The kidnapped girls had their virgin blood extracted by Lady Dimitrescu, which was then added to the brewing of fine grape wine.
Lady Dimitrescu called this crimson wine, which looked just like blood, sanguis virginis (Latin for "Virgin's Blood," also translated as sanguis virginis). However,
at that time, Lady Dimitrescu, who was over half a century old, suffered from porphyria.
Having lived half her life without any offspring, she felt a pang of compassion as she looked at the kidnapped girls.
She wanted to turn these girls into her own daughters.
Subsequently, with the help of Mother Miranda, she used the eggs of "the gift" parasite from within her own body to fuse with these girls.
Out of sixteen girls,
only four ultimately survived.
They were Irina, Mihaela, Lois, and Ingrid. Among them, Ingrid was in poor condition and was discarded shortly after.
The remaining three successfully completed the fusion.
A large number of eggs hatched, devouring the flesh of the three girls, eventually turning into a dense swarm of Blowfly-like creatures.
Similar to the Queen Bee mutants of the C-Virus, combined with the memory-sharing characteristics of the mold, these flies could mimic and assemble into the form of a living young woman.
And because these eggs were taken from the gift within Lady Dimitrescu's body, she felt a blood relation similar to that of a mother and daughters from the girls.
She then bestowed new names upon the three women,
naming them Bela, Cassandra, and Daniela. From then on, Lady Dimitrescu lived forever with her three daughters...
...
On the path leading to the village valley—
"Rustle, rustle, rustle..."
The wheels of the carriage crunched against the snow, making a subtle sound as a clear set of tracks was continuously imprinted into the white ground.
Strangely,
on such pure white snow, there were no footprints of humans or beasts to be seen, only the tracks of the carriage wheels.
This meant that in this valley region of the village,
no outsiders had entered for a very long time. Javier... might be the only outsider in years.
"Almost there, we're almost there. There are still two hours until dark; the timing is perfect."
Looking at the approaching quaint Middle Ages castle, a flash of excitement flickered in Javier's eyes, which were partially obscured by his hat's brim, as he couldn't help but mutter to himself.
Javier did not enter the village.
Instead, he headed straight for the road to the castle gates. After a short while, the carriage slowly pulled up in front of the castle's portcullis.
The ground was covered in snow, and a cold wind blew from afar, but the castle was brightly lit, looking quite warm.
The fat Merchant Duke, who originally received Ethan in front of the castle, did not appear, nor was his carriage there.
It seemed Javier had arrived a bit early.
At this moment, there should still be one day before Ethan arrives at the village, and this day was enough for Javier to operate and pay a visit to the entire village.
"Whoa...!"
Pulling the reins tight,
Javier stopped at the castle entrance.
Slowly jumping down from the carriage and tidying his appearance, Javier walked forward with a sense of urgency and reached out to press the doorbell beside the castle gate.
The doorbell of a Middle Ages castle was actually a horn; if you squeezed it, it would sound, alerting the servants inside to open the door.
But unfortunately,
there were no servants in the Middle Ages castle before him.
In the vast castle, there was only the mistress, Lady Dimitrescu,
and her three daughters. So, to be heard by those inside, Javier might have to shout loudly.
"Is anyone there...?!"
"Most esteemed Castle Mistress Lady Dimitrescu, I am a Merchant who has come specifically to visit you. It is getting late,"
"Please open the castle gates and let me in to stay for the night. I have very important matters to discuss with you, I beg of you..."
Standing at the castle entrance,
facing the bone-chilling wind and snow falling on him, Javier brushed the snow off his clothes.
Clearing his throat, he called out in a steady, high-pitched voice toward the massive Middle Ages castle ahead.
His voice was very clear in the silent snow, even shaking down a bit of the white snow covering the castle tiles.
Between the horn doorbell and Javier's loud shouting,
there was no doubt that Lady Dimitrescu and her three daughters inside the Middle Ages castle heard the commotion.
Inside the Middle Ages castle—
In a large lady's bedchamber,
plush carpets with various patterns, a crystal chandelier hanging overhead, and a bed covered in expensive silk and velvet all showcased the luxury and nobility of the room's owner.
But the lighting was somewhat dim.
A fire burned in the black fireplace,
the sparks reflecting off a tall figure sitting on a gold-trimmed, patterned leather sofa in front of the hearth.
The tall woman wore a black wide-brimmed lady's hat, her jet-black curly hair exuding a heroic air. Her skin was pale and bloodless, and she wore a coat of flaming red lipstick, looking very sexy.
She wore a pearl necklace and a black rose corsage, and her voluminous white evening gown perfectly accentuated her curvaceous figure.
With her white high heels crossed,
she lightly held a glass of blood-red wine between her leather-gloved hands. This was the famous Eight-foot-tall Lady,
Lady Alcina Dimitrescu,
the true mistress of the Middle Ages castle and a descendant of fallen nobility.
Under the glow of the warm firelight, Lady Dimitrescu was enjoying a wonderful evening, sipping her self-brewed sanguis virginis while listening to the record playing on a gramophone nearby.
The music was from her youth when she debuted as a jazz singer with a band; as people get older, they tend to reminisce about the past.
In this remote village today,
the only entertainment Lady Dimitrescu could enjoy was the music played by this vintage gramophone.
Actually, the castle did have electrical facilities.
For instance, Karl Heisenberg's Iron Factory could generate electricity,
but because their relationship was strained, Lady Dimitrescu couldn't bring herself to ask Karl Heisenberg for help.
And since Heisenberg didn't care much for Lady Dimitrescu either, the two rarely interacted.
Let alone asking Heisenberg for entertainment equipment,
such as a television to pass the time. However, given the village's remote location, even with a TV, the signal would likely be very poor.
And now,
while she was enjoying her few means of entertainment,
Javier's loud shouting suddenly echoed outside the castle as Lady Dimitrescu was listening to music.
This immediately made her frown; she couldn't understand who would dare to disturb her at this time.
...
"A Merchant? What kind of Merchant would come to this godforsaken place? Could it be Mother's Merchant? True... there aren't many villagers left in the village who can receive 'the gift' lately."
"Mother might have contacted other human traffickers for a trade, but why would they come to my castle? Could it be that Mother knows her own blood supply is running low, so she's sharing some with me...?"
Hearing Javier's loud voice outside the castle,
Lady Dimitrescu, sitting on the leather sofa in front of the fireplace, frowned deeply and muttered to herself as she thought.
A Merchant...
No ordinary Merchant could reach this remote village. The only Merchants who could were human traffickers, specifically those who supplied experimental subjects.
As early as around the 20th century,
Lady Dimitrescu had traded with local traffickers, buying many orphans and slaves to be kept in the castle as blood food.
But with the development and changes of the times,
human traffickers became fewer and fewer, as it was against the law. Consequently, Lady Dimitrescu's trades in this area had decreased significantly.
They mostly raised a whole village for experiments; the villagers were essentially pigs they kept.
But now the villagers were in a state of panic, and their numbers were dwindling, far from meeting their needs.
So Lady Dimitrescu was also wondering if Mother had found new traffickers for a trade.
After all, here,
living people were a very important resource, serving not only as experimental subjects but also as blood food, making them very precious.
[Step, step, step...]
[Step, step, step...]
[Step, step, step...]
And at this moment,
while Lady Dimitrescu was thinking, a flurry of hurried footsteps suddenly sounded outside the room.
Three beautiful young women in black lace robes suddenly entered, respectfully greeting Lady Dimitrescu and inquiring:
"Mother..." x3
"A Merchant has come outside the castle, saying he intends to trade with us. He's a male Merchant; should we go and seize him?"
"Living male blood food is very rare indeed. We haven't tasted fresh blood in a long time..."
These three beautiful young women were Lady Dimitrescu's three daughters: Bela, Cassandra, and Daniela.
Each was exceptionally beautiful,
wearing black lace robes that made them look like religious priestesses, yet their faces were filled with intense excitement.
Greedy smiles played on their lips, as they couldn't wait to drain Javier of his blood outside the castle.
After all, as mentioned before,
living human resources in the village were currently very scarce, and even those living in the castle had rarely tasted fresh blood.
Usually, they relied on the sanguis virginis wine brewed by their mother to sustain themselves. Although the wine containing blood was delicious,
the freshness of actual blood allowed them to feel the difference. Blood was not like fine wine, which gets mellower and more fragrant with age; on the contrary, the fresher it was, the more delicious...!
Volume 10: Resident Evil Village, Revenge: Chapter 4: Betrothal Gifts
To Lady Dimitrescu and her three daughters, Javier the Merchant seemed like fresh meat delivered right to their door.
They were itching to go down and immediately seize him to drain him dry,
especially the three daughters, who truly hadn't tasted fresh blood for a very long time.
Anyone would get tired of eating the same thing every day, let alone these mimetic organisms composed of blowflies...
"Wait..."
"I will go down with you to see. That Merchant is very likely sent by Mother. After all, the number of living people in the village is already very small; this might be a trafficker Mother unexpectedly contacted."
"Sent specifically to the village for trade, so you three cannot just act recklessly. We'll ask first. There's a big difference between one Merchant and a steady stream of slaves."
However,
Lady Dimitrescu was more rational than her three daughters.
After finishing her sanguis virginis, she stood up her tall frame and warned them in a deep voice. If they could find a new trafficker to trade with, it would actually be a good thing for the village.