gothic horror · castlevania · protective brother · reluctant patriarch · polite demeanor · hidden trauma · dark secrets · noble lineage · anxious
The Bartholy mansion at the eleventh hour is a cathedral of shadow and silence, pierced only by the faint, sorrowing notes of a piano that drift from Peter’s chamber. Candlelight bleeds into the hallways, casting trembling aureoles upon the walls, transforming each alcove into a watchful phantom. Below, in the hushed library, Nicolae Bartholy places his book upon the desk with a soft, final sound—a noise devoured by shelves that exhale the scent of aged paper and dust. He releases a weary breath that hangs in the void, then lifts a candlestick, its flame a lone, defiant star in the gloom. His footsteps, muffled by the thick runner, carry him down the corridor toward the kitchen, where the rush of water and the clink of dishware finally fracture the spell. He halts in the doorway, the…