Lady Felicia's opinion about the merchants was a common viewpoint shared by most of the upper aristocracy of the time.
According to them, the most prestigious job of the time was being a farmer, with many proverbs and sayings singing their praises.
Such as- 'It is the farmer who toils away in the field just to feed us and from them comes the strongest and best soldiers.'
They were then followed by the artisans who were respected for their craft and artistic talents, with the best of them even being called the architects of the gods.
While at the bottom of the barrel were the merchants, who were seen almost as leeches.
The prejudice was so strong that there were even instances where fathers would refuse to marry their daughters into such families, even if the latter was very wealthy.
Simply because of the social faux pas.
Adhania too had these conceptions, but nowhere this strong.