a teyvat mystery － diluc x venti / diluven / venluc | fanfic / one shot

chapter 1

"Master Diluc, Master Diluc," a maid frantically yelled from the hallway.
"What now?" Diluc said under his breath, "I'm in the bedroom."
The maid came rushing through the bedroom door, out of breath as if she had been running all over the winery looking for him, "The- the, something h-,someone took it."
"Slow down Moco, what exactly did someone take?"
"The wine bottle, the one Master Crepus left you."
Diluc was caught off guard hearing this, words were caught in his throat, his mind was blank. He tried his best not to show how he was feeling at that moment, only slightly raising his eyebrows. Moco proceeded to explain how Hillie had found the cellar door open this morning, and how they had found the empty box in which the heirloom wine bottle had been kept. Diluc then followed Moco down to the cellar where Hillie and Adelinde were standing over the empty box. The box looked fully intact meaning the thief couldn't have smashed it open, they instead must've picked the lock, this was clearly the work of no amateur.
"Master Diluc I'm so very very sorry, I should have double checked the door before going to bed," Hillie as always was overreacting, "I promise I'll double check it from here on out."
"That's if you're still here, Hillie," Adelinde said with a half-serious face.
"Wait you're not gonna fire me are you Master Diluc. What am I gonna do for a job, how will I get hired anywhere once everybody knows I let something get stolen from Master Diluc, I'm really sorry Master Diluc PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!!!"
"Relax, Hillie, Adelinde was just teasing you, I'm not gonna fire you."
Diluc continued looking around the room, and he discovered that the heirloom bottle wasn't the only thing that had been disturbed. As over near one of the shelfs a broken bottle lay on the floor in the corner. The liquid that had been inside was now spilled out on the stone floor. Diluc put his finger in the liquid and tasted it, without a doubt it was apple cider. This puzzled Diluc, the way in which the lock was picked showed the signs of a skilled thief, but the broken bottle of wine pointed to an amateur. The work of two different people? Diluc thought to himself.
"Master Diluc I'll clean that up right away," Adelinde the head maid was now looking over his shoulder at the mess on the floor.
"Thank you. Also Adelinde if you wouldn't mind could you ask the rest of the staff if they saw anything last night."
"Of course, it would be my pleasure."
After taking one more look around Diluc went back upstairs to his room to change into his formal clothes. He took off his casual white button up shirt, then going over to his closet he picked out a black one of the same style. Standing in front of the mirror shirtless, he couldn't help but stop for a moment and look at the scars that scattered over his body. Before he could think back on where most of them had come from, he started putting on his new shirt, first sliding his arms through, then buttoning it from top to bottom. Next he slowly slid off his pants, then went over to his drawer and took out another pair. At that very moment there was a knock at his door. Diluc didn't answer hoping the person would simply just go away, however the door opened anyways and Moco walked in. As soon as she saw Diluc her face grew beat red, "M-mmmaster Diluc, I'-I'm very sorryyyyy, excuse me," with that she retreated from the room as quickly as she had entered. Diluc was unbothered by the intrusion and simply finished putting on the rest of his clothes.
"Did you need something from me, Moco?" Diluc asked upon exiting his room as she was still standing nearby.
"Just that Adelinde said you should talk to Ernest."
"I see."
"And again Master Diluc I apologize for the intrusion," if she had lifted her shamefully hidden face, she would've seen that Diluc was already halfway down the hallway with no interest in what had transpired.
Diluc went to see Ernest who as usual was outside managing the amount of stock that was to be delivered, made and harvested. "Ahh Master Diluc, are you well?"
"Yes. Thank you."
"The winery seems to be doing good this year, the crops are yielding excellently."
"Ernest sorry but I'm in a bit of a rush, Adelinde said you had something to talk to me about."
"Oh yes, the lady Adelinde had asked if I saw anything last night and as it happens I was outside for most of it double checking some of our crates. While I was out here checking crates that fellow dressed all in green showed up asking about what was in the crates. I did as you instructed, told him it was just cheese pancakes, he seemed uninterested and left though I can't be sure as I soon returned to my house after that.
Venti... that troublesome bard. Is it possible he's the culprit? Though I suspect even he wouldn't go as far as to do something like this, perhaps if he was intoxicated though. "Thanks for your help Ernest, it's much appreciated."
"Oh it's no trouble Master Diluc. Safe travels."
Diluc nodded as a way to say thanks before walking away to go check something. In the past Venti had always caused Diluc trouble at the winery, sneaking in stealing food, or wine; one time he even fell asleep right in the living room. Trying to prevent this from happening, Diluc left fresh apples each day on a cart outside of the manor. Diluc went over to that cart to check it in order to see if there were any apples left, if there weren't any then it was confirmation that the person Ernest had seen was definitely Venti, as no thief would stop to eat apples during their heist. Upon seeing the empty cart, Diluc decided the first person he would question about the missing heirloom wine would be the bard Venti and so he headed off to Mondstadt.

Notes:
This'll be a long fanfic lol, hope to see u in the next part, bye!<3
Word count: 1063