Cara zia

[Circe Catanzaro]

Married before eighteen? Circe resisted the urge to raise her eyebrows. Sure, her mother had married when she was thirteen (and she was pretty sure they had lied about her age for that to happen) but she hardly wanted to follow on her footsteps!

“I would hardly want to marry someone before I am mature enough to do so!” Circe commented. That was true, in a way. If she was a man she wouldn’t want to marry a girl who was practically a child. Of course, Circe would be inheriting a lot of money, but she wasn’t going to share it with some man that easily.

  

[Louisa Volta]

"You may think you are too young now, but in a few years you will not," Louisa assured her niece "Obviously one does not marry the first man who takes an interest - unless he is a marquess or a duke and you are madly in love with him - but marriage is so wonderful." Louisa was smiling. Although her marriage wasn't the best, she was completely oblivious to the fact. And she was completely in love with her husband, so any discussion of marriage ever made her smile like a gormless goon.

"Marriage gives you position, money and companionship," Lou continued "The earlier the better really, because unfortunately not all women are as lucky as me to inherit wealth. Even if it did come with the rules and regulations of an entail."

Oh, how her darling Circe was going to benefit from her guidance! Louisa didn't know a lot, but she knew about things like fashion and social stuff.

  

[Circe Catanzaro]

Circe certainly wouldn’t mind marrying a Duke or an Earl. But only if it was an easily gullible Duke or Earl. She was not going to marry someone only to be bound to him to the rest of her life. She didn’t want to be anyone’s servant. She didn’t want to obey to some strict old man who would try to control what she are and what she wore.

“I suppose I am one of lucky women,” Circe commented at her aunt’s words. She added more ‘sadly’: “Despite the cost of that wealth.”

In two years’ time, she’d be a wealthy woman. And Amadeo’s fortune wasn’t even tied to a title or something like that. She could live a comfortable life as a wealthy heiress if she wanted to. If she ever married, then she’d do it either because she loved the man or because of his title. She rather liked the sound of Duchess Circe.

  

[Louisa Volta]

"I know." Lou replied, frowning and once again patting her niece's hand. She was slightly ashamed of herself for getting so off topic. It had been nice to see Circe smile though, despite her recent heartbreak. Perhaps that would be a plan for the future though, whenever Circe found herself overcome with emotion, Lou could cheer her up by distracting her.

Which was what she decided to do then.

"But still," Louisa carried on, brightening her tone but not too much "marriage brings companionship and position. It also allows a lady to leave the house on her own, which I must admit is very exciting!" Louisa grinned, but then her face fell into a look of horror as she suddenly felt as if she had admitted something scandalous. "Not that I take advantage of that privilege!" she blurted, "Not ever, not in the slightest!"

  

[Circe Catanzaro]

Circe felt only the slightest need to break into laughter when she witnessed her aunt’s terror. She didn’t suspect at all that her aunt might have taken advantage of her freedoms. She just didn’t look like that kind of woman. Besides, when people did bad things they didn’t proceed to excuse themselves for them. In fact, they usually tried to not mention them at all!

“Of course not, auntie!” Circe rushed to assure the woman with a reassuring smile. “Never would have I suspected such a thing! But I understand what you mean. It must surely be nice to go to a shop without needing someone accompanying you just to protect you! Then again, bad things happen to women no matter their marital status.” But to most people, kissing a man before marriage was more serious than being killed or worse.

  

[Louisa Volta]

Louisa sighed in relief. Having just met her wonderful niece, it would not be best to give her the wrong impression of her aunt. It would not be fair to dear Circe, she had to know that her Aunt Louisa was a woman of good morals who would not lead her astray. Which was true, Lou would always point Circe in the right direction; assist her niece to the best of her abilities and help her every step of the way until either the day she married or reached spinsterhood. However, Lou thought Circe far too pretty and far too rich to end up being a spinster.

Smiling at Circe, Lou continued with, "It is. And while I do not often choose to roam by myself, it is extremely convenient to be able to should the need arise." Though now that she had Circe, if she ever needed a new dress or anything like that and Eliana wasn't available - or even if she was - she now had company and most outings could now suddenly be fantastic bonding sessions.

ooc: urgh I'm sooooo sorry it took me a month to post this, I had half the post already written for ages, I don't know why I didn't just finish it and post

  

[Circe Catanzaro]

“We should go for an outing together, sometime!” Circe commented with a smile. She wanted to see London and that magical town, Hogsmeade. And whatever other places her aunt went to. In any case, she didn’t want to be shut at home all the time. It was a nice and big house, but Circe would surely quickly get bored of it if she couldn’t visit other places.

  

[Louisa Volta]

"That sounds like a wonderful idea!" Louisa replied enthusiastically "We could go for dress fittings in Hogsmeade and in London too! And possibly even Paris if your uncle allows it. Although we might save that particular outing until we get your coming out dress." Oh, how exciting this all was! Louisa was so excited already!

"In the meantime though, I suppose we'll just have to settle with getting regular mourning dresses." Although it would be so sad for Louisa to see her darling Circe in all black, social rules existed about these things.

  

[Circe Catanzaro]

Ugh, mourning dresses. It wasn’t that Circe even minded black, but she wanted to wear more than just black! She’d be boring if she had to wear black all the time. At least it’d only last for a year. And she could wear gray and lavender around January too.

“You’re too kind, Auntie Louisa,” Circe said. “I hope that we’ll become great friends!”