The Mafia's Obsession

Chapter 3: The Carriage

We're gonna pretend Harvey Specter is a Shakespearean character for this chapter :)

Principessa Valeria Rossi

"Principessa, I heard Signore Giuseppe Romano will be having your first dance at the ball tonight," Zio Alfonso stopped me as soon as I, alongside my ladies in waiting, descended downstairs the grand double staircase, ready to go to the Romano Manor. "Your mamma will not be pleased."

All the maids and servants in the foyer quickly stopped what they were doing to curtsy before they went back to their duties. The soldati remained still, though.

"Fortunately for mamma, my dance card is not full at all," I smiled back, stopping quickly to greet Zio Alfonso with my ladies in waiting stopping one step behind me.

Giuseppe was one of my closest friends and although there had been something more between us once, that wasn't the case anymore. Mamma didn't believe me though, and as much as she loved Giuseppe, she had been trying her hardest to set me up with Sir Philip Collins, her friend's son who was knighted recently.

My pink dress dragged on the floor behind me, and the clanking sounds of my earrings - the family diamonds, only made me head to the mirror nearby to look at myself. I knew I was going to look good beforehand, so the reflection staring back at me did not come by as a surprise. As someone who regularly attended fancy, white tie events, looking my best was nothing new for me.

I knew I was too confident in myself, but at the end of the day, I knew I looked good. The gold accents the palace was laced with even further enhanced the glow of my dress, as I could tell with the slight reflection on one of the windows. Even though it was evening time, the palace was very much lit up.

"You look lovely, your highness," Lady Asha, my lady in waiting, commented.

These ladies were more than just that. They were my friends but of course, on nights as formally important as this one, proper protocol had to be followed.

I stared at my reflection, checking myself out by the second. It was perfect: the hair, the dress, and even the shoes - oh, I loved the shoes. But, there was something missing. I didn't have a tiara, just some diamonds that I wore in my hair.

"Thank you, Asha. I do hope Principe Alanzo is there. I shall be very happy if he asks me to accompany him for a dance even once," I hoped.

I had never truly talked to Principe Alanzo but he was charming as ever. Every girl in high society dreamed of being his Principessa.

"And you are thinking of wearing a tiara tonight, are you not?" My other lady in waiting, Lady Giulia, remarked. "How can you expect him to come to you when you look like you are an engaged woman?"

"I do not have a ring, that is how," I laughed.

"That may be so but I shall make sure you do not present yourself as a woman that is spoken for. You must find a husband!" Lady Asha scolded. "You are looking forward to this ball, I am sure, partly because this is the season the principessa must find a husband."

She was correct, I was looking forward to this season but it was not only because I hoped to find a husband. Of course, I hoped I would because the people had started to expect their principessa to be married soon but not just that. It would make my mamma very happy. But I would not settle and as much as I hoped to find a husband at one of the balls this season, I would only marry him if I truly loved him.

"I am quite excited to see who I fall for, hopefully this season. I hope to have a match as lovely as Lord Alberta and yourself," I turned to Lady Alberta, previously Miss. De Marzo, who had just gotten married last season.