The next day, the sun was already high in the sky and Henry Clark still hadn’t woken up. Grace Reed was extremely worried and couldn’t help but keep checking if he was still breathing. Seeing this, William Carter said, “If you’re really that idle, go sweep the yard.”

Grace Reed said, “Young Lord, the young master has been sleeping for six hours already. Is that really normal?”

William Carter didn’t care: “Patients do tend to sleep more.” Before Grace Reed could breathe a sigh of relief, he added, “But he really does sleep a lot. Was he always this sleep-deprived before?”

Grace Reed shook her head. “No, the young master is frail and has been bedridden for years. He’s always slept whenever he felt tired.”

William Carter seemed thoughtful at her words.

Henry Clark didn’t wake up until late afternoon. William Carter was called to his bedside to receive his thanks: “Doctor Carter, if it weren’t for you last night, I wouldn’t even know how I died.”

William Carter saw that he looked much better and didn’t bother to be polite: “You would have died of illness, of course.”

“Such a great favor—I have nothing to repay you with. I’ve decided, I’ll do something troublesome and difficult for you.”

William Carter replied indifferently, “No need. Just say a few less words before you sleep.”

“Hm?” Henry Clark smiled, “Am I being disliked for talking too much…”

As they spoke, Alice Ford came in to report, “Young master, young lord, Third Miss is here.”

The “Third Miss” Alice Ford mentioned was Henry Clark’s younger sister, whom William Carter had not yet met.

Henry Clark thought for a moment and said slowly, “Third Miss… what is she here for?”

William Carter said, “Naturally, she’s here to visit you since you’re ill—I’ll leave you siblings alone.”

Henry Clark tugged at his sleeve, “Look at how impatient you are. I never said I wanted to see her.”

Alice Ford was surprised, “Young master, you don’t want to see Third Miss? You two have always been the closest. I saw that Third Miss even brought a kneepad she made herself, surely to give to you. She came by yesterday too, but when she heard you were asleep, she went back first.”

William Carter didn’t have a good impression of the people from the Marquis of Nan’an’s household, but Henry Clark wasn’t him. A younger sister coming to visit several times—how could an older brother just ignore her?

William Carter said, “If you don’t see her this time, she’ll just come again next time. She’s your own sister, what are you hiding from?”

“I’m not hiding, I just can’t be bothered to put on an act and exchange empty pleasantries.” Henry Clark thought for a moment, then said, “How about this, Alice Ford, go tell her I’m dead.”

With that, Henry Clark turned over, showing everyone a lonely and stubborn back.

Chapter 5

After a few days of careful care, at least on the surface, Henry Clark seemed much better. William Carter thought he could try getting out of bed and walking a bit. Henry Clark took his advice, got out of bed, managed a few difficult steps, felt weak all over, and lay back down, saying with perfect composure, “Nothing in the world is hard if you’re willing to give up. I choose to give up.”

William Carter asked him, “Are you planning to spend the rest of your days lying in bed?”

Henry Clark: “What’s wrong with that?”

William Carter: “…Nothing, go ahead and lie down.”

A firm believer in diligent study and hard work, William Carter couldn’t stand Henry Clark’s half-dead appearance and didn’t step into the room all day—out of sight, out of mind.

That day was the day for the new bride to return to her family.

William Carter was unwilling to admit he was the “new bride,” but he did miss his family. Though he’d only been away for a few days, it felt like years.

Early in the morning, Madam Liang sent a steward to Lan Feng Pavilion. Under the steward’s arrangements, the servants brought over two chests of gifts, saying the madam wanted the young lord to take them back to his family.

Grace Reed, still young and outspoken, said, “What, only two chests? Even a maid returning home would get more than this.”

The steward smiled apologetically, “Miss Grace Reed, you don’t understand. The number of gifts a new bride brings home depends on how much dowry she brought when she married in. Since the young lord brought little dowry into the house, naturally the return gifts are few as well.”

This was true. When William Carter’s parents prepared his dowry, he insisted on bringing as little as possible, preferably nothing at all. The antiques and treasures his father prepared, the fine porcelain, the gold, silver, and jewels his mother set aside, the deeds to good farmland—he took none of it. Bringing those things to the Marquis of Nan’an’s household would only sully the Lin family’s possessions.

William Carter knew well that his parents never cared about such material things; all they wanted was his safety and happiness. He said, “There’s no need to bring these two chests either.”

The steward was stunned, thinking he’d misheard: “Young lord, you mean…”

“Leave them for the marquis and madam to use at their leisure.”

Though Grace Reed wasn’t married yet, she knew that the new bride’s return to her family was a matter of face. She tried to persuade William Carter, “Young lord, you should at least take a little. If a new bride really goes home empty-handed, people will gossip and point fingers.”

“Has the Lin family not been gossiped about enough?” William Carter said coolly. “Let them talk.”

In this dynasty, male-male relationships were common; most noble families kept a few male concubines, and even the emperor had one or two male consorts in his harem. But men were still men—they couldn’t bear children, so they could never be the principal wife.

According to Dayu law, it was one man and one woman, one husband with one wife and multiple concubines. If it hadn’t been to save Henry Clark’s life, and for the words of the national preceptor, the emperor would never have broken ancestral custom to grant a marriage between two men.