Chapter 149: Proper Friends
"I cannot stress enough how honored I feel that you have chosen me as the first lady to visit, Your Highness! The entire mansion has been in uproar since early morning, I haven’t been able to sit down up until now!"
Melania picked up the small pink porcelain cup from the round wooden table set in the middle of the terrace overlooking a marvelous winter garden and took a generous sip of the fragrant black tea.
Loraline had finally convinced her lady to start accepting invitations for tea and parties from the noble ladies in the Capital and, admitting her own growing sense of restlessness and boredom from staying in the palace all the time, Melania made a decision to follow her attendant’s advice and start going out to meet more people.
Alone, as always.
The first choice fell on the only daughter of Baron Frederick Tarran, young lady Felicity Tarran.
Felicity was a lively girl of twenty years of age, with long straight black hair always neatly gathered behind her neck with a silk blue ribbon which made her look older than she should have appeared if she had chosen to refresh her hairstyle.
She was astonishingly tall and skinny, almost sickly so, although her face was always radiant, her healthy complexion was definitely the one to die for, with a bright tint of pink never leaving her sunken cheeks. Felicity’s lips were thin but beautifully shaped and colored in an attractive shade of red, and her smile, however genuine, still managed to evoke a friendly feeling from anyone who had a chance to look at it.
Watching as young Lady Tarran could not stop smiling at her esteemed guest, Melania recalled the way she selected the first noble woman to meet the previous day. If only she knew that the princess simply chose her by picking her name from one of her summer hats, she was convinced that Felicity would not feel so honored anymore.
"You have a beautiful home, Lady Felicity. The garden looks enchanting. It feels like a blessing to be able to sit here so comfortably when it is so cold outside. I am envious and impressed."