Shortly after, Venezia didn't spare any more time waiting to confirm Mark's presence in Venice but rather decided to go look out for him herself. She respectfully left the city of Milan in her carriage along with Bruce on his horse accompanying her behind, but because it was the time of elections, she left uninformed and decided to remain low-key. On the other hand, Rio was petrified by the fact of seeing Venezia alive last night that he inherently decided to remain in Venice for a while and inform Mark immediately about what he has observed. He wanted to confront him for the lies he pulled off with him but was also rather perplexed if he should do that or not.

"Apparently you've been keeping things from me??" Rio pushed the door of his room aside but calmly confronted in a low monotone.

Mark was in his usual sense of depression, waiting for his yet another victim to be assassinated. Sipping on fine brandy, he asked curiously "What are you talking about?"

The room was dimly lit, letting almost half of the air to sink in. It was so muted that even feather falling could be heard from a distance. Until, Rio decided to make it more dramatic..

"Is this some kind of a joke for you? or may i guess, a revenge? or a set trap maybe??" he took his steps forward with his direct confronting questions.

"i really don't understand-"

Rio interrupted mark furiously.

"what you don't understand is the consequences of messing with me. You do not understand how good I am at killing people, irrespective... of what they are to me. "

By the time Rio stopped speaking, they both were in close proximity to one another. Mark's eyelids stumbled for a moment but somehow he managed to keep his composure.

"I am being honest, I intend to provide no harm to you. Now tell me what you know." He stared deep into his eyes with a clear mindset and momentous expectations.

"Venezia, I saw her, alive, and fought with her. last night"

Mark was first left astounded with no thought crossing his mind. For a moment, he stood still, holding the glass of his half-filled brandy. Then, he looked down and started tracing the rim of his glass, unable to believe what he just heard but also not being able to deny the severity of the information. He scoffed a little, more so on himself. All this time, was he making a fool out of himself? His mind continued to partially work on his future plans, and the silence in the room left Rio feeling like a pawn. The last thing Rio wanted was to be played by some notorious prince who just happened to collide with him on the lonely streets of Venice. 

In accordance with not being able to process the information in his mind, Mark sets his doubts aloud.

"Wait a minute, how did you know it was Venezia that you saw last night ?"

Rio immediately got alarmed by the situation of his doubts but surprisingly didn't lose his composure. In actual sense, it was Rio who has been keeping things from Mark and that the tables could easily be turned around. But anyhow, Rio's quick and composed reaction didn't let the worse to happen.

"She declared it, herself!"

"And you believed her?"

Mark's questions made Rio doubt himself so much, even though there weren't any obvious reasons for it.

Mark laughed and said "Okay, let's say you believed her, I believe you. but even if she's alive and reaches here with her worse intentions... nothing will happen to you."

Mark was overthinking so, it clearly made no sense to Rio.

So, Rio decided to help him. "it is not this that i worry about, it is you. Nothing will ever happen to me. I need no one's protection? but now that ..." he stopped for a second to reconsider the question he was going to ask. "now that you know, Venezia is alive. what do you think about it?"

The question was surely emotional, but more so it was tricky. It helped Rio to diverge Mark's attention from himself to something he should really care about. It helped him to protect his own truth from falling out. He was instead, helping himself.

Mark took a seat back and went through a series of emotions, besides thinking of the next step that he needed to carefully comply with.