Editing Dantalian no Shoka:Volume2 Chapter3

 Episode 06: The Straw Millionaire

A couple sat opposite each other on a calm sunny afternoon.

This was a living room that had the fragrance of high-quality tea leaves.

The tea table was adorned with many decorations, lace spread along the long bench. And in a show cupboard that by itself is an expensive antique, many dolls made from foreign lands lay in a mess amidst high priced handcrafted pieces.

“Surely an intelligent lady like you can understand.”

A man said this as he poured tea elegantly.

He wore an exquisite western singlet, with thin framed glasses perched on his nose, the hair that lay over his forehead like a gentle wave. Even then, although this man looked like someone who came from a wealthy family his entire face seemed a little tensed.

“—The history of mankind, is indeed a history of differences. Ever since mankind began to carry out farming, there was already a difference between the rich and the poor, which developed into differences in identities and social status.

“.......”

The woman nodded her head quietly, then she laughed with a giggle. This was a young lady with shining golden hair. For some reason, she wore a white blouse with not an accessory on it,  and a man’s tie slipped through it.

“What are you trying to say here, Mr Ferlan?”

“I just wish to talk to you about the laws of economics.”

The man said in a cold voice.

“The law of one price is merely the economists’ imagination, because there are differences in reality. To some asset holders a million pounds sterling is merely pocket change, yet a shilling is enough to make poor folk fight or even throw their lives away for it. To a desert traveller who is suffering from thirst, the worth of a cup of water is more than gold.”

The woman appeared to be listening cheerily to the man’s exaggerated explanation. She raised the cup to moisten her throat, revealing a mischievous smile and said:
“In other words, happiness or unhappiness, is decided by a person’s perspective?”

The man divulged a helpless smile.

“You really are a romantic. I was just trying to say that equivalent exchange cannot stand, that’s all.”

He then turned his line of sight towards the show cupboard’s collectibles. Musical instruments, vases, dolls and toys made from foreign lands, a self-winding watch—and ancient tomes.

“The thing you want from me, to me is something that money cannot compare to, a collectible more important than my life in fact. So can you give me something of sufficient worth to exchange? What is the price you are willing to pay? ——Miss Keynes?”

“I understand your meaning, Mr Ferlan. Although I do not know if you believe......”

The woman put down her teacup gently, and looked directly at the slightly tensed man. Then she gently extended her hand to the tea table. On tea table was an open book.

“The thing I will give you, is my......”

The woman spoke lightly, as if to challenge, then gently closed the book——