3rd person POV
He sat with his back to the door and cried. The Asian girl couldn't help but feel sorry for him despite having been assaulted by him. She walked towards him with a plate of food and told him with a broken accent:
"You'll feel better after you eat. Food helps you forget".
Strangely it did. Slowly he lets the sweetness of the cake dissolve the heavy feeling in his heart. The two people who had no one but themselves now simply looked at one another and recognized each other for the first time as human beings. Rawdon promised he would do her right and make up for everything he had caused this young innocent little girl.
"In a few days, I will leave for war. However, when I come back I will marry you".
"You mean to take responsibility for your actions", she said with a matter of fact look.
"Yes...".
"Fine then. I will prepare everything for our wedding so that it will be ready for you when you come back".
"And one thing you should know... I'm broke. I don't have any money for the wedding".
"That's why I said I would prepare everything for our wedding, including money".
Suddenly Rowden was intrigued.
"How?".
"My family is ancient and has had many connections throughout the world. We are traders and makers of garments. Our livelihood depended on making clothes in other words I was trained to one day fulfil my duties as a daughter a marry a rich man who would buy my talent of making dresses. Now that the situation is different I could start up a business as a seamstress or something".
Rowden simply nodded. At least the girl could take care of herself.
A few days later the whole English cavalry travelled to the front of the war. Rowden had a tattoo on his back. A tattoo of a dragon of which Jiaying had tattooed onto him for luck while teaching him how to say her name correctly and some few basic Chinese words.
As she kissed him goodbye the majority of white women around her frowned. Among them someone especially did.
Becky glared at the Chinese girl. She had paler skin than Becky and was very beautifully dressed. Her make-up was unusual but was done perfectly. Her innocent eyes and youthful face. Becky had already lost to her.
Jiaying felt a murderous glare and turned around to face the woman. She was a typical European woman and she was also an unfaithful one. Jiaying knew she had been the root cause of everything that happened until now and wanted to tear that prideful face of hers off. In the end, she simply smiled and left Becky.
Jiaying was a very hardworking girl. Had it not been for her gender she could have even taken over the family business, unfortunately, the sons were more valuable assets and than the girls even if they were lazy and slacked off on their duties. She began working for a noblewoman in Brussels. A very kind old lady who had raised a wonderfully kind daughter. The old lady was very wise and not judgmental. Therefore as she was given the opportunity of making a bridal dress for her daughter she put twice the amount of effort it really needed. Her first dress debuted splendidly. Suddenly she got called by other wealthy or noble women to make dresses for them. Her life became very busy. Yet even as it got busy she still made time to visit the old lady who had helped her in the very first place.
Her gratitude, diligentness and honesty were unknowing to her the greatest attributes she had. That's why within a few months she opened up her first store but not just any store. A department store. She hired talented and wise girls to work for her.
Jiaying had many talents. However a multi-designer, a creator was probably the title that suited her the best. She designed works that had never been seen before yet were so beautiful that the strangeness of it didn't make people fear it.
At the end of the war when Napoleon had lost the battle of the Waterloo Rawdon returned home safely. When he returned he was quite surprised at the mansion that awaited him. It was not the biggest mansion he had seen but it was still big. Another big surprise that blew his mind off was Jiaying's pregnancy. She slapped him when he asked if it was his child and he undoubtedly knew it was as soon as she slapped him. He was happy that he was gonna become a father. So happy that he carried her up towards their bedroom where a king-sized bed awaited. Everything was very luxurious. Once they were on the bed he couldn't help but stroke her stomach as they talked about the horror of war and her successful business.
When Jiaying fell asleep Rawdon went around the property to inspect everything. The mansion was really pretty and the maid had explained that it was Jiaying herself that had renovated the place. It had been an abandoned mansion until she came. Now it didn't look the same as it did before. Now the outer walls were all painted in white. There were inspiration from arabic countris as the walls inside the house had beautiful hollow patterns. He stopped at a certain one and the maid explained that the mistress had called it a "mandala". He saw the kitchen. Normally it would be in a separate room but now it was beside the livingroom without a wall. The space felt more open. He could read a newspaper on the couch while having tea as he watched the maids prepare the breakfast, lunch and dinner. Rawdon could even play the piano while watching Jiaying eating from the kitchen counter. Not the mention that there was a bar in the living room connected to the basement where all the fine wine was stored. There were bookshelves upon bookshelves. Basically everything was inside the living room. Well... the living room was quite spacious. There was a fireplace with couches in front. There was a dinner table however as he came to know it this was not the dinner table they would use when guests were over. Apparently there was a different part of the house where they would receive their guest at. In other words a more traditional and usual looking place he felt more familiar with. There was a big ball hall with mirrors and beautiful crystal lights. The maid explained that the dining and everything else would happen in here if there were guests exceeding six people. The tables could be round so that everyone could sit around and enjoy talking with everyone around the table. That way you could talk with just anyone compare to a long table. The whole mansion had a feminine taste to it that's why it surprised him when he saw his study along with his gaming room. It was just a few rooms away from his bedroom and there were two ways to access it. By walking up towards the second floor from the hall and then walk towards his room or you could walk up to it through the spiraling stairs in the living room. After his study room there was his caveman room a room only for him to be in and it was behind a door behind his desk. Once he entered it everyone knew he would not want to be disturbed.
After having seen the whole mansion he took his horse and travelled around the property. He came across space with two apartments looking building. They were for the maids and butlers as well as another worker. The two houses did not lose to the mansion when it came to sensing of style only when it came to size. He felt like they looked like apartments and each maid either lived alone or with some others in the apartment building.
Knowing the servants didn't stay in the mansion did worry him a lot however everything seemed organized and Jiaying seemed to have everything under her control.
He stopped by the pond where you could see goldfishes swim around and walked towards the pavilion in the middle of it. The pavilion did not look European at all but he liked the style anyway. He sat on the seats available and simply closed his eyes. The air was fresh. Everything was quiet except for the music of nature. Flowing water. Goldfishes swimming around in it. Rustling leaves. Then there was the smell of baked pie coming from the kitchen. Well, the pavilion was very near. Everything was near the mansion since there wasn't a bigger place for them. Since the whole property was small you could take a slow walk around it that would only last an hour.
He went back inside to his study room as he took a look at the documents regarding the property. Jiaying had put them in folders that clearly stated subjects like "Finances", "Property", "Contracts" etc. He only needed to read what was in them to understand the whole picture. He was richer than he had ever been but the money was also spent wisely. The workers worked only eight hours a day or night and got paid during holidays. Parents who had just gotten a child got paternity leave. Workers who had children but didn't have enough money to give them education could ask for Jiaying to pay for their school fees and everything else that was needed. They owned the property that they lived in. There were three bank accounts in total. The husband's, the wife's and the third was a savings account. His wife's income was roughly 4000 pounds a month. She split the money in even parts. 1/3 went to him and likewise for her and the rest would go to the savings account.
All this was simply possible because of Jiaying. In other words Rawdon's wife, in legal documents, were very good with finance. In the end he left that part to his wife. In the meantime, Rawdon tried to find work as a patrol officer and somehow got promoted into a police chief. While he was together with Becky Rawdon would constantly gamble for their living. However Jiaying frowned on gambling and banned it on their property. Rawdon wasn't feeling up to gambling anymore anyway. Instead he started to socialize more among common people. He didn't dress excessively when he saw that Jiaying often never wore her dresses that had pearls or diamonds on them and was made out of the finest fabric. His wife liked the simplicity and he liked the fact that she never judged him for his looks. Besides she seemed very happy when she was gardening. Even when she got dirty Rawdon thought that she was still the most beautiful woman in the world.
It was morning and Rawdon woke up with a feeling of coldness. He knew that his wife was already up. He went to the training hall as his wife sat in a strange position with closed eyes. Her pregnant stomach was poking out. Then she switched her pose and he could start feeling a bit of pain on his hips just looking at that split she was doing.
"Are you sure that the baby isn't getting hurt?", He said from the doorway.
She didn't open her eyes and simply replied:
"I am doing this so that it won't die during childbirth. By becoming more agile the baby's birth will become easier".
Her words couldn't be truer. For on the evening when their firstborn was born and he sat by her side despite the inappropriateness the baby only took two hours to be born. It had been a smoother birth than then the midwife had ever been used to see.
When Roland was born Rawdon loved the little boy immediately. The child who was curious about the world he was born in looked at his father with such expectant eyes. In the Rawdon hoped that he would never disappoint his child.
"Dearest wife, Roland is still only one years old".
"So, I learned to read when I was at that age".
"But still we cannot force a child to grow up so quickly".
The staring contest between them began.
"Fine, but he shall start learning the piano".
In the end, Roland kept his firstborn from being tortured by books but… not from the piano.