Chapter Text
7:00 am.
Your alarm clock shocks you awake. Another day working in the waiting lobby before death. Each day always comes with a new surprise. Taking a peek over to your roommate's bed, you notice that she's already up and probably headed down for breakfast. Part of you wishes you could stick to a routine without much stress like she does.
You’ve worked at the castle for what, I don't know, a couple of months?.
“The days are starting to blur together” you think to yourself. Your fellow maids weren't all that bad, some were just surviving, some were in it for the money, and some were looking for some kind of salvation. Everyone knew who they were working for the moment they stepped foot here.
The mistresses of the Castle were something else. Literally something else, they definitely weren't human but they walked around as if it was normal to be splattered in someone's blood. You couldn't count the times you've seen something so heinous or downright disgusting come from a “playtime” or a “feeding”. How many times were you going to see more and more violence? Why was everyone so immune to it? Could you stand another sight of a slaughtered person?
Finally having enough of your morning mental preparation, you got up and headed to the restroom. After finishing up your business, you started to wash up and style your hair for the day. Although you were just a maid, you were granted some leniency for appearance; simple hairstyle, makeup, jewelry, etc. It gave everyone some personality, it especially gave you some to explore. After adding your dainty bonnet to your hair, you took a quick glance at the clock.
7:25
“Oh Christ!” you rushed from the bathroom to your bed and hastily put your shoes on. Thoughts immediately rushed your head “have to eat something!” “lineup and assignments are in 5 minutes!” “you could've woken up earlier!” Getting one last look in the mirror, you ran down the hall and took the stairs to the servants mess hall. Two steps before entering, a dainty voice spoke out.
“Late again, are we?”
Sighing, you rounded the corner to see your roommate, Frances. Of course she could hear you running down these creaky floors. . “Well, it's not a real day unless I’m late for something” you playfully responded
“Of course, but what if the mistresses catch you and not me?” Frances added, handing over a butter croissant and cup of coffee.
You slumped, knowing your days could be numbered from your lack of responsibility. Frances took note of your change of mood and put a hand on your shoulder.
“Hey, it's alright, things are still fresh to you, it's all about adapting here. Even the bad parts.” she adds. She was there when you witnessed your first bloody encounter. Frances knew your inner workings, she knew you dwelled on it and comforted you when you went into shock.
“Frances, you make it sound a whole lot better than it actually is, and I'm not going to lie, I appreciate it” you spoke while taking satisfying big bites out of your breakfast. God, for a Chef that grills human meat on the daily, they are one hell of a baker.
In fact you admired everyone's dedication there, even if they were on the menu. You have to get to their level. Your thoughts started spiraling again, an inner monologue conjuring up in the back of your head.
Immediately seeing a imaginary novel in action, Frances tapped your forehead softly
“None of that, I see what you're doing, focus and get ready for assignments, Mark Twain. No distractions for you, today” she said as she led you to the Hall of Four along with the other women.
Taking your place behind the crowd of maids, the hall echoed everyone's conversations. Most were hoping for cleaning duty, and some just wanted something without the most possible instances with the mistresses. Suddenly, a hush came amongst the women, as the Grand Chambered Maid stepped forward atop the stairs, a clipboard in hand.
“Good Morning Ladies! As you know, we have a very busy schedule today around the property. The Lady of the Castle has been appointed to host this year's Festival of The Black God. We should be truly honored to have such an important festival commemorated here at Castle Dimitrescu! And furthermore…”. She continued but you were growing weary. Turning to Frances you whispered.
“I know this is important and all but she's really upping her kiss assiness of this today”
Frances peaked at you, but kept her face forward, pretending to be listening to the Grand Chambermaids speech “ Well of course, she’s a Mother Miranda groupie. From what I heard, she's so obsessed that she has “artifacts” under her bed from Miranda's visits” she whispered through her teeth.
“Artifacts? Like her feathers and stuff?” you responded
“Yeah and the Earl Gray she drank from the teacup the last time she visited almost 4 months ago. I've seen it, it's in a mason jar” Frances answered with a look of disbelief. You immediately pointed towards your mouth, making a gagging gesture. You two laughed quietly as the Grand Chamber maid finished her speech.
“Well enough of my praise for our Glorious Mother Miranda, time to get you girls settled in for today. First we have Frances, you will be responsible for leading a group to tidy the Library and the Opera Hall. The strict instructions are listed here on this parchment” she says as Frances rallies up her group of maids to immediately start their work.
“Thank you, Miss” Frances says as she gives you thumbs up and a silent blessing for the day. You return a heart hands gesture and thumbs up as well. “Be careful!” you whispered too loud
Noticing your distraction, the Grand Chambermaid acknowledges you immediately
“Miss L/N! Please, for the love of everything, pay attention to our assignments announcements. You're always so easily distracted, which makes today's assignment all the more better for both us and you. You will be assigned to be Miss Danielas personal assistant today! Everyone! Please, give a small round of applause to our wonderful Y/N for taking such an honorable, easy, job today!” she said as humiliation blanketed your body. You stared around to the sound of small amounts of slow claps and hushed whispers.
She knew exactly what she was doing, assigning you to this particular job. From the moment of your first slip-up, nothing you did was good enough for her. At this point, it's just painfully obvious she wants you gone, or dead, or whatever makes her job easier from having to deal with your mistakes every day. Like every other day, you weren't going to give in to her insults.
Walking confidently up the stairs towards her, you responded gleefully
“Oh why thank you, ma’am! Where shall I find Miss Daniela? You said, loud enough to let the other maids know you weren't going to sit and take it. So be it, you could play that game too.
“She will be waiting in the Wine Room, Dear girl” she answered back, her devious grin immediately being replaced with a stern glare. “ And please, don’t cause too much of a mess in the case you want to fuck up today yet again..” she whispered as you walked past into the main hall.
Nope. Don't let her get to you. This is an easy job, you still be kicking it when you get back to your bed tonight. Preparing yourself, you climbed the stairs and arrived at the Wine Room.
Taking a breath, you knocked on the door softly. “Miss Daniela, I’ve been assigned to assist you today” you said loud enough for her to hear.
“How wonderful, please come in!” Her voice shrilled out as if you were miles away.
Entering the room, you noticed paper strewn about the floors, the small table and the chair. Wine bottles uncorked, laying the floor or just taking up whatever space imaginable. What a mess. Daniela, the youngest Dimitrescu daughter, floated her way towards you, the sound of her flies buzzing excitedly at the sight of you.
You took note of her fresh face, her hair that looked like flames and a surprisingly cleaning outfit. Weird. Usually, Danielas is the messiest out of the family so maybe she's simmering down? Or she hasn't eaten, which makes your anxiety spike at the thought that you might be the meal.
“Oh, the new girl? What has it been, a couple of months since we were introduced?” she questioned, her eyes scanning every inch of your body.
“U-uh yes! It has been a while..” you said, freezing up at being questioned.
“And how have you settled in? Loving what this gorgeous place has to offer?” she immediately responded, inching closer with the most anticipated grin and stare you've ever seen a person give off. It's like she wants to hear all the gorey details of every incident you witnessed.
“I've grown quite fond of it. It's actually treated me very well, and it's a beautiful atmosphere” you answered with the most honest face you could muster.
Her expression changed to one of boredom and softness “Oh well, you've must've been living in another person's castle then, not most of our little playmates can say the same about their experiences” she says, backing up from your face.
She walks over to a random piece of paper. Studying it, she turns to you.
“Have you ever helped plan a party before?”
“Not any extravagant ones, only ones in the village for the little ones.” you answered, taking steps towards the table.
“Well, Mother has let us plan certain areas of the party. I'm in charge of decorations, Bela with Music and Cassandra with “Security”. Honestly, it's just an excuse for her to play with daggers and swords at the party..” She rambles while examining another paper.
“We can't afford any distractions whatsoever! These, little mouse, are sketches for how the decorations would be laid out. What do you think?” she says as she hands you a rather large paper.
You take it carefully, eyes scanning for anything you could fix. The decorations were..alright. Streamers wrapped around the wooden railing in the main hall. More streamers down from the wooden panels in the ceiling. They were a good representation for how Daniela thought things through; Slowly start here, go absolutely wild here and finish with nothing much there in some areas.
“Could you hand me a pencil, Miss?” you asked quietly
“Why?! Is it not good enough?!” she said loudly, taking offense to your question.
“Nonono! I just wanted to add some bits to it, I didn't mean to offend!” you answered hazardly.
Her eyes calmed and she handed you a gnawed on pencil, tiny bits of black lipstick on all sides. Taking it as if it was poison, you silently sketched more onto the paper. In all honesty, you were just organizing. Not really thinking too much you ended up drawing more on the sides and in the center.
“And there! Ta-da! Just a little bit more here and there.” you confidently finished, letting Daniela take the paper from your hands. Studying it, she looked at you with wide eyes
“Little Mouse, have you always known how to draw?!” she screamed.
“I've had a knack for it, if i'm completely honest” you said, frightened you offended her again
“Thank the stars above and the frogs below, you're literally a god send! Now draw me.” she said, sitting immediately, crinkling the papers still on the chair.
“Huh? But aren't we supposed to-”
“Pretty please! The only portrait of me is the one in the foyer and it doesn't even look like me” she pouted, giving you puppy dog eyes.
“O-okay” you said as you grabbed the same pencil and a fresh piece of paper.
You sketched quietly, starting with the curve of her brow, to the bottom of her chin and along her jawline. It all came too naturally somehow but you weren't complaining. You could do something not all people could do and it was a skill people had to spend years learning.
Her face was so calm, it's almost as if you could see a bit of humanity left in her. Something about the air was calm as well. It soothed your anxiety, you weren't questioning yourself. It was just you, your model, and a sketch being brought to life.
Angling the pencil, you shaded under nose and under her chin. Finished. And it looked good for something that only took minutes to make.Turning it around, you showed her the image.
“What do you think? I think it really captures your essence” you joked with her, growing too comfortable.
“It captures everything pretty about me! Thank you, little mouse, I-” she cut herself off, staring at the picture. Was something wrong with it?
“Y/N.. Did we just get distracted?” She asks, with the slightest bit of shame edging off her voice.
“I think we did” you sighed, avoiding her gaze, you didn't want to get scolded by yet another person this morning.
You two sat for a moment, staring towards the rack full of wine bottles on the wall.
“You know, this project means alot to me, Y/N. I promised Mother that I could handle this. That I wouldn't get distracted and I could be responsible for something so simple” Daniela said softly.
“It seems we’re not so different.” you said, fiddling with the corner of the portrait paper.
“What do you mean?” she questioned.
“Believe it or not, I'm the most irresponsible, distracted maid here at the Castle” you answered truthfully, as much as it bothered you to say it.
“How have you even made it here that long then? Most maids are taken on the spot the moment they slip up.” she questions curiously.
You rub your eyes frustratedly before answering. You debated on telling her the honest truth but found out it's easier to let its way out eventually. “People cover for me. For their own sake or for pitying mine. But in all realness, one of these days, they’ll just stop. Then after that, who knows what would happen.”
“Same here, little mouse” Daniela sighed. “Maybe we aren't so different then”
You deadpanned your face towards her.
“Okay! Okay, we may have a couple of differences then.” she giggled as she let a couple of her flies tickle your hand.
You chuckle quietly, letting Daniela have her fun. Despite the weird inhuman abilities, it felt reassuring that you had someone to relate to, especially one of the Daughters. Maybe she can vouch for you in case you do get caught one day.
“Y/N. You know your sketches could really help lay out these stupid decorations. I honestly don't have a single clue what I'm doing.” Daniela says, a pleading look making its way on her face
“Well, that's what I’m assigned her for, to help you out” you said happily.
“Great! Let's create decoration sketches for the vineyard now!” she said loudly as she shoved another paper and another pencil in your face.
If every assignment for everyday could be like this, then maybe working here wouldn't be so terrible. For the next couple of hours, you and Daniela sat around sketching nothing but decoration lay-outs, took a swig or two out of the many wine bottles, or started brainstorming on what products to use when the time came to actually decorate. Every now and then, one of you would get zoned out on something small, whether it was a tiny sketch or creating paper crowns or paper airplanes. The other would bring them back to Earth and remind them of what they could get accomplished that day. And so the cycle would continue.
You chatted with Daniela a good majority of the time. She mentioned her sisters and mother mostly. She talked about how she wants to prove everyone that she's more than just the youngest member, she wanted to prove she could carry the family name and maybe even run sections of the company like the Mistress does. In return, you listened. You listened to everything she had to say, including her little rambles about how she hates when maids scurry off when they barely see her flies coming down the hallway.
And then came the time for you to speak. It was mainly about your previous life in the village. Same ol’ feed the animals outside, shop for things you needed at home, and clean whatever needed to be cleaned. You mentioned little hints of relationships back home but decided to hold off on that kind of subject for another time. You weren't too ready to open up about that.
Close to the evening, you noticed that the voices outside the room got louder. Knowing how your schedule went, it meant that all the maids were returning to the mess hall to have dinner and retire for the evening. But you didn't want to go. You were so close to finishing all the layouts, plus Daniela had been such good company all day, you genuinely enjoyed talking with her.
“Hey, aren't you ready to go and rest?” she said as she gathered up papers and wine bottles.
“I really don't have to, I want to keep going, things are getting interesting with the decorations” you responded back, scribbling details to the banners that could be hung up “Plus, I was able to draw the Dimitrescu symbol without flaw, I think that's something we could toast to” you added on.
Daniela caught onto your playful tone and immediately grabbed a bottle. She whipped on one of the many paper crowns you made during some down time. She puffed her chest like sailor and yelled
“Well, as the prettiest, most admirable daughter of House Dimitrescu, I give a toast to the nicest sketch artist in all of this land, Even if she be most distracted, and irresponsible and she also happens to wiggle her feet when the sketching gets way too good-”
“Okay, Daniela, thank you, happy toast to Y/N!” you cut her off before someone heard anything else embarrassing about you.
You both took turns taking big swigs from the same bottle and laughed when some spilled out on the floor.
Before you could get another laugh in, Daniela immediately took off the crown and hid the bottle behind her back. Her smile disappeared and she bowed her head with lighting speed.
Why is she-
“Good Evening, Mother” she said directly, silence settling in the room uncomfortably.
You didn’t even hear the door open, let alone footsteps at all.
“Well, isn't this a lovely sight?” a sultry voice said gracefully, after what felt like an eternity.
Frightened couldn't even be a good enough word to describe how you were feeling. Even though you were hired months ago, you've never once met the Lady of the Castle and oh how you've possibly ruined the first meeting with your employer so badly.
You didn't even want to turn around and face her. How could you? She just caught you and her daughter slacking off, not to mention drinking her vintage wine collection away as if it didn't cost a fortune.
Finally after gathering enough courage, you turned around, clasped your hands in front and kept your gaze on the floor.
“My dear, this place looks so dreadful. Papers all about and you decided to drink away my Chardonnay? And baby buggy..” she said as she waltzed towards the table in the center of the room. You kept your eyes on the floor, but you could tell she picked up a paper crown.
“Care to explain this?” she said point blank. You knew she had it hooked around her finger.
“Mother, I know this looks really bad but we got work done today. Look!” she yells as she shows off all the layouts and scribbled ideas. You hear crinkling paper and decide to take a peek at the woman before you.
You have to hold back an audible gasp. Your employer was inhumanly tall. Not only is she tall, but she's the embodiment of a walking painting brought to life. Her dark curls pinned neatly back, ivory foundation and ruby red lips that gave her face a dash of color.
Her clothing was perfect too. A white gown with a cinched waist that gave much definition to her chest and her hips, a wide brimmed hat and dark gloves. She knew how to dress and she knew how to use it to her advantage because you didn't even hear the question she just asked you.
“Maid. I asked you a question” she said, eyes bearing into your confused ones. “Did you really help my daughter with these?”
“Huh? Oh yes, my lady, I helped Miss Daniela with finishing the decoration layouts for the festival.” you answered, bowing your head again.
“And the portrait?” she questions immediately.
“Miss Daniela requested the portrait during some down time, I gladly obliged, my lady” you said shyly, hoping she wouldn't press it further.
She gives a hum of approval. You hear her shifting with all the layouts. If there was a higher being out there, you silently prayed that they would whisk you off your feet into the mess hall. Why didn't you leave when you had the chance?
“These are rather good. Daniela, my sweet, make your way to the dining hall. It's time for your dinner.” the Lady finally speaks.
Danielas flies buzz erratically. The thought of feeding makes them giddy with excitement. You start to leave with Daniela until a voice stops you in your tracks.
“And where do you think you're going?” she says playfully.
Damnit.
“I apologize, my Lady. I've been instructed to be Miss Danielas assistant for today and I assumed I would follow her there as well” you answered, body riddled with anxiety. You turned slowly back to her but she's made her way closer to you this time.
You can smell the lavender, sandalwood, and cigarette smoke coming off of her? This woman could literally be the death of just standing there. Even her smell is perfect.
“It seems you and my daughter have accomplished much today. I honestly expected the worst today seeing as you've made it here this long with the amount of mishaps that have been reported” the Lady says directly.
Wait. Reported? Who’s reporting-
“My Grand Chambermaid is quite observant. Even if others cover up a mistake, they are still obligated to report it. We make decisions based on those reports, it makes the hunt so much easier when harvesting season comes” she adds on matter of fact before you could even get so much as a squeak out.
Harvesting Season. What Could- Oh god. Oh god oh god, you could be Harvested and drained into a wine bottle for consumption. You could've been prey, a rabbit being chased by wolves with no way of survival. You were meant to be hunted all because you couldn't be responsible.
“Now before you get your pretty head all out of sorts, No, I don't want you hunted at all. I have better use for you. Seeing as you're so talented, I have quite the offer in mind.” she says, interrupting your thoughts.
“My walls are getting so dreary with the same paintings. I want them filled with something that truly captures our image.I want a new portrait. And some of my daughters as well. I’ll gladly fund everything you need. What do you say, draga mea?”
The pet name rolling off her tongue so deliciously, how could you even say no?
A beat of silence overtakes the room once more, but this time, you know what to say. You have an opportunity to change everyone's mind, you can prove that you can be more than just the irresponsible, distracted maid.
“Tell me where to start, my Lady”