world without computers or the internet, it seemed necessary to devise a more efficient method to handle his work.

Knock knock.

“Come in.”

Clunk-

It was Lucy.

“Master, Lord Huntingdon has come to see you.”

“What? Lord Huntingdon?”

Lord Huntingdon was a member of the Intelligence Club and a close friend who often met with Tae-oh.

“What brings him here so late in the evening? Alright, I understand. Show him to the reception room. I’ll be down soon.”

“But there are two other people with the Lord who I’ve never seen before.”

Tae-oh asked with a puzzled look.

“Did they seem like they came for a matchmaking request?”

Lucy was very perceptive and often guessed the purpose of a guest’s visit correctly.

“It didn’t seem like it. They seemed anxious, and in my opinion, it was for some other issue besides matchmaking.”

“Hmm… I understand. Thank you, Lucy.”

“You’re welcome.”

After Lucy left, Tae-oh quickly tidied up his desk and left the study.

‘If they’ve come with Lord Huntingdon, they must have an urgent matter… What business could they have with me besides a matchmaking request?’

Tae-oh hurried down to the reception room.

*

“Lord Huntingdon? What brings you here?”

“Haha, Mr. Sanderson. It’s only been two days since we met at the club.”

In the reception room, there were two middle-aged people besides Lord Huntingdon.

But they looked familiar for some reason.

‘Hmm, I’ve seen them somewhere. Where have I seen them…?’

The emotions emanating from the middle-aged couple had a similar hue.

If middle-aged people with different appearances show homogeneous emotions, they are mostly a married couple.

In particular, couples who are on good terms share each other’s feelings, and their expressions, tone, and gestures become similar, which was exactly the case with these two.

In addition, judging from their dignified attitude and luxurious clothes, they seemed to be high-ranking nobles.

However, a strange worry and subtle expression of anxiety repeatedly caught his eye on their faces, and each time, the emotions that emanated were unusual.

‘Hmm…’

In particular, the anxiety seemed more severe in the wife.

Although it wasn’t very noticeable, the fingertips visible through the white lawn dress were trembling slightly.

The change in emotion seemed to be transmitted to the physical reaction.

‘A big problem that has befallen a middle-aged couple… Judging from the way they rely on each other, it’s not a marital problem, so it must be a child’s problem in all likelihood. But as Lucy said, it doesn’t seem like they came for matchmaking counseling… What could it be?’

Lord Huntingdon introduced the middle-aged couple to Tae-oh.

“Mr. Sanderson, this is Earl Maxwell of Southwark and his wife. After hearing their story, it was such an urgent matter that I took the liberty of using my shallow friendship to visit you without notice.”

Before Lord Huntingdon could finish speaking, Earl Maxwell bowed politely first.

“I’m sorry. I’ve been so distracted by the current situation that I’ve committed this rudeness. Lord Huntingdon said he knew Mr. Sanderson’s house, so I brought them here in a hurry. Please forgive my impoliteness.”

Earl Maxwell’s wife also bent her knees slightly and bowed her head to ask for forgiveness.

“No, it’s alright. Please, have a seat.”

Most of the earls of this era were overbearing and did not bow their heads readily.

Of course, it could be because of an urgent matter, but Earl Maxwell and his wife seemed to be people with a gentle and considerate nature.

Tak-

As Lucy brought warm tea, put it down, and left, their story soon began.

“Actually, we met Mr. Sanderson once a few days ago.”

“Yes? Where did you see me…?”

As Tae-oh felt, they were people he had met before.

“Five days ago, when His Majesty the King invited us to Windsor Castle, we were there too. We were also present at the place where His Majesty the King was healing his mental illness.”

“Ah… yes.”

Only then did Tae-oh realize why their faces looked familiar. However, because they were mixed among the people, and their faces were covered with wigs and heavy makeup, he was hesitant.

After taking a few sips of tea, Earl Maxwell calmly explained the reason for urgently seeking Tae-oh.

“We have an eldest son, a second son, and three daughters. But our eldest son passed away from illness three years ago. The whole family had a hard time because of that, especially our second son, Crispin, was very confused. But he overcame the grief well enough.”

And half a year ago, the second son, Crispin, was introduced to a woman, and the wedding was scheduled to take place in ten days.

“We were really happy. The girl who would become our daughter-in-law was very pretty and had a good heart. Of course, our Crispin seemed to like her quite a bit too. It was as if the sadness of losing our eldest son was being erased by that bright and cheerful child. So, with a happy heart, we set the wedding date early.”

It was said that things turned sour when everything seemed to be getting better.

“It was the 2nd anniversary memorial service for our dead eldest son two months ago. But… after the memorial service, Crispin began to show strange symptoms.”

“What kind of strange symptoms?”

When Earl Maxwell hesitated to answer, the Countess, who was next to him, spoke with difficulty.

“Actually… after the 1st anniversary memorial service last year, he spent nearly half a year showing strange behaviors like staring blankly at the wall all day or suddenly wailing and smashing things like a madman. But Crispin overcame it with difficulty, and we thought he had completely returned to normal since he had a woman to marry.”

“……..”

“But from the evening of the 2nd anniversary memorial service two months ago, he started showing the same scary symptoms as before… sob…”

The Countess couldn’t continue speaking and covered her mouth.

The Earl and Countess, overwhelmed with great fear and worry, were mentally exhausted.

Earl Maxwell opened his mouth again.

“In a hurry, we searched for countless doctors and repeated various treatments, but it was useless. The strange symptoms only got worse.”

“……..”

“We went to a priest who was known for his spiritual abilities, and he said that an evil spirit wandering in the memorial chapel had entered Crispin’s head and that an exorcism ritual had to be performed. Following his words, we spent a lot of money and performed exorcism rituals for several days, but that didn’t help either.”

At this time, it was common to perform shamanic rituals, singing strange songs or chanting spells for possession or exorcism.

The shaman leading the ritual gave the patient a ‘suggestion’ that the evil spirit had left his head, which was a kind of hypnosis treatment, and sometimes it worked.

However, there were far more cases where the bizarre treatment methods damaged the body or demanded a lot of money, causing social problems.

“After much deliberation, we decided to give up the wedding, which was not far off. We honestly told the situation to the family to be married and the prospective daughter-in-law and asked for forgiveness. Whether to cancel the wedding or to have the wedding when our son is completely healed.

However, it seems that the girl who will become our daughter-in-law loved our son very much. She said that she would take care of him diligently by his side as she did last time, and she would get better, so she cried and begged to get married unconditionally. She said she even got permission from the elders of the family and said she would get married, but… we strongly dissuaded her.

But it was no use. A few days ago, she came to see her son, begging with tears, and we had a hard time stopping her. We were so afraid that our son would become violent again and harm her.”

If it was an earl’s family that was invited by the king, it must have been one of the well-known prestigious families.

If it was a son who would inherit the aristocratic title of such a house, even if there was a slight flaw, they would try to marry each other, but if they had a mental illness, the story would be different.

However, seeing that she had obtained her parents’ permission to force the marriage, it seemed that the woman who would become her daughter-in-law was sincerely in love with the Earl’s son.

In addition, unlike the past, when arranged marriages were the center, the social atmosphere in which marriages based on love were becoming more and more popular must have played a part.

Earl Maxwell, who was sighing deeply, continued.

“Hoo… I didn’t know that not being mentally sound, even though he looks fine on the outside, would make a parent’s heart burn so black. Huyu…

While spending such desperate time, unable to do this or that, we were summoned by His Majesty the King and went to Windsor Castle for a while. And there we saw Mr. Sanderson.”

The treatment effect of Tae-oh, which the Earl and Countess experienced directly that day, gave the couple, who were engrossed in their son’s recovery, some small hope.

They were very surprised that they were not performing rituals such as playing strange songs or chanting bizarre spells, but just breathing peacefully and following Tae-oh’s words, the worries and anxieties they had were definitely subsiding.

Moreover, the Earl and Countess, who heard about King George’s condition, which was rapidly improving in a few days, were said to have gained some confidence in Tae-oh’s mental treatment.

“There are only ten days left until the wedding. We said that we would not have the wedding if it was not healed by then, but the girl who will become our daughter-in-law is absolutely not giving up. She even said that even if she doesn’t have the wedding that day, she will unconditionally come into our house and take care of her son as his wife.”

“……..”

“But does that make sense? How can a beautiful young lady not have a proper wedding, which is only once in her life, and come into her in-laws’ house? No matter how I think about it, I couldn’t allow that. I don’t know what will happen, but if she really wants to get married to the end, I want to give her a proper wedding, even if it’s just the wedding.”

“……..”

“Theo Sanderson! Mr. Sanderson, you said in front of His Majesty the King that you can find out ‘diseases of the mind’ and even treat mild mental illnesses, didn’t you? We are pinning our hopes on that. You are the only one we can rely on now. Please, I beg you to look into what is wrong with our son’s mind.”

The story was sad, but Tae-oh was concerned.

He couldn’t give a definite answer in the current situation without specifically examining the patient’s condition.

Just listening to the story, it seemed like a kind of ‘possession’ or ‘dissociative disorder’ that people call being possessed by a ghost, but on the other hand, it seemed like a simple severe depression or anxiety disorder.

If it had even gone to the symptoms of schizophrenia, the treatment period would inevitably be quite long in this era without drugs or proper medical equipment.

Maybe it would be impossible to fix it forever.

‘Hmm… Still, considering that he has been very normal until recently, it may be a situation where treatment through psychotherapy may work better than expected. But it’s a problem that can only be decided after meeting him in person.’

With only ten days left until the wedding, there was no time to worry. He felt that he should make an effort to help, whether it worked or not.

Tae-oh, who had made up his mind, said to the Earl and Countess.

“Alright. Then, it’s late today, so I’ll visit you directly early tomorrow morning to take a look.”

The faces of Earl Maxwell and his wife brightened at Tae-oh’s words.

“Will you do that for us? Thank you.”

“Thank you. Mr. Sanderson. Thank you so much…”

◈ The next day. Earl Maxwell’s mansion in Southwark, London.

Clatter. Clatter.

The fog that covered the streets of London in the morning was so thick that it was impossible to recognize the shape of passing carriages.

The carriage, which was carefully navigating the streets due to the fog, soon entered the Maxwell Earl’s mansion.

Woah- Woah-

As soon as he got out of the carriage, the butler ran out, and Earl Maxwell and his wife were personally waiting in front of the door.

“Thank you so much for coming, Mr. Sanderson.”

“It was so foggy that I was very late.”

After exchanging greetings, Tae-oh immediately got to the point.

“Earl, I want to meet your son right now and assess his condition. Time is running out.”

“Ah… yes, please follow me.”

Earl Maxwell and his wife led Tae-oh to a room at the end of the corridor on the second floor.

The Countess, standing in front of the door, said in a slightly trembling voice.

“He was so violent that we couldn’t even approach him for a while, but since last week, he’s been completely out of his mind. He can’t even recognize his parents properly. I’m so afraid that he’ll be in that state for the rest of his life. Sob.”

The Countess seemed to be the type of person who thought it was a big deal even if her child had a small scratch on her skin. What would it be like for such a mother to see her son who seemed unable to distinguish people?

Tae-oh, who had met countless mentally ill patients in the United States and consulted with their parents, felt the hearts of the unfortunate Earl and Countess.

“Yes, I understand. I think I’ll have to see his condition directly to give you a better understanding.”

Earl Maxwell, with a dark face, quietly opened his son’s door.

Clunk-

In the room that was entered without knocking, only a few candles were lit.

Even though the curtains were wide open, the room felt dark, perhaps because of the foggy weather.

In the corner of the well-decorated room, there was a luxurious and heavy mahogany bed, and on it, a young man was sitting and staring blankly out the window with unfocused eyes.

The young man did not care at all that people were flocking into the room and stared blankly out the window.

The Countess, who approached, called her son’s name and gently stroked his back.

“Crispin, I brought a very special person to look at your pain.”

But there was no reaction.

Tae-oh carefully examined Crispin’s face, which was illuminated by the flickering candlelight.

He was a handsome young man.

He had a beautiful appearance as if he had inherited only the good genes of the Earl and Countess.

‘……..’

However, from his facial expression and stiff body, which he had briefly examined, unusual emotions were pouring out as Tae-oh had feared.

‘Deep sadness, uncontrollable anxiety, fear, strong anger…’

All kinds of anxiety, anger, and sadness were mixed together and drove him as if they were about to explode.

Within that mix, there was endless anger towards himself, resentment towards a certain object, and a feeling of endless sadness.

The intensity of the emotion was so great that it was amazing that he was sitting quietly like that now.

Perhaps the appearance of a madman that the Earl and Countess spoke of was the appearance when he couldn’t stand the emotion and exploded in an instant.

‘……..’

But fortunately, the possibility of possession or dissociative disorder, which he had worried about, seemed low.

This was because Tae-oh, who had treated countless patients with the disease, hardly felt the unique emotional line coming from them.

‘Hmm…’

In fact, the emotions emanating from Crispin were similar to the emotions shown by children who were greatly hurt by their parents in childhood and who did not resolve the hurt after growing into adults.

However, the Maxwell Earl and Countess, whom Tae-oh had observed, were clearly not the people who would create the emotions that Crispin was feeling now.

‘There’s something else. It may be that Earl and Countess don’t know, or perhaps Crispin himself is experiencing great confusion with emotions that were unconsciously hurt.’

The emotions that people currently express are not simply emotions that are created now.

If you continue to follow the line of emotion, there must be a starting point where such emotion was created.

Tae-oh felt the emotions of a wounded child in Crispin’s empty appearance.

Most people can have wounds and flaws in their childhood emotions, but it does not have a big impact on their lives as adults.

However, depending on the person, there are cases where the emotion is too big to be contained in the heart as a child and cannot be processed.

Even things that seem like nothing to others can be covered up like a big trauma in a child’s emotional world, wounded and unhealed.

And when this is combined with innate personality, it often causes unexpected problems when they become adults.

Tae-oh, who turned around, quietly said to the Earl and Countess.

“Shall we go out? I have something to tell you.”

*

Tae-oh, who came out of Crispin’s room and sat on the sofa in the living room, asked the Earl and Countess.

“I need detailed information about Crispin’s childhood. Especially, in relation to his brother’s death. That’s how treatment will be possible.”

“……..”

## Please note in advance that this content is an adaptation of an actual psychotherapy case to fit the novel. ##