"Lady Valerie," Martin called her attention while Valerie was at the patio looking at the lavender flowers they planted. "Your friends are here."
“Friends?” Valerie echoed, wrinkling her nose. She hadn’t thought that the previous duchess would have any friends to call her own, since no one looked for her when she went missing— other than Martin, of course. Hence, she got curious to see who these people were. “Lead the way, Martin.”
Valerie followed Martin as they went to the great hall and saw three familiar-looking women standing together. Three women wore the same sack-back gown pastel-colored floral silks as their outfit.
"It's been a while since the last time I saw you, Va—" the woman who wore an orange sack-back gown that had a tight bodice with a low-cut square neckline, with a large ribbon at the front, made a slip of her tongue and corrected herself. "I mean, Duchess."
