VI · DIMITRI

Dimitri Delacroix's point of view

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I CAN'T SAY WHAT SURPRISED ME THE MOST in this first meeting with the members of House Baudelaire, after years.

Countess Isabelle and Marquis Mathis fighting over The Lovers of June. Mathis actually reading and being in love with a Lady at that. Isabelle having an emotional burst and being self deprecating.

Adrien seemingly being a good older brother. The way Isabelle robotically described me and my mother and how hypnotizing her gaze was. Or even the way she was so oblivious of her effect on us, being by her appearance at the moment, or by her spontaneous personality that was way more strangely pleasant than what the rumors said.

That is, until her dad called her attention and she became self-deprecating. Not to mention how she thinks everybody sees her. Or should I say, how conscious she is of what they say, when, according to the rumors, she seems to act as if she doesn't pay attention to any of it.

Did I mention how she handled Mathis? She put him on his place and even asked my help with such a childish action. But that doesn't change the fact that she handled him perfectly, and even seemed to be quite the intimidating Lady when she was amusingly threatening to castrate or kick his ass.

When she left, her brother left right after her and the Duke was left with us, blushing, frustrated, and embarrassed. "I'm sorry," he muttered. "I'm really sorry. I swear they aren't like this normally. Especially Isabelle. She only acts that way when something made her uncomfortable, and as she was indeed sleeping before, she must have dreamed with her mother. Although, she does have quite the bad habit of cursing, probably because she was always surrounded by me and her brothers, without a female figure around," Florentin sighed.

My mom stepped up, "Don't worry, Florentin. Do you want me to talk with her?"

"No," he didn't even think twice. "When Belle is like this… She doesn't really likes to talk with any of us, only with Jade," Jade? It isn't a doll or a pet she named after the female lead of The Lovers of June, right? "Or Adrien. He's like his mom, he knows how to handle his sister's storms like no one else. While Mathis prefers to stay as far away from her as possible when she's like this, because he's somewhat scared of that bad temper of hers."

"Doesn't she have any friends?" How lonely is this girl?

Her dad turned to me, with pitiful gleam on his hypnotizing eyes, "No. We tried to get her to befriend some Ladies in court, but she got into a fight with all of them, for being too straightforward, and despising their superficiality!" Alright, that's quite unexpected.

"At least she has her siblings. She has Adrien. I imagined he would have been the one to get his personality after Adelaide," mom muttered with a smile. "While Isabelle seems to be quite identical to how you were when we were younger!"

The Duke blushed, "Her mom used to say she would be like me. But I don't really think so. When she loses her cool or is defied, she shows her mother's fierce way of dealing with things. It's scary. That's how she's also the one to deal with Mat, they may tease each other, but they understand each other just fine. While Mat seems to be unruly on the outside, he's really kind hearted and emotional, way more than she is," he giggled. "Belle tends to be colder than all of us."

"What about Adrien?" Mom asked, excited to get to know them better.

"Adrien? Well, when he's angry he's also scary. He becomes Cold Addy, as Belle likes to call. And she also is able to deal with him just fine. I think she find it easier to deal with Cold Addy than with his normal kind self," he chucked softly. "Mat on the otherwise, is scared of both Cold Addy and normal Belle. They are special children, I swear they are," again, he sounded apologetic.

That caught my attention. "So, while Prince Adrien is kind hearted but fierce inside, and Prince Mathis is seemingly fierce but kind hearted on the inside… Princess Isabelle is fierce outside and inside?" I voiced my confusion.

"Precisely, yes. My daughter, different from both me and her mother, in the sense that she finds it difficult understanding her own emotions. She's terrible at expressing them, and it's more likely to express it through teasing and annoying us, as well as through discussions," mother giggled.

"I think she must have gotten that from Adelaide's mom. Although Adelaide was also quite kin to teasing, especially you. I remember when I used to spend my days there with her, and her mom used to be the scariest person on earth," she turned to me with her eyes wide open. "She used to scold us all the time. Always teasing us and picking matters to created discussions with Adelaide's dad. But he always seemed to love that!"

Florentin giggled, "My mother-in-law was always scary, indeed. But thankfully, she's always kind to Belle, while she usually teases Addy and Mat. I never thought about their resemblance though."

I turned to my mom, "You are scary, mom. If you say the retired Duchess Delannoy is that scary, I hope I'll never meet her!"

"You are also scary, son. You would probably be fine with her. Seeing as how easily you are able to deal with me and my terrible temper! Especially when it comes to that father of yours," True.

If Jean wasn't already on his chambers, he would be laughing his ass off now. Duke Florentin turned to me with a gentle smile, "I'm sorry for causing you such a bad first impression, Dimitri."

Isn't too late for that? I already think his children are a chaotic bunch. Especially Mathis and Isabelle. By the way they act, they will stay single forever. The girl is even worse than her brother, "Don't worry, godfather. I don't mind it at all." It's not like I'll be rude to his face.

"I just hope you will be able to know them better through out this week," I hope not.

They let me off and went to his office to talk about something I didn't want to bother hearing. Probably about mom's best friend, his wife who passed away. Or about how he should have educated his children better.

When I got to my chambers, I fell on the bed, tired of all that chaos. And when I fell asleep, I was thinking of how could such a person possess such a pair of hypnotizing eyes as Isabelle Delannoy Baudelaire.

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Jean woke me up around 7 am, as I asked him yesterday. And he seemed to have already gotten used to the Baudelaire manor. "You seem to be in a good mood!"

He glared at me, "And you seem to have had the worst night of your life. Any nightmares?" Oh, I did.

With Isabelle freaking Baudelaire. That damned woman got me dreaming of her, for the Gods' sake. "Don't even get me started," I muttered, after getting out of the bathroom. "You lost the chaos of yesterday!"

"Chaos? What chaos?"

I turned to him, as I styled my hair, tying the top half of it, and letting the bottom half loose, as well as two streaks in front of my forehead. "A chaos named Isabelle and Mathis Baudelaire."

He giggled, "Bad first impression?"

"Terrible first impression! Bad is an understatement, my friend. The only thing worth praising is their taste on books," and her eyes.

"Why? Were they reading The Lovers of June?"

I chuckled sarcastically, "Reading? No. They were fucking fighting over it like a pair of stray cats. And that childish woman who should behave like the Lady and Countess she is supposed to be, even asked me to hold the book as higher as I could so her brother wouldn't lay his hand on it. Because she's shorter than him, but he's shorter than me!" I scoffed. "Can you believe it?"

"And you did it?"

"Of course," I exclaimed and he laughed. "It would be rude to refuse helping her. I'm a gentleman after all."

That made him scoff, "Oh, dear Gods, we would all be doomed if all gentlemen in the world were like you!" I glared at him. "What? I'm not saying I'm different from you."

"Ha. Ha. You are so funny," looking in the mirror, I finished getting ready. "Gods bless the single noble Ladies out there, because Mathis Baudelaire is in love with one of them."

Jean gasped. "Mathis Baudelaire? You mean Marquis Mathis Delannoy Baudelaire is IN LOVE with a NOBLE Lady?" That's the reaction, Ladies and Gentleman.

"Yes. Believe me. Isabelle said it herself. He's so in love that he's reading all the nine books of The Lovers of June, because the Lady he fancies loves them. How hard must he have fallen to do such a thing?" I mocked.

He seemed bewildered. "Gods bless them all!"