Oh, Darling Mine [Lady Dimitrescu] [REVIII]

Chapter IV

Spring, Year 1961.

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The cold winter season began to fade away as the early days of spring approached. The daughters could already feel it in the air, the first signs of warmth outside; still not warm enough for them to step out of the castle safely, but they knew it would be just a matter of time now. Their excitement was palpable.

And so, Alcina felt just as excited.

The first weeks of spring were spent preparing the vineyard for the upcoming seasons. Denise, probably the eldest of the maidens besides Tatiana, led the process. Felicia and (N) helped, whilst the other maids remained inside, cleaning the castle and cooking for the ladies.

Alcina oversaw the whole thing personally; standing deadly silent by the wooden fences, intimidating and imposing as she was with her unusual size, she analysed each and every move the maids made with her amber-tinted eyes.

Her stare remained mostly on a certain maiden, accompanied by the ghost of a smile tugging at her lips every once in a while, whenever her ears picked up the maid's singing—the slight breeze carried the melody around the place, filling the whole field with a nice, peaceful ambience. It seemed she didn't mind singing in front of an audience now; Alcina was quite pleased with that. The other maids would join her in her singing, as it happened that (N) sang a familiar tune to them, but Alcina only had eyes and ears for the (H/C)-haired woman: she sounded so beautifully with a choir.

Day after day, until the vineyard was deemed ready, Alcina Dimitrescu joined the maidens outside by the field, accompanied them, enjoying their singing and overseeing her vineyard come to life again—unbeknownst to the oblivious maids, Alcina would also ensure their safety from any lycans that dared disturb the calm atmosphere. She had already heard their growls and hunting calls during the night, and at the break of dawn; the Countess knew they got extremely aggressive during warmer seasons. She feared they would kill her maidens if she wasn't careful.

Yet, no incidents occurred—involving lycans that is.

Inside the magnificent Castle Dimitrescu, accidents began to happen; rare occurrences at first, that turned almost daily after just a couple of weeks.

Alcina grew tired of these incidents; however she knew she had to study into this further, as all accidents seemed to involve her favourite maiden, (N).

It all began one morning, as the Lady of the castle carried some documents to her private study. She walked casually through the castle's hallways; at one point she passed by the wine room. It got her attention how the door remained ajar, still; (N) never took so long cleaning the room, so her presence still there when the clock struck at midday filled Alcina with confusion. It soon turned into worry when she walked in, and immediately saw a pool of crimson wine staining the floor, with scattered pieces of glass all over. (N) knelt by the mess, and brushed it almost furiously with water and soap, cleaning it as best as she could.

"I am s-so sorry, my lady." She instantly apologized, not once meeting Alcina's gaze but definitely feeling her intense stare on her crouching figure. She had heard the lady come in, and her moment of silence as she took in the scene caused the maiden to grow quite nervous, in fact. "I didn't mean to... I think I didn't store the bottle properly and it must have fallen, or, maybe..."

"... Don't fret, dear—just make sure it won't happen again." Alcina cut her off softly, shaking her head a tad. It was just one broken bottle, and of regular wine at that; not much had gone to waste.