Oh, Darling Mine [Lady Dimitrescu] [REVIII]

Chapter VII

Summer, Year 1961.

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Lady Dimitrescu tapped her heel against the marble floor impatiently, her gaze watching the path to her castle's main entrance intently, almost without blinking. The Duke would be arriving soon, but she couldn't wait any longer.

The night that [N] told her about her whole family being tailors and seamstresses, she also mentioned her only family's business being a tailoring shop; whenever her parents had to work at the shop, her grandmother—also a now-retired seamstress—took care of her. Most times the two could be found playing around with the grandmother's porcelain dolls collection, and on more than one occasion [N] asked her granny to teach her how to sew. With time, she became just as good of a seamstress as her grandmother was, and began helping around the shop.

The maiden told her as well, to have denied her mother's offer of taking over the family's business definitely—she had seen an announcement by then, one that spoke of a royal lady requesting new maidens to work at her castle, located at a nearby village. Although she missed her old life with her family and the tailoring shop, [N] confessed to have not once regretted her decision of leaving everything behind to work at the Lady's castle.

She firmly stated to have found happiness within the castle's walls, and wouldn't dream of ever leaving.

Needless to say, Alcina had no words to describe what she felt after hearing such a confession. Elation, excitement; a mix of many an emotion that had her staring at the maiden almost with tears in her eyes. Hearing [N] declaring her fondness for her and her own daughters made her heart stop beating for a few good seconds.

Ever since that night, Alcina couldn't stop smiling. And her smiles only grew every time she saw [N]—she acted almost giddily around her, perhaps even with a hint of nervousness that she knew how to hide quite well yet it still had her heart thumping wildly in her chest.

It wouldn't take too long for her to realize she had to pay this maiden for every sacrifice she had made—leaving everything behind to begin anew in her castle deserved something special in return, and so Alcina soon thought of an idea. Idea which got stuck in her head for the past few weeks, and she so wished to have it come true—especially since the moment [N] confessed, just a few days after that night, to still have in her possession her grandmother's old journal, in which she had once drawn plenty of dresses' designs, and in which [N] herself drew her own designs as well.

The Countess only ever realized that, ever since [N] began working at the castle, she had had no chance of sewing, at all; she didn't have the materials and tools to do so, and it was clear she missed doing this just by looking into her [E/C] eyes every time she cleaned the Lady's wardrobe—she'd longingly stare at the large dresses, caressing them with such a careful touch that made Alcina almost melt in place.

Oh, Alcina remembered perfectly the longing that radiated from the maiden's facial expression as she told her about her family's tailoring shop, and the dresses they designed, and the commissions they often received from many royals, and not-so-royals. She missed this part of her life, and Alcina felt somewhat guilty after knowing she had left all of that behind to work at her castle; to work for her.

The Lady had had to wait some long weeks before she got the news that the Duke would finally arrive at the village, on the first days of Summer, and wished to be stationed at her castle once more; assuring her that he had acquired even more exquisite items that she would love to own. This picked up her interest, yet she also demanded him to bring quite a few things if he wished to make some coin upon his arrival and throughout his stay.