RESIDENT EVIL VILLAGE - The House of Dimitrescu

Chapter 16 - Sibling Drama

The next morning, a large, black car with tinted windows appeared at the front steps of the castle. Long, low and sleek, with large silver headlights mounted on the front over its large wheel-covers, it put Y/N very much in mind of a car built some time last century for someone of high nobility or rank. 

The three daughters stood waiting just inside the entrance hall for their mother, hoods up as they stood against the wall, and Y/N waited a few feet away, idly hovering by the steps. He didn't really know why he was there, but Lady Dimitrescu herself had requested it, and he dared not refuse her. 

Before long, the Countess herself appeared, dressed in a perfectly tailored white suit that accentuated her generous figure, and a smaller, white version of her normal cartwheel hat. She walked straight past Y/N on her way to the door, stopping only when she reached her daughters, looking down fondly at the three of them.

'I shall return in a few days, I know not when exactly.' She told them, leaning down and cupping Bela and Daniela's faces in her hands. 'Look after the castle for me, my daughters. Bela, I leave you in charge.' She then straightened, glancing back at Y/N with a sour look, before turning towards the open doorway and her car.

'Y/N, walk with me.'

Surprised, Y/N hurried after her, ignoring the venomous look Cassandra shot his way as he passed, catching up to the Countess just as she reached the door of her car. Y/N was well-acquainted with the manners the Countess expected of those around her, and he quickly moved to open the door for her, holding it open even as the Countess turned to face him. She blatantly ignored the gesture, and Y/N found himself looking up into her flat, golden stare.

'I am pleased that so far our bargain had remained intact.' She told him bluntly, her hair ruffling slightly in the chill wind. 'However, I have recently seen that you and Daniela have become better acquainted, and I feel that in my absence, you would benefit to be reminded of the conditions of that bargain.'

Puzzled, Y/N opened his mouth to speak, but the Countess' hand shot out and closed around the front of his shirt faster than he could even draw breath, lifting him cleanly from the ground and holding him up inches from her face as her golden eyes flickered dangerously. Y/N struggled fruitlessly against her grip for a moment, then fell still as the Countess spoke softly to him.

'Lay one hand on my daughters, and you will pay dearly for it.' She whispered to him as he dangled from her grip. 'If even one hair on their heads is amiss when I return, I will bathe the vineyards in your blood... and salt the earth with your bones.'

With a disgusted scowl, the Countess released him from her grip, and Y/N fell to the floor, his legs crumpling under him as he sprawled backwards into the freezing snow and mud. The Countess sneered at Y/N for a moment, then turned to her car, slipping easily inside and slamming the door. Y/N scrambled away from it as the engine roared into life, and flung up an arm over his eyes as the wheels spun, throwing mud across his face as the car shot away, swerved around a corner, and sped off across the drawbridge and into the village.

Fuming, Y/N stayed sat in the snow for a while, listening as the echoes of the engine faded from the mountains around them, before he pushed himself to his feet, dusted the worst of the mud from his clothes, and stalked back inside.

---

For the next few days, Y/N tried his best to blend in. With the Countess departed, the three daughters had the run of the castle, and apparently, tormenting him was the best entertainment around. Cassandra was the most troublesome. She had taken to sending her flies to creep up on Y/N at random, making no noise to alert him until he felt the telltale scuttle under his shirt or the prickling of their feet on his skin, whereupon he would leap almost a foot in the air and swat wildly at his clothes until Cassandra materialized in the corner of the room, howling with laughter.