Venezia's breathing has gotten quicker, and a tear has fallen slowly from her eyes, traveling diagonally to the tip of her nose and finally dropping until it reached the bow of her lips. When she slowly woke up, and found herself laying on the bed in her room. The room she has rented in the most famous Tavern in Venice. It wasn't grand, but it was surely located in the center of the city. She found herself slightly nervous, pale, and tired. Changed in a wheatish corset with a flowy white skirt underneath. She barely had any energy to look outside the window, so she decided to be still, and laid back all over again. Restlessly, she turned her sides four times in a row. There was a pit in her stomach that she could already feel and no peace to be found inside. Ironically, the room was dead silent so when the door got opened up, It made Venezia gasp. Noticing Bruce standing one step outside, she finally found the energy to sit up, although her head was aching badly and her body was left sore.

"If you don't want to be bothered, you could've at least locked the door?" Bruce entered and closed the door behind him, not missing a single moment in trying to vex her.

Venezia pressed her temple, trying to pretend seemingly bothered by his presence, and asked him the most important question. "Why are you here?"

"Uh, I have news" he held his wrist behind him and stared at the floorboards, diagonally. It seemed to Venezia that he wasn't very happy with the news he has gotten, so she took a moment before asking about it.

"The Cardinal has found you apparently, and he's in a hurry to take you back to the Vatican. It's for the Papal elections..." Bruce was more annoyed with this news than she herself. He now rested both of his hands on either side of his hips and stood there waiting for a response or decision. Except Venezia wasn't giving any. She was just sitting there, on the bedside with a stunned face.

Of course, she has been so busy with Mark and all her emotions that she completely forgot that her other life exists. She was not a detective, neither a cop nor a princess. She was a dead Pope's daughter now. And the bigger the power, the bigger the responsibility.

Everything seemed so quickly moving after hearing such a piece of news from Bruce. She hasn't even completed what she came here for, but more so, she didn't want to see him again. The sorrow, the anger, the madness, it was all blazing up inside her and for some reason, she could take it no more.

"When is the Cardinal reaching?" She stood up, out of a hurry, and her chest was now pretty jittery. "The letter came about three hours ago, so I'm thinking by noon?" came the reply.

"Okay, I want you to do something for me okay?" Venezia was impatient now. Her gist of sudden energy made her momentarily blind and she held Bruce's hand in a jiffy.

Bruce wasn't blind, he was smiling like an idiot. "Of course, anything!" He didn't question her. Well, maybe he was cognitively blind. "I want you to stay here, keep an eye on Mark for me, please? I'm pretty uncertain about the future at the moment, but if anything happens, you're informing me of every action of his, until I come back. Okay?"

"Of course!" His response was quick and seemingly assuring.

Venezia gave him a little nod before going to the other side of the room and pulling her sword sheath, which was lying underneath her bed. Bruce was completely unaware of its presence and unnecessarily got alarmed. She gripped it a little tighter, as if all she has to fall back to now, is that sword of hers in this world, she blew a heavy breath out before getting up. Then, she stared at Bruce until he was out of her room on his own. She was now ready, with knee-high boots, men's pants covering her legs, and a corset tightly chained to her chest with a white torso inside. She didn't remove a small and delicate pearl necklace she was wearing earlier. but, her hair was now pulled back in a half-braided ponytail.

 She felt like a new person. Every time she loses hope, she dresses up and fakes to be someone stronger, someone, who has more courage and someone who can do anything, that she can only imagine in her dreams.

She was again back there, standing in between the less crowded and thin streets of Venice. Whilst running towards her destination, she was building all the inner rage she ever felt for Mark. She couldn't fathom the possibility of why he would want to kill her, or even the slightest violent reaction. She never expected this from him. What worst reasons are even leading him to all this?

She couldn't imagine. All she knew, or could think of, is treating him the way he has treated her. So, she pushed open the wooden doors of that filthy brothel he's been living at and placed the tip of her sword after unsheathing it in the blink of the moment. Mark was sitting straight from the entrance, all laid back and happy, with a goblet of wine in one hand and women all around him being beautifully dressed in a red and whites.

Venezia, stood straight, holding her sword tight with one hand, and letting it pinch Mark's throat without even cutting the skin with sheer perfection. She stood there, not allowing any other emotion than pure fury blazing from her eyes. Without.even.blinking.  She stood strong, for minutes while both Mark and Venezia stared at each other. Nobody moved but everybody was alarmed.  The people at the bar counter, the bartender, the madam, the guards, and many many women, and prostitutes, were frozen and alarmed. Even the air felt heavier.

After a few minutes, Mark smirked and said. "My Queen!" . Venezia scoffed.

People were confused and Venezia, was pissed, after hearing this. "Oh, bloody crap!" was her immediate reply.  Mark carefully stood up when she said this while the sword tip was still being pointed at his lower neckline.

Venezia squinted her eyes at him when Mark made another attempt to remove the spicy sword out of his way.

"Do you say that to all these women too, whomever you choose to sleep with every other night?" Annoyingly, she ranted and pointed her hands, her fingers, clearly objectifying them and offending them.

Instead of arguing back, Mark chose to walk near Venezia, standing way too close than he cautiously should, and give her a little sniff. "Ah, the smell of jealousy suits so good on you"

He was on her last nerve.

In another second, he received a hit from her elbows which made the corner of his left eye, delicately bleed. The hit was strong.

"Don't be a knucklehead and Stop with your actions already!" Venezia added an insult as if hitting him so heavily wasn't enough.

"Ay, get yourrr drrrama out of de doorrr-a." The madam wasn't having any of this anymore as she spoke in her brandish Italian accent.

Only Venezia could look at her after being introduced to this new personality. Mark still had a piercing gaze on Venezia for a while and then he decided to walk out of the room, towards his own room upstairs. Was he trying to control his anger? who knows?

Venezia recklessly followed after him, but she wasn't as angry anymore. Rather, anxious. "Mark, talk to me" she pleaded after stopping to follow him for a while. Mark continued to ignore her while climbing up the stairs. She followed later.

Standing on a weak wooden corridor, she got a quick opportunity to glance down. Apparently, the thin streets of Venice seemed more crowded than the entire marketplace. She got distracted by that thought and without even noticing, got pulled in by Mark holding her wrist, inside his room as he quickly closed the door behind her.

Mark paced the room a little and then quickly rushed in front of a huge oval mirror placed in the corner of the red room. "You made me bleed, mi amore !" He complained like a child, and Venezia was confused as hell.

She took a moment or two to calm down while looking down and then spoke a very triggering statement to mark. "Stop pretending to be in love with me Mark." 

They had pretty revengeful eye-contact through the mirror and after a pause, she spoke again. 

"You and I both know why I am here! " 

Mark was finally hurt. Up to the point where he could show it. He aggressively turned around and pinned her up against the wall. 

"you think i'm pretending to love you?"  He asked politely. Venezia was almost taken aback. She had little to no idea what's been cooking inside his head. He calmly tucked the hair strand lying on the side of her face, behind her ear and responded by whispering close into her ear. "You know all of this. I did for you right?"  He was being passive-aggressive now, unknowingly.

Venezia held her skirt and closed her eyes, in order to try to remain her composure. 

Mark came closer and held her waist with one arm, while continuing to speak in her eyes "I can finish anyone, whoever in this entire world, if they try to hurt you. I will murder them with my own bare hands this time!" 

She could feel the evil inside him growing so loudly. She hated it. So she asked, "is it me or is it you who's hurt this time?" She could also feel the amount of care and desire they had for each other. It's Insane. It was being increasingly difficult for her to leave. Of course, she cannot leave Mark this way. Whatever she was plotting to do, she should make haste. 

So, she held his face in between both her hands, and whispered while breathing loudly into him.

"Mark!"  entangling her lips onto his, they kissed so passionately like they were hungry for each other. 

it's been a really long time and he didn't know he was craving her so deeply.

 Their souls touched, making everything else in the room blurry and her eyes teary. It's like all his feelings were quenched and all his desires been completed. His grip held her waist even tighter and they dwelled in each other even closer. Close enough to tell how much they don't want to  let each other go, not this time, not again.

But, this time she was kissing him only to gain his trust. That one last effort to give his long lost lover back, before she leaves him and goes back to The Vatican City...