Marriage in the high society - a dangerous business

He stepped into the bar with a sullen heart. Being the heir to one of the wealthiest families in Las Vegas seemed like a dream everyone would wish for, but it was a burden weighing Martins down. Martins looked throughout the room with a furrowed eyebrow. The place was crowded with tons of unbothered people, reeking of liquor and lust.

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He shut his eyes firmly and slowly opened them before rubbing his temple and decided to sit in a corner which he had just sighted. As against the lousy-filled room, the corner seems like an extension out of the world, just like he loved it. Usually, he wouldn’t visit a place like this. At his regular bars, he was a VIP but on days when being an heir was tiring, he would opt in for a ghetto-like bar where his status wasn’t so apparent.

"What can I get you?" a young lady asked. He had not even noticed when she got that close to him.

"Just beer," he said, and she nodded with a mild smile.

He looked around the bar, shaking his head gently to the buzzing sound of the music while he waited for his drink, and just across the room, he saw a redhead.

His heart heaved in his chest at the sight of the young beautiful lady with long red curly hair. This was the kind of feeling he hadn’t felt in a very long time which was one of the reasons his father was denying him transfer of his wealth. Unless he brings home a wife.

Martins never saw himself being a family man and had always been nonchalant about his father’s demands which only made his mum sad every single day but staring at that stranger at that moment, a flash of having a happy home with someone he loved flashed through his eyes.

“Your drink,” the lady came back with his beer, interrupting his thoughts and he quickly blinked away from the red hair from across the room.

“Uhmm… thanks,” he said.

Martins took a large gulp of his drink before standing up and without a second thought, he walked over to the lady.

Thankfully, she was sitting alone which made the whole process easy for him. This was the first time in his thirty-six years of living to walk up to a lady well except when he was in second grade.

As Martins approached her, he could see her well enough. Her Brown skin glistened under the bright light. Her red hair complimenting her skin and her curly bangs resting on her forehead just made him conclude she was the most beautiful young lady he had ever seen.

“Hello,” he said, and as she looked up at him, beaming from ear to ear with a broad smile, Martins could feel his knees weaken.

“Hello,” she replied softly.

Her voice sounded so soft and repressing his hard life. Her soft voice filled his ears, and he could imagine it resounding in his ears for days. Just hello from her fine lips made his mouth water.

“Can I be honored to have a sit with an angel?”

“Oh, come on. Don’t flatter me but sure, you can have a sit,” she replied.

“I like your red hair by the way,”

“I call it ginger,” she replied softly.

“Then ginger it is,” he smiled.

He sat and stared into her brown eyes. ‘God! She is so beautiful!’ he thought.

He wasn’t so good at starting a conversation but he wanted to try his best with this one, so he started. “Do you come by here often?”

“No, I don’t. I was waiting for someone but looks like I’m being stood up,” she smiled but this time, the smile didn't look genuine.

“If I may ask who’s the asshole who stood you up?” He never cussed but the beer in him was pushing it.

“A friend,”

“I guess you need to have a new friend then,” I asserted.

“And who would that be?”

“Who it be prideful of me to suggest myself?” she giggled, and he smiled.

“It would be just right,”

Martins wants to get to know her more. He wants to know if she was always this friendly with everyone or if it’s just that she sees the same thing in him as he sees in her.

“What’s your name, Gorgeous?”

“Rissa,”

“I’m Martins,”

“It feels like ages sees I’ve seen anyone with that name,”

“Is that a compliment or I should be offended?” Martins asked with a creased brow.

“Oh, no no. I mean no offense. I was just being genuine. I really haven’t heard that name in a while,”

“Do not plead, beautiful. You can do no wrong,” he said, and she smiled. As the bar door opened, she looked in the direction and nodded. The plan was invoked.

Societal expectation of the wealthy marrying within their class

Martin had no idea his family had set him up with Rissa. She came from a family with means, and she was only allowed to catch the bigger fish. This way, her family will join forces with other powerful families and continue to have influence in the society.

Judging from Martins' weak heart, his family had known the one person he would be attracted to in a bar filled with other ladies would be one who came off as lonely and heartbroken. Rissa was trained to create the scenario to attract Martins to her. The plan worked.

When I read the 48 Laws of Power for the first, the first thing that stood out to me was the part where Robert Greene explained the tragedy that took place between Michael III and his stableboy friend, Basilius. Michael was oddly attracted to him because he saved his life and from that moment on, he supplied the boy with favors to keep the relationship going.

It happened that Basilius never had enough, he felt entitled to everything Michael gave and he kept asking for more. Michael did give and give until he ran out of supplies and when he asked for repayment, he received the shocking revelation of his life. His supposed best friend who was once a stable boy had surpassed him in power. According to Robert Greene, Michael had more friends in the army, more allies, more money, and more power than the emperor himself.

When Michael noticed the extremely entitled nature of his friend, he should have drawn the line, but he did not. He thought that all of the favors he showered on him would be handsomely rewarded someday, somehow. It was only after he had his head brandished at the end of a long spike that he realized his mistake.

This story should have meant a completely different thing to me, but it did not. Instead, it reminded me of a Japanese movie I saw as a child. I never clearly understood the film but one scene never left my memory. It's the scene where the King told his heir;

A king has no friends.

I can't truly remember if he said a King has no friend or shouldn't ever have one, but I clearly understood it better when I read that chapter.

If you read the story I presented above, you might be upset and angry at the tendency for the rich to always want to marry the rich. It's the delicate nature of life. If you look closely, you will see that when a rich person picks up a poor one and tries to set them up, what he receives is never loyalty. His rewards are often ingratitude. But mingle with people who are in the same class as you, you will gain respect and reciprocity.

It's not anyone's fault. It's the ultimate way of life. It takes someone who is on the same level as you to know what it will cost to mess something up. If someone has nothing to lose, they will pull you down to their level. I guess this is why, Robert Greene also advised us to always avoid the unhappy and the unlucky. In his words,

You might think you are helping the drowning man but you are only precipitating your own disaster. The 48 Laws of Power: Greene, Robert

If you ever feel angry about the high society and how they marry up and not down, then, channel that anger into making something out of yourself. This way you too will be among the echelon of the wealthy and create a pathway for your unborn children to inherit. Instead of hoping to marry your children off to rich folks who could still look down upon them based on their philosophy, wake up, take your financial education seriously, build the necessary wealth bank, and create a better future for your heirs.

To bring my story to a close, after paying the bills, Martin and Rissa walked out of the bar for a walk. With the cold night breeze and a beautiful lady by his side, there was nothing much he could have wished for. They walked for hours, getting to know each other and within those few hours, he could conclude that he was willing to spend his entirety with her.