You follow the tall woman out of the door, noticing how she still has to bend down despite the entrance being quite high and again the thought crosses your mind, how she even grew to such an height.
Lady Dimitrescu waits for you as the door falls close and you hurry to walk up to her.
,,I really wish I could take my daughters on a walk these days, the weather is perfect", Lady Dimitrescu says with a light sigh and she raises her eyes up to the blue sky.
,,Why don't you?", you ask and glance up to her, secretly admiring how the lightning makes her facial features, her cheekbones and jaw appear more prominent.
,,They can't really handle the cold", she replies, looking up to three little clouds that are floating over the blue like sheep on a meadow and a smile shows up on her crimson lips ,,But once it will get warmer they'll be able to come outisde with me again".
,,I'm positive that that won't take long, it's almost spring after all", you say while looking at the melting snow that is dripping from the leaves and she nods.
,,I think so too, yes".
As you walk next to her, Lady Dimitrescu tells you a little about the things you're seeing and the castle, which paths are safe to take and which to avoid, how to get back to the village and how to find the way back if you ever happen to get lost.
It seems like she really knows the woods around the castle and you wonder if she spends a lot of time out here.
The further you both walk, you start to loose attention to what Lady Dimitrescu is saying and instead you just watch her talk.
You notice how she is expressing herself with her hands, pointing to the things she's talking about, her facial expressions changing whenever she talks about a different location and portraying the feelings the places give her, and you start to smile without even noticing it.
There is something about her that makes you truly drawn to her, you're not sure what exactly it is but in this moment everything about her seems just so utterly mesmerizing.
Now Lady Dimitrescu points over to a rather dark looking part of the woods where tall spruces prevent even a hint of sunshine to reach the ground and you concentrate on her words again, feeling a little guilty for not listening.
,,You can't really see it but in between all these trees is a beautiful lake with a small waterfall. I've always told my daughters about it but I didn't want them to go there because I feared they might get lost. So I made up some stories about a creature that lives in those deep waters so that they would loose interest", she speaks and pulls her arm back.
,,But when my girls heard of these stories when they were younger, I wasn't even able to leave them alone over night because they were frightened that monster would show up. And now they love going there when it's warm", Lady Dimitrescu says with a light chuckle and she looks down to you, but your eyes are fixed on the path now and you think about what she said, not realizing how she is softly smiling at you.
The thoughts of the morning come back again after her mentioning staying while her daughters were sleeping and you are thinking about asking her, quickly tossing that idea to the side since it would probably would come around a little weird.
Lady Dimitrescus silence leaves you slightly confused and you look up to her, not expecting her to stare down to you with a glimpse of curiosity in her amber eyes.
,,Do you have a question, Y/N? I can see that you are thinking",
,,You can see that I'm thinking?", you repeat and she nods with a tilted head.
,,It's very obvious, dear. You always start staring and fiddling with your clothes".
Only now you also notice that you're twirling the white cords of your dress between your fingers and let go of them with furrowed eyebrows.
,,Tell me what's on your mind", she says, sounding rather amused.
,,…were you there whole night?", you ask quietly after a bit of hesitation and the woman starts to smile.
,,Well, what answer are you hoping for?", she replies and really catches you off guard with that.
,,Uhm… I don't know", you say but in your heart you know exactly what you want to hear.
You want her to say that she was there. For whatever reason.
Lady Dimitrescu chuckles and places a hand on your shoulder.
,,I was there, yes", she runs a finger over the bare skin of your neck and a shiver crawls over your back ,,I was worried about you waking up to an empty room in the middle of the night, so I stayed".
,,Oh", you lower your eyes on the path under your feet and a feeling that you can't quite grasp spreads in your whole body ,,Thank you".
,,There's no need to thank me, Y/N", she says and continues her light caress on your neck ,,A home should always provide comfort. I'm just glad I could give you a little piece of that back after your constant nightmares".
'You sure did' you think and then the gates of the castle are back in sight or as you could call it now, thanks to Lady Dimitrescu: home.
In the evening you join Yvone and Mikaela for Dinner and listen to them talk about their day. Nothing truly special happened and they are quick to ask you about what you've been up to, but instead of telling them you were on a walk you panic and stare at them for a moment, what causes Yvone to raise her eyebrows in suspicion.
,,Okay, what did you do? Did you get into trouble?".
'I mean, I almost did' you think.
,,Not really, no", you shake your head ,,I almost left the castle without permission because i didn't know I needed to ask beforehand but beside that…".
,,Did we forget to mention that?", Mikaela asks and you nod.
,,I'm sorry", she then says with an apologetic look and Yvone raises eher eyebrows.
,,Who caught you? Vaela?".
You shake your head again and roll a pea over your table with the fork in your hand. ,,Not really. It was... Lady Dimitrescu".
,,Holy Mother, how do you always get away with stuff like this?", Mikaelas eyes widen ,,First you try to steal and she offers you a job and a place to stay, then you run into the basement and face no consequences, now this…".
,,You could literally just walk into her bedroom without knocking and she'd invite you in for a glass of wine", Yvone chuckles and you just nod slowly, ignoring the fact that something similar to that already happened.
,,She has her favorites", Mikaela giggles and Yvone sends her a critical look.
,,And by that you mean her daughters, herself and Y/N?".
,,Guys, I'm not her favorite", you say and now both of them eye you with raised brows. Clearly they don't believe you.
,,Hm, when was the last time I had dinner with the Dimitrescus?", Yvone exclaims in a sarcastic tone ,,Right! Never".
,,Okay but that was probably because Y/N didn't exactly get to the castle on the usual way", Mikaela defends you and you let out a sigh.
,,Let's just drop this, okay? I was outside, it was nice and that's it".
,,And we'll be able to enjoy the good weather in a minute too", Yvone says and pushes her chair back to get up ,,We're done with working for today".
,,That's great!", you smile at them and raise from your seat as well ,,I'll see you tomorrow then. Leave the plates, I'll bring them into the kitchen".
,,Oh, thanks", Mikaela sends you a nod of appreciation and they both say in unison: ,,See you tomorrow, Y/N".
After returning to your room you take a quick shower and freshen yourself up a little, to then follow your plan to get new reading material.
You close the door behind you and make your way along the hallway, following the darker getting corridor to the library.
After stepping one foot into the room you sense a movement to your left and a wide grin grows on your face when you spot Daniela on her armchair, legs hanging over the side of it and a book in her hand.
The fireplace is burning and the usual sound of the flames crinkling fills the air which you now interrupt.
,,Hey", you say and the girl darts her eyes up, her lips curling upwards as she sits up straight and she places a finger between the pages of her book to prevent it from falling close.
,,Good evening. I already wondered if you would show up today".
,,Well, here I am", you say with a smile and hold the book up ,,And I also have to bring this back. And get something new".
,,Are you gonna… stay here?", Daniela asks and you send her a quick nod before you disappear in the maze of bookshelves, to come out five minutes later with a new roman.
,,Beside reading, are there any other things you can really do here?", you ask the redhaired girl in curiosity as you sit down and she looks up from her book.
,,Of course. Mother has several instruments that you could teach yourself play, there are utils for painting and when the weather is nice you could garden. And if it is warm enough, obviously", Daniela says and laughs lightly ,,Never tell anyone I told you this, but in the summer Cassandra likes to go around the garden, find pretty flowers and make them into little crowns that she'll wear until she sees someone. Then she always rips them off her head and hides them behind her back".
,,…Really?", you furrow your eyebrows and she nods.
It is hard to see the girl with the sadistic tendencies as anything else than utterly terrifying.
,,I mean, she has her special interests. But don't we all?", Daniela sighs and looks at you with an apologetic expression in her eyes ,,Speaking of which, I've never apologized for suggesting that we should… Well, hang you up. So… I'm sorry. I don't regret that we didn't do that.
,,Whatever. That was two weeks ago", you say and can't help the little laugh.
,,I still feel a bit bad about it", Daniela shrugs and then her eyes light up ,,Wait, I'll go and get something for us".
She raises from her armchair. ,,When I come back you'll better still be here".
,,I won't move an inch", you say with raised hands and watch her curiously as she heads out of the door.
What could she possibly be doing now?
For the few minutes you are waiting for her to return you open the first page of the book and start reading, leaning back into the soft material of your armchair, yet you forget all the words once your eyes wandered over them and you're stuck thinking about something completely else.
The thought that you might be one of Lady Dimitrescus favorites sounds way too appealing to you and you can't really fight smiling at the possibility.
How bad can it be if she likes you a little more? There is nothing negative about it, really.
But why would she even like you more?
,,I'm back", the voice of Daniela then disturbs your daydreaming and you furrow your eyebrows as she comes over to you with two bottles of wine in her hands and two glasses tucked between her fingers.
,,So, just to add a little more to the atmosphere", she says and fills a glass before handing it to you ,,I brought a sweet one for you, I hope you like it".
A bunch of pages, words, sentences and two glasses of wine later, you watch Daniela pour you another one and you stare at the dark red liquid with slightly squinted eyes.
,,This isn't infused with blood, is it?", you ask and Daniela shakes her head with a laugh.
,,Nope, but isn't it a bit too late to ask that question now?".
,,A little, maybe", you grin and look over to her bottle ,,Why do your sisters, you and your mother even consume that?".
,,Because if we don't we get sick and feel very unwell", Daniela shrugs as she drops down on her seat ad props her legs over the side of her armchair again ,,I don't know exactly why we are weakened when we don't drink it, that's where you would have to ask my mom".
,,I should probably not do that", you say with little laugh and raise your glass to your lips ,,But thank you for telling me".
,,No problem".
Daniela turns her attention back to her book, her drink in the other hand and you watch her for a few seconds, before you continue reading as well.
Though not even two minutes later you are back to talking and now you're going after your usual activity of reading quotes out to each other, giggling over the funny ones and attentively taking in the ones that were written in such a smart way that you have to think about it a few more times to completely understand.
At this point you surely aren't sober anymore and you feel happy about the fact that this is your first time ever drinking, it is nothing like you had expected it to be. It's fun, calm and with a good friend, not alone on a cold kitchen floor as you thought it would happen.
Daniela is right in the middle of reading a quote out to you when the door opens and a wide, crooked grin grows on your face as you watch Lady Dimitrescu who now enters the library. You stare at her rather shamelessly and as if this is the first time in your life that you're seeing this woman, the only, halfway straight thought you can grasp is how incredibly gorgeous she is.
,,There you are", the woman says and sends her daughter a light smile ,,I was searching for you. We are having a meeting now, just so you know."
,,Okay", Daniela nods and looks over to you for a second, before she starts giggling and Lady Dimitrescu raises her eyebrows.
,,Love, what are you laughing about?".
,,Nothing", Daniela clears her throat ,,Nevermind. We won't interrupt your meeting. Do Bela and Cassandra know? Or…".
,,They do, yes", the woman nods and sends you a shor glance ,,I won't disturb you any longer. Have fun".
,,Thank you, we already do", Daniela says and you give the tall woman a little wave to which she responds with a soft smile.
Then she turns around and leaves the two of you alone again.
Once the sounds of Lady Dimitrescus heels faded away, Daniela lets out a deep sigh and you raise an eyebrow.
,,What's wrong?".
,,They always have these meetings and I am dying to know what they talk about", Daniela sighs ,,My sisters and I are never allowed to be there, but they also don't exactly care what they discuss. Sometimes I'm thinking about listening through the door to find out…".
,,Why don't you just do that?", you ask, interrupting her.
,,I don't want to do that on my own, you know?".
,,Well then, what's a book buddy good for beside reading?", you reply ,,Doing stuff they actually shouldn't do".
,,Are you saying that we should go down there and spy on them?", Daniela squints her eyes and you nod.
She smiles widely and jumps up from her armchair. ,,Then let's go!".
{A/N: Hi peeps! I just wanted to speak out a gigantic thank you to every single one of you who is reading this. It means the whole world to me and I honestly didn't think that so many people would enjoy this story. So again, thank you so so much for the support <333}