Aeliana was woken up by Flora the next morning. She rubbed her face against her teddy bear before groggily getting up from bed. Flora helped her brush her teeth and washed her up before she got dressed up in a white long sleeve peter pan collar shirt and a blue checkered tea-length skirt.
The shirt had a delicate design from the shoulder to the chest and the skirt had white ruffles at the bottom of the dress. Flora added a bow to her shirt and her hair that had a similar colour scheme to her skirt.
"Thank you Flora," Aeliana gently spoke as Flora added the final touches to her outfit.
"Of course my lady. Now, let's hurry along. There is a guest waiting for you."
Aeliana's eyes grew wide, "A guest? I never had a guest before."
Flora chuckled at her words, "It's someone you know, my lady."
She nodded at Flora's words and headed to the waiting room where the guest was at. Flora knocked on the door before opening it. Aeliana noticed there were two people sitting on the couch.
"Violet!" her eyes lit up at the sight of her friend.
Violetta turned to Aeliana and began to tear up, "E—Eli!!!" she cried out and jumped on her.
"What's wrong Violet? Why are you crying? Is it because of what happened yesterday?"
Violetta sniffled loudly and nodded, "I'm so glad you're okay! When I saw you in the water I was so scared for you!!"
Aeliana gently patted her back, trying to calm her down, "I'm fine Violet plus the pond isn't deep so I wouldn't drown either."
Violetta couldn't stop crying, hugging her tightly as she wept. Aeliana thought about her younger sister in her first life. There was a time when her sister wouldn't stop crying after she fell and scraped her knee while playing.
"Now now Violet, it's time to stop crying. Lady Aeliana is safe and sound. I'm sure you don't want to cry all day in front of your dear friend, do you?"
Aeliana then remembered there was another person in the room with them other than Flora. She brought her gaze over to her other guest and lightly gasped.
"Sir Oliver?"
"Hello my lady, I assume you are feeling all better now after that incident yesterday?" Oliver asked with a gentle smile.
"Ah yes, I'm alright!"
Aeliana turned to Violetta who was starting to calm down from her crying, "Violet, is Sir Oliver your father?"
Violetta blinked her tears away, reducing her sobs to only sniffles and hiccups, "Uh-huh, that's my daddy."
Aeliana remembered the time Oliver had mentioned his daughter to her as he escorted her back from her father's office.
"Violet wanted to meet you as soon as possible so I brought her here with me today," Oliver spoke, laughing lightly.
"You're her first friend so she kept asking me to bring her," he added on.
"Daddy I told you not to say anything!!" Violetta shouted in embarrassment, hitting her father on the chest but instead of feeling pain, Oliver just laughed.
Aeliana stared at the two; 'They do resemble each other quite similarly..'
"Now that you've seen Lady Aeliana feeling much better, why don't you two go and play?" Oliver suggested with a smile.
Aeliana and Violetta looked at each other before nodding. Aeliana took Violetta's hand and spoke,
"Do you want to go for a picnic outside?"
"Picnic!? Yes!!" Violetta's eyes brighten up, her face lit with excitement.
Flora chuckled, "I'll tell the chefs to prepare some snacks and drinks for your picnic."
Aeliana nodded, "Thank you Flora. Let's go find some books in the library to bring for the picnic, Violet!"
Violetta happily nodded and the two hurried off to the library after bidding Oliver goodbye. Oliver watched the two girls disappear from his sight before sighing to himself,
"Time to head back to work."
***
Aeliana brought Violetta to the library and greeted Loran. Loran glanced at Violetta and lightly laughed,
"Oh my, Lady Aeliana has brought a friend over! Welcome to the dukedom's library! I'm positively sure you will find the kind of books you want." he laughed before letting the girls search around the library.
"What kind of books do you want to read?" Aeliana asked Violetta as they looked through the selection of books.
Violetta hummed in reply before shrugging, "I'm not sure, maybe a fairy tale book."
"Oh! Then have you read this?"
Aeliana took out a book and handed it to Violetta. Violetta read the cover before shaking her head.
"I've never read this before. I'll try reading this then!"
Violetta took the book from her and then noticed a book on the shelf. She took it out and tapped on Aeliana's shoulder.
"Eli have you read this before? It's a really good book! If you haven't read it before you should try reading it."
Aeliana glanced at the book which read 'The Lost Girl In The Woods'. She cocked her head to the side before saying,
"I've never read this before. I'll give it a go then, thank you Violet."
Violetta giggled, "This is fun." she said.
"Hm? What is?"
"Exchanging books. I never got to do this before but it's really fun."
Aeliana stared at the book in her hands. She has never done this in her second life. In her first life, she used to exchange comics and novel recommendations with her friends. Looking back on it, she did miss that feeling.
"Eli? Is..something wrong?"
"Huh? Oh, it's nothing.. This is my first time too." Aeliana smiled, her eyes forming crescents.
She was really glad to have a friend now.
"I'm glad to have you as my friend, Violet." she sincerely said, her fingers lightly caressing the book title.
Violetta giggled and pulled her into a hug, "Me too Eli!! Let's be friends forever!"
'Friends forever...'
Aeliana chuckled at Violetta's words. There's no such thing as forever but hearing that made her heart warm. Perhaps she'll make an exception to this forever.