#with........vitoria

It was a curious thing, the amount of unions and courtships happening between the noble classes of London and the merchant class, although this one was not quite as disappointing as Nalan had recently felt with it all. This time, it was the brother of a viscount and a print shop worker, now elevated into the order of the peerage by the sheer power of love apparently. As a guest and at the tail end of his own scandal, Nalan put his best smile on and turned up his charm as he approached the newly married Mrs Bruce. “Allow me to offer you and your new husband my congratulations, you have both certainly made the most enterprising of matches and I wish you both nothing but good fortune.” It took everything Nalan had not to laugh at his own words, from the enterprising match which was the clear swipe at Vitoria’s profession and fortune given the Bruce’s lack of such a thing. Even to himself, Nalan fancied himself as quite humorous indeed, even if only he was aware of his jibe. “Is this everything you have dreamed of, Mrs Bruce, now that you will no longer be printing society papers but you will not be involved in it, even if your husband is just the brother of the viscount?” There was still an unmarried sister of the viscount, or even the viscount himself, but if Nalan would consider either of them, he knew his family fortune would be a welcomed addition, if only it was not for his own scandals.

Since the engagement of Miss Vitoria and Nathaniel Bruce, the whole of London had been envious at such a match, mostly because the mothers had already pictured their own daughters with him but instead he defied society and fell for a woman such as Vitoria. It was not hard to see why such a thing happened, Vitoria had a kind heart and while she had no title or nobility, Sophia could see her heart was pure. Knocking on the woman's modest dwelling, Sophia practically barged her way in when the door was opened, her own private modiste following with different pieces of fabric in her arms, struggling while Sophia walked through with ease. “I hope you forgive the intrusion but ever since I heard of your engagement I simply had to do something and what is a better gift than a wedding dress, something that will drive the women of London mad with envy!” It was quite the imposition, given the amount of fabrics Sophia had requested for various fabric samples from white, pale lilac to other colours she thought would suit Vitoria’s complexion. Sophia’s eyes sparked with mischievous delight as the modiste began setting up, looking for a decent mirror for Vitoria to possibly admire herself in as the fabrics would be draped over her. “Come, let us see which of these will make your future husband want to ravish you there and then!” Such worlds were scandalous but Sophia did not care, there would be a wedding and surely such thoughts had already crossed a future bride’s mind and Sophia was wanting to potentially put her friend’s mind at ease, unsure of her circumstances.