He Opened A Matchmaking Agency In 18Th Century London [EN]: Chapter 54

The door opened, and the tall Lord Alec Parker entered the living room.

He wore a dark brown, high-quality wool coat with rows of gold buttons and a white cravat [a formal necktie, like a precursor to a modern tie], pulled up high around his neck.

The breeches, tailored like riding pants, suited his long legs well.

It was immediately apparent that he paid considerable attention to his appearance.

In the spacious living room, an awkward first meeting with Lord Parker took place.

Mr. Osborne introduced himself and Catherine, then gestured toward Tae-oh, saying,

“Lord Parker, this is Mr. Sanderson, who is here in London on business.”

Mr. Osborne presented Tae-oh as his business partner.

This was a thoughtful gesture, allowing Tae-oh to observe the prospective son-in-law more naturally.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Theo Sanderson.”

“…A pleasure to meet you as well.”

Lord Alec Parker nodded just enough to graze his cravat, then turned and walked to his seat.

In that instant, Tae-oh caught his fleeting, distorted expression.

‘…’

The subtle movements of facial muscles, influenced by emotional states, unconsciously reveal one’s thoughts and feelings through expressions.

In other words, human facial expressions convey not only basic emotions such as ‘happiness, sadness, anger, disgust, surprise’ but also complex sentiments like ‘arrogance, boredom, interest, emotion, and slyness.’

‘Contemptuous feelings displayed on his face…’

Lord Alec Parker, the eldest son of an Earl’s family, was involuntarily exuding contempt for the fact that Mr. Osborne and Tae-oh were merely merchants.

It was a fleeting expression that most people would miss, but it didn’t escape Tae-oh’s notice.

‘Judging by how quickly he covers his disdain with a veneer of politeness, he must be here solely for the sake of wealth, with a clear purpose.’

Tae-oh had somewhat anticipated this, as all the candidates who came after hearing about the large dowry would likely be similar.

He had seen countless such individuals during his time working at a matchmaking agency before his reincarnation.

However, even men with such mercenary desires could change completely if their underlying tendencies were well understood and they were matched with women who suited them in terms of personality and appearance.

Thanks to this, the couples Tae-oh connected maintained happy married lives as devoted partners, making a mockery of the term ‘arranged marriage between wealthy families.’

It may seem like money can solve all problems, but humans ultimately cannot overcome their emotions.

When a truly compatible partner who matches one’s ideal type appears, money becomes secondary. It merely becomes an ancillary factor.

The problem was that Lord Alec Parker, who was sitting in front of him, was not someone Tae-oh had chosen after understanding his deeper nature.

“Did you have any trouble finding your way here?”

Mr. Osborne seemed slightly intimidated by Lord Parker, the eldest son of an Earl’s family.

“No, the road was smooth, so it wasn’t too difficult. Haha.”

He laughed heartily, but his laughter seemed forced and arrogant.

“On the way here, I noticed that the mansion is quite large and magnificent.”

The first words he uttered while drinking tea were about the house.

Even when he first entered the living room, his eyes were busy scanning the objects placed here and there.

He pointed to what appeared to be a precious piece of porcelain and asked,

“I suppose you acquired such things through your trade?”

“Yes, I collected them in my younger days.”

“Judging by its form and color, it seems to be Oriental porcelain.”

“Yes, that’s right. I bought it in India, but it is Qing Dynasty [the last imperial dynasty of China] porcelain.”

Lord Parker, with a satisfied expression, put down his teacup and nodded.

“I visited the residence of Mayor Andy Grant last month, and the items in his house were all terrible, cheap things. He cherishes a worthless piece of pottery that looks like it should be used as a water jar, as if it were a family heirloom.”

Andy Grant, who had been a Manchester City Councilor, was elected as the Mayor of Manchester through a vote last September.

“Doesn’t it seem like Mayor Grant is very lucky? A commoner who did vulgar work flattered His Majesty the King and even received a knighthood…”

Lord Parker was speaking ill of Mayor Grant, who had received a noble title from King George earlier this year.

But this was rude.

Paul Osborne and Tae-oh, by his standards, were also people who did vulgar work to earn money, and to say such things directly in front of them was impolite.

Especially to someone who came seeking marriage.

However, Mr. Osborne didn’t seem to mind much.

He had been accustomed to a hierarchical society for a long time, and he seemed to think that the eldest son of a renowned Earl’s family could naturally speak in such a way.

Above all, the deeply ingrained perception that the work of a merchant who earns money through hard work was somehow base also played a part.

“Still, it seems Mayor Grant is doing a good job. He created the Manchester Exchange as a trading place for port merchants last time, didn’t he? And what was it back then…”

Lord Alec Parker shook his head at Mr. Osborne’s words.

“Well, building an exchange is all he’s done. Can that one thing be considered an achievement? The last time I stopped by his house, he was boasting about it.”

At that moment, Catherine, who had been listening quietly, interjected.

“He also opened a small public hospital for workers and the poor. That’s why he received a knighthood from His Majesty the King. I remember seeing it in the local newspaper.”

Mr. Osborne clapped his hands in response to Catherine’s answer.

“Oh, right. That’s right. He built a public hospital. That’s a really great achievement.”

For a brief moment, annoyance and embarrassment flickered across Alec Parker’s face.

‘He didn’t know the details…’

Tae-oh sensed that Alec Parker was someone who tried to act like he knew everything. And it seemed he was getting angry because he kept being contradicted.

However, Lord Parker soon replied to Catherine with an indifferent expression.

“Miss Osborne, you are mistaken. The charity hospital was funded not by Mayor Grant but by a man named Baron Hugo…”

“No! Baron Hugo only donated a small amount, and Mayor Grant sold his farm to cover most of the funds, according to the article. But because the Mayor didn’t promote his name, people mistakenly believe that Baron Hugo funded everything.”

Instantly, Alec Parker’s lips thinned, and he subtly twisted his ankle.

Twisting one’s ankle when the other person makes an important statement in the flow of conversation is a gesture that subtly reveals a negative and defensive stance.

Now, his annoyance seemed to have turned into anger.

However, he soon spoke in a calm tone, as if trying to reason with her.

“Miss Osborne, you shouldn’t naively believe everything written by reporters. The information I have is not something that anyone can easily obtain. That article is incorrect. I must be right. Ahem.”

The area that best reveals a person’s complex emotions is the eyes.

Alec Parker’s eyes were already filled with unspeakable anger at Catherine’s response.

The true expressions and emotions, hidden by the desire for a dowry, were erupting from a minor argument.

‘…Superiority complex?’

‘Superiority complex’ was a psychological state that Tae-oh had encountered quite often when working as a clinical psychologist.

This refers to a psychological state in which one excessively overestimates oneself and believes that one’s abilities and achievements are superior to those of others.

People with this tendency pay excessive attention to grooming and showing off, and they are often immersed in a sense of superiority and authority as much as their high self-esteem.

And they rank people around them based on their own standards, becoming unnecessarily angry when people they consider to be of lower rank reject their words or show signs of dislike.

Also, these types try to act like they know everything about everything in the world.

Therefore, they do not hesitate to deny and ignore the other person’s words, even if they are true, if they contradict their own opinions.

However, if you look inside those with such a superiority complex, you will often find low self-esteem or inferiority complex hidden inside.

As the famous psychologist and physician Alfred Adler said, ‘A sense of superiority’ stems from ‘a sense of inferiority’ towards others.

A sense of superiority and a sense of inferiority are emotions with the same root and are very closely related to each other.

The problem was that, due to the deep-rooted class culture of the 18th century, such an appearance immersed in a sense of superiority could rather be regarded as a characteristic of a confident and noble aristocrat.

‘He’s subtly boasting that he’s in a better position than Mayor Grant. So, he’s strongly resisting and getting angry even at Catherine’s trivial rebuttal. He’s subtly emphasizing that he’s a superior and special being with superficial information he’s heard here and there, as if he knows everything.’

Although the four of them were sitting together, Alec Parker was the only one with noble status. He was also the eldest son of an Earl’s family.

Alec Parker treated Mr. Osborne and Catherine as if he were an incomparably noble figure in this place, and he had not uttered a single word to Tae-oh, a lowly merchant who was not directly related to the marriage.

But rather, that made it easier to observe his emotions thoroughly.

“Mr. Osborne? Then you must have traveled abroad a lot while doing trade for so long?”

Alec Parker suddenly brought up the topic of travel.

He seemed to feel that Mr. Osborne and Catherine knew more about the world than he had expected, so he intended to bring up a topic they were not familiar with.

Mr. Osborne shook his head.

“Haha, there’s no time to travel. At best, I just rest near the port after a long voyage.”

At this time, ordinary merchants were looked down upon, but in the case of overseas traders, they were still regarded as being of higher status than ordinary commoners.

In particular, with the opening of the Age of Exploration, overseas traders who made a lot of money through trade appeared, and the representatives of large trading companies were treated as a kind of gentleman.

However, Mr. Osborne had amassed a large fortune through overseas trade, but he was not in a position like the representative of a trading company.

Alec Parker nodded and opened his mouth with a proud expression.

“I traveled around the European continent for two years, not for work, but to experience new cultures.”

“Oh, is that so? Two years? That’s amazing.”

Alec Parker was talking about the ‘Grand Tour’ [a traditional trip of Europe undertaken by upper-class European young men of sufficient means and rank].

From the mid-17th century, European travel to explore new cultures and gain experience became fashionable among young European aristocrats, and this was called the ‘Grand Tour.’

It is a concept similar to studying abroad today, and in England, the boom of the Grand Tour began in the late 18th century after the end of the Seven Years’ War with France.

This overseas trip, which took several years, inevitably cost a lot of money because it involved a lot of luggage, attendants, tutors, doctors, and cooks, and it was a special experience that only the wealthy privileged class among the aristocracy could enjoy.

Alec Parker proudly boasted about his experiences during his Grand Tour.

The attitude that can be seen in a man who came to win the favor of a woman’s family was certainly not there.

However, Alec Parker was excited and talked even more when Catherine, who had never traveled abroad, showed great interest in his story.

But the stories about the European destinations he had traveled to were very clumsy to Tae-oh’s ears.

In particular, the explanations about overseas geography were full of errors, and Alec Parker was making up lies, as if he thought there was no one present who knew any better.

‘This is too strange. He’s confusing Genoa and Venice? If he’s that confused, it’s hard to believe he’s been to Italy. Wait… Come to think of it, his eyes keep signaling that he’s lying, too?’

When you think about it, it was questionable whether a declining Earl’s family could afford to send him on an expensive Grand Tour in the first place.

It seemed like he was making up stories based on what he had heard from others.

As he was talking non-stop, he suddenly stiffened his neck, turned his head, and abruptly spoke to Tae-oh.

“Did you say Sanderson?”

“…Sanderson.”

“Ah, yes. That’s right. Mr. Sanderson, have you ever traveled abroad? Well, I suppose you might have been on a few trading ships, considering what you do, haha.”

In fact, Alec Parker had disliked Tae-oh’s gaze from the moment he entered the room.

He should have been in awe of him and looked up to him since a noble figure from an Earl’s family had entered, but Tae-oh’s attitude and gaze seemed quite arrogant.

He was annoyed by the way he was acting like a noble, putting on airs even though he was just struggling to make a living doing business.

He seemed to be a rising businessman in London who had made quite a bit of money, judging by the nice clothes he was wearing, and Alec Parker felt offended as if he was looking down on him for being so blinded by the dowry that he had come all the way here.

Alec Parker intended to feel a sense of superiority by talking about European travel, which commoners could not even dream of, to deflate Tae-oh’s ego.

But Tae-oh was already reading his thoughts.

‘Huhu… You’re going to try to feel superior to me with travel stories? Good, this is a good question at the right time. I should check whether it’s just the usual sense of superiority that the aristocratic class of this era has, or if it’s a really severe superiority complex.’