The Return of the Prodigal Son (2)
The last Saturday of May, 1857.
Leo, the right-hand man of James Sett—the alpha and omega of the Sett plantation—found himself in the crisis of a lifetime.
“Ugh… ughhh.”
“What’s wrong? You still haven’t submitted it?”
“No, no. Why am I even included in this? I’m not a member selected for the Sett All-Stars. I just went to New York with him, so why do I have to enter the Love House!”
“You’re a funny guy. Everyone else is dying to get picked, so what are you complaining about?”
“It’s not a complaint, it’s just…”
Ben, Henry, and Peter had already submitted the names of the women they’d been harboring feelings for, and James had approved them all.
Leo was the only one who hadn’t turned in his form yet.
“If you don’t have any complaints, write it down already. It’s not like there isn’t a woman you want to talk to. Or does it overlap with someone else?”
“No… that’s not it…”
“You… don’t tell me, you bastard, you’re not into women…”
“I’ll kill you. It’s not like that.”
Why wouldn’t there be someone he wanted to get to know? Of course there was.
But the problem was that, contrary to all the big talk he’d been spouting, Leo had never actually had a proper conversation with a woman in his life.
Honestly, he had his reasons. He’d been trained to serve James since he was a child and had always been right behind him. How could he have found the time to sneak off and date?
Sure, he’d talked to plenty of the female slaves on the plantation, but those were all purely professional matters. And now, he was supposed to invite a woman to a place literally called the Love House and have a one-on-one conversation?
How was he supposed to do that?
“Ha… damn it. I have no choice. The Master told us to do it, so I have to write a name and submit it.”
“Oh! Are we finally going to find out who Leo has been keeping in his heart?”
“Guys! Everyone, listen up! Leo is finally announcing his date!”
The woman chosen by Leo, James’s right-hand man and most trusted butler. When the other slaves saw her name, they all gave Leo a strange look.
“You bastard, Leo…”
“So you were a man after all.”
The choice of a man who agonized until the very end was certainly different. Gazes mixed with both admiration and surprise were cast his way.
* * *
“What? Who?”
I’d wondered what kind of incredible dilemma he was having that made him so late, but Leo’s choice was certainly unconventional.
“This Sarah… you mean the Sarah I know? The nurse at the clinic?”
“…Yes, that’s correct.”
“The Sarah I bought at the auction house a few months ago, along with her son Toby?”
“…That’s right.”
This guy had been bragging that he could charm anyone on the plantation if he wanted to, but his taste was truly something else.
A married woman with a child? Of course, in this era, remarrying a woman with a child was relatively common, and since Sarah had given birth at a very young age, she wasn’t that much older than Leo.
“Well, it doesn’t look like Sarah is seeing anyone else, so it should be fine… but are you really going through with this? You don’t have any other requests?”
“That is… Master, is it strictly a one-on-one meeting at the Love House?”
“That’s how it should be, right? Or do you want to go on a double date with another couple? Isn’t that a bit early?”
“So, Master… that is…”
Leo hesitated with a dark expression before struggling to continue.
“When I meet her, would it be possible for you to stay nearby, Master?”
“…What?”
Is this guy’s taste more dangerous than I thought? I’ve heard of people asking their matchmaker to come along on a blind date, but I’ve never heard of someone asking them to stay the whole time.
Leo, flinching at my bewildered gaze, finally spilled everything.
“The truth is, I’ve almost never spoken to a woman in a private setting.”
“So, you’re saying you’re nervous and want me to stay by your side? Hahaha!”
“……”
“…Ha… really? For real?”
He’d been acting so confident, but in reality, he was a hopelessly shy virgin who didn’t even have the courage to talk to a woman alone.
To think that my secretary was this pathetic—I couldn’t stand it. But I had no choice. My personal slave, who served me and no one else, was begging for help, so I had to assist him.
All of this was just to turn Leo into a proper man; it was definitely not because I found meddling in other people’s love lives fun.
And naturally, not because it was fun, but out of a master’s desire to help Leo as quickly as possible, I invited Sarah to the Love House first.
“Master, I’m here.”
“Oh, right.”
It would be strange for the matchmaker to intervene any further, so I gave an awkward greeting and took a seat in the corner, out of their line of sight.
“Don’t mind me, just talk amongst yourselves. I’m just checking to see if there are any areas for improvement since this is our first attempt.”
I planted an excuse for Leo’s sake. Fortunately, Sarah didn’t seem to find it strange, perhaps thinking it was just because she was the first one.
I sat in a spot where I wouldn’t be noticed and listened closely to what they were saying. It wasn’t eavesdropping; it was for the sake of providing feedback to my right-hand man.
I wasn’t joking—I was honestly quite anxious, but since we’d had a special training session yesterday, I trusted he would at least speak like a human being.
Who am I to train someone else when I’m a lifelong solo myself? Ahem, I’ve been tempered by watching dating reality shows, so my theory is already perfect.
I’d already taught Leo 12 different 21st-century flirting lines to capture a woman’s heart from the very first date. But this is strange. I clearly told him to start with a compliment, so why is he so quiet…?
“I didn’t expect you to invite me, Leo.”
“Ah… really?”
“Did you call me because I’ve been working too hard at the hospital and you wanted me to rest?”
Is Sarah mistaking his invitation for the kindness of a thoughtful superior rather than romantic interest? When is he going to express his interest instead of keeping his mouth shut!
After an awkward silence, Sarah tried to start the conversation again.
“Weren’t you tired from your trip to New York? Actually, all the nurses at the hospital were talking about wanting to go watch the baseball games.”
“Ah… really?”
“…Hmm, come to think of it, you can read, right, Leo? My son Toby thinks it’s so cool that you can read, and he wants to learn too.”
“Ah… really?”
This is driving me crazy. I want to run out there right now, smack the back of his head, and ask him if he’s joking, but if I show myself now, it’ll only make things look even weirder.
Suddenly, I remembered something a colleague at my old company once said: that if you put a bunch of lifelong virgins in a reality show, the atmosphere becomes so suffocating you can barely breathe.
Seeing it right in front of my eyes, I felt like I couldn’t breathe either, and something was welling up in my chest.
“What do you do in your free time, Leo? Do you enjoy anything besides baseball?”
“Uh… that… well… I review the previous day’s work logs… and prepare the Master’s schedule for the next day.”
Oh, for heaven’s sake, you idiot. That’s not a hobby, that’s just overtime!
Sarah seemed lost for words at the unexpected answer, but she soon smiled gently.
“You’re really diligent. I truly respect that about you.”
“Ah… really?”
Okay, analysis complete. This guy is a lost cause. I only feel sorry for my past self, who wasted so much time trying to get a guy like this married.
In the end, no real conversation followed, and Sarah left after leaving a strictly formal remark about how she’d had a good time. I stepped out, clicking my tongue to greet my right-hand man who had spectacularly botched his glorious first start, and sure enough.
“Haa…”
Leo had his face buried in his palms and couldn’t bear to look me in the eye.
I wanted to tell him to just give up on women and live alone for the rest of his life, but seeing him so depressed, I couldn’t bring myself to say it.
“We were talking so smoothly when we practiced before…”
“It’s always like that. Conversations without personal feelings are easy. But when you get into the real thing, it’s a world of difference.”
“Haa… Master, I’m a lost cause, aren’t I?”
“Uh… well.”
Honestly, if I were a woman, I think I would have lost all interest after that one conversation, but you never know how things will turn out, so it would be too cruel to say that to his face, right?
“Let’s set up a better strategy and practice thoroughly before we try again.”
“…Do you think I’ll get another chance?”
“If you’re that worried, I’ll just casually ask her.”
“P-please! I really… I really wanted to do well… ugh!”
“Everyone’s like that at first. Who’s good at it from the start?”
I comforted the sobbing Leo, gaining the realization that the dating business wasn’t easy either. But… why on earth am I the one comforting this guy?
Now I’m not just playing matchmaker; I’m doing mental health care for lifelong virgins. And the funniest part of all this is that I’ve never even held a woman’s hand myself.
A thought briefly crossed my mind: what if I end up creating an ugly dark history that can’t even be watched with open eyes, just like Leo?
No, no matter what, I’d be better than him, right?
* * *
While James was busy pairing up his plantation members and cultivating loyalty, the Natchez Horse Racing Club—a regular meeting of the wealthiest planters in Mississippi—was in the middle of a meeting to invite new members.
“If it’s James Sett, we should obviously invite him as a member of our club. If anything, it feels like we’re already too late.”
“The Sett family was a member of the Horse Racing Club to begin with. Isn’t it natural for the successor to follow in his father’s footsteps?”
The Natchez Horse Racing Club wasn’t just a group for enjoying horse racing. It was a gathering where the wealthiest planters, who held influence across political and economic circles, shared information and grew their influence together.
In short, you couldn’t get in unless you were one of the chosen few. Of course, James Sett was someone who was naturally expected to join, so no one raised any objections.
“Right. Then we’ll invite James Sett, and let’s discuss the next agenda item.”
Alexander K. Parer, a state senator from Adams County, Mississippi, and the center of the gathering, lightly flicked the paper in his hand.
“Senator, does this mean we need to tighten the leash on the slaves even more?”
“That is correct. Ever since the Dred Scott decision, those Northerners seem to have been poisoned; they’re putting all their efforts into a war of public opinion. We keep catching people who sneak in here to incite the Black population and spread false rumors.”
“So, we’re going to thoroughly tighten our household discipline to preemptively block any chance of them being swayed by the Northerners’ schemes.”
“Exactly. And shouldn’t people like us lead by example so that it spreads throughout society? That’s why the Governor also wants to request our cooperation.”
Every single planter at this meeting was a tycoon who owned at least 150 to 200 slaves. Alexander Parer, a state senator, owned over 250 slaves himself and even managed the property and operations of other plantations, so that said it all.
“Then, in that sense, we should tell James Sett to start attending the meetings soon.”
“Agreed. Isn’t he the master of slave exploitation, well-known even in Mississippi?”
They had all been curious about how he squeezed his slaves to produce such fantastic profits, and recently, that question had been partially answered.
James Sett wasn’t just a slave exploiter; he was the greatest slave trainer in the Union. He must have trained them with bodies strong enough to endure such grueling labor.
“If we find out James Sett’s secret to slave training, it will be a great help to us as well.”
“But I don’t think he’ll tell us his corporate secrets.”
“We don’t have to ask him to tell us, but if we get close to him, couldn’t we get some advice? Like showing him the state of our plantations or our slave education processes and asking for his input.”
“Ah, that would work.”
Alexander Parer pondered for a moment while looking at the cooperation request sent by the Governor. Tighten the discipline so the slaves don’t get restless, and contribute to establishing social order in the South. He had no intention of raising objections; in fact, as a state senator, he was willing to cooperate actively.
“Then, in that sense, it might be good to entrust James Sett with the management of one of our plantations. We have a perfect region for it, after all.”
“Are you perhaps talking about the Cedar Grove plantation?”
“Yes. As you all know, I’m exercising my authority as the trustee of the trust property, and the manager there seems to treat the slaves too harshly, and the performance isn’t exactly great.”
“Ohhh! That’s a great idea! As expected of the Senator!”
If they told him it was government policy and asked for his cooperation, Sett wouldn’t have any reason to refuse, and in the process, they might even be able to learn the secrets of his plantation management.
“I’m looking forward to it. I wonder how the greatest slave trainer will evaluate the Cedar Grove plantation.”
“Senator, please let us sit in on it too!”
No matter how much those Northerners struggle, Mississippi will not be shaken. Even at this very moment, ruthless planters like James Sett were likely busy figuring out how to squeeze profits out of their slaves on their plantations.
They believed without a doubt that this life would continue.
Forever.