Twilight: Darling of Volturi (YURI/GL)

The crushing anxiety of having no money returned after three years, dragging Sophie back to the days before she started her blog and video channel in college.

She had entered adolescence alone. Both middle school and high school had been spent in boarding schools, where surviving on a single meal a day was often the norm.

Hunger had become a constant companion, lingering in every corner of her body.

Sophie firmly believed that her stomach had somehow grown a brain of its own. No matter how hard she tried to distract her actual mind, that stubborn little ”brain” in her stomach always demanded attention. She would coax it into counting the ants gathering around fallen cookie crumbs, or timing the speed at which clouds drifted across the sky. Anything that might spark her curiosity became a distraction she eagerly chased, simply to forget she was hungry.

Years of poor nutrition had left her significantly shorter than her peers, shorter even than some well-developed middle school students. That was one of the reasons she disliked appearing on camera.

So when she learned that Irene had once suffered from hunger as well, Sophie had immediately regarded her as someone who shared the same fate. She had smiled and told her that, from then on, neither of them would ever have to go hungry again.

In truth, Irene hadn’t exactly lied.

She really had gone hungry.

What she concealed was everything that came afterward.

After experiencing hunger, her family had taught her to lie in order to earn sympathy from others.

Irene proved to be an even better student than her family expected.

She didn’t merely deceive people into pitying her. She became exceptionally talented at deceiving their hearts.

She had even turned out to be an excellent ”teacher.”

After all, she was the one who had taught Sophie exactly what it meant to be tricked and betrayed.

Why aren’t there any signs for Palazzo dei Priori?

Standing beside the enormous fountain in the center of the square, Sophie looked around in every direction, appearing every bit the confused tourist.

That doesn’t make any sense...

A building important enough to be the highlight of a tour package should have a huge sign pointing visitors toward the entrance.

Maybe the palace only opened to the public recently?

Perhaps the Italians simply haven’t gotten around to putting up the signs yet.

She needed another plan.

Otherwise, she’d end up relying on online crowdfunding just to afford a ticket home from Italy.

That was simply too humiliating.

How was that any different from begging on the streets?

Her gaze swept across the square.

Tourists.

Locals.

Shops.

The parking lot...

Wait!

Something flashed before her eyes.

She had found a clue.

No...

It wasn’t in the itinerary itself.

It was something connected to it.

The envelope!

A faint watermark was embedded in the paper.

Sophie held the envelope up toward the sun. As sunlight shone through it, a large capital V became clearly visible.

It was exactly the same emblem painted on the side of the only tour bus parked in the lot.

The palace had to be nearby.

Sophie hurried toward the bus.

She wasn’t naïve enough to believe Irene would be standing beside it waiting to be caught.

The person she wanted was the driver.

Drivers never accompanied tourists during sightseeing. They usually find somewhere to rest, grab something to eat, enjoy a cup of coffee, or take a nap.

Certainly not a drink.

If Sophie had possessed a more outgoing personality, she could have shouted in broken Italian,

”Hey! Where’s the driver of this bus?”

Even if the driver himself didn’t hear her, perhaps a kind passerby would point him out.

No, no...

It hasn’t come to the point where I need to start yelling in public.

She decided to give herself one more chance.

Knowing full well that her Italian vocabulary was painfully limited, Sophie didn’t immediately walk into the nearby cafés to ask for help.

Instead, she circled the bus, peering through the windows to see whether the driver might be curled up asleep in one of the seats.

”Hey, kid.”

The voice came from above.

The surrounding trees were unusually tall.

Sophie tilted her head back as far as she could before finally spotting a young man perched on one of the thick branches.

He wore a black sun-protective jacket and was almost completely hidden beneath the dense canopy. Combined with his elevated position, it was no wonder she hadn’t realized someone was up there.

The driver initially called out to her in Italian.

But once she looked up and he realized she didn’t appear to be Italian, he switched smoothly to English.

”Are you one of the passengers on this tour?”

She didn’t deny it.

”Did the passengers from this bus go into Palazzo dei Priori for the banquet?” Unable to lie convincingly and afraid of losing her only lead, Sophie simply sidestepped his question. ”Where’s the entrance to the palace? And once I’m inside, how do I find the banquet hall?”

The man dressed in black hesitated instead of answering.

Then, displaying astonishing agility, he climbed down from the tree and landed lightly on the ground.

He deliberately landed nearly three meters away from her.

Sophie barely reached the man’s chest.

As a result, the first thing that caught her attention wasn’t his face.

It was the pendant hanging around his neck.

A large silver V.

The exact same emblem as the watermark on the envelope and the logo painted on the side of the tour bus.