THE POPE'S DAUGHTER

Chapter 4 - The Castle

The pope made his not so grand entry this time , thinking of giving the king a surprise visit . He entered through the palace gates and just behind him , Venezia's carriage stopped . As soon as she got down from her carriage , handling her most expensive formal gown and walked in a very formal manner , the whispers filled the castle air. All wondering of what the pope owed her so that she got to be so near to him but besides , her beauty is what was majorly talked about .

Behind her father , she walked into the throne room so gracefully as if she's the Queen of the empire but because she was half hidden behind the Pope's figure , her aura didn't spread correctly .

All the lord and ladies , generals and officers bowed in respect along with the king sitting on his throne for the Pope's entrance at the throne room and wondered the mere existence of this mysterious lady , Venezia .

The king recieved the pope's blessings and returned back . " Welcome Pope Charles , To what occasion do I owe this pleasure of meeting you."

The king spoke in his heavy thundering voice which felt like sweet melody to the pope . The room was full of people , all focused on their interaction . Some merely sipping wine and some in a tense work mode .

While the prince finally reaches the castle , the thought crept in his mind about the girl who made him feel guilt for the first time .

"I'm myself very pleased of coming back to castle after such a long time your majesty , I've come here to introduce you to my daughter ..." The pope stopped for a brief moment and moved aside introducing Venezia to the empire with pride in his eyes and grace in his actions "Meet lady Venezia".

As soon as the pope introduces the lady , her gaze lands up and her eyes. , travelled all around the throne room until it meets the prince's gaze and gets stucked in horror , offcourse .

The prince gracefully and silently walked down the main stairs of the throne room , staring at Venezia in disgust , "not again !" He spoke to himself , then in awe after his gaze slowly shifted down.

Venezia immediately removed her eyes and stared at the floor . He settled himself beside the king and started admiring Venezia , this time more freely than he'd ever admired her , because his gaze felt like thorns getting pinched on each part of Venezia's body . 'She looks so stunning in that formal clothing' He admiring every thread of that satin and linen clothing layering down her body and kept himself at ease for a moment . But that moment for Venezia was a total opposite and it became more worse when the king spoke , his eyes fixed on her .

"Such a lovely lady , you have such a beautiful daughter pope Charles !" Venezia relieved a sigh of relief when she thought that king's compliments are over and she is getting out of this awkward situation. But the king spoke again , this time it looked like he's announcing " I wish she could've been a princess , I wouldn't have to wait to make her the wife of my only son. "

This time the situation got worse for the prince and the pope while Venezia chuckled slightly and spoke to herself "as if ..." Mocking the king in her mind and still looking down .

But this gets into Prince Mark's mind and he gets annoyed. Still he somehow manages to hide it and sit silently .

"Hahaha , what a wonderful compliment " the pope laughed in reply , a little too loud, and immediately gave out the reasons for it . " But you see your majesty , she is studying to be a nun at the Vatican. " to that , Mark thought to himself leaving out a heavy sigh "haa ! That's a relief , but I still don't know what I feel about her ." He thought to himself. This helped all the bundle of emotion that he buried for sometime , to rose up from it's grave and he again started feeling uneasy .

"she's my only daughter , that's why when she was born , I sent her to the Vatican City and kept her hidden . There she studied the Bible between our sisters and now she's practicing to be a nun . Being my only daughter , her life was at stake and you know how hard it can be for a father to raise a girl child " the pope spoke all this without taking a breath . And Venezia secretly looked at his father sideways catching breath , wondering the irony of the situation .

" I completely understand Pope Charles ! " Replied the king doing vigorous nodding " I know how it's like to raise an only chil..." The prince didn't let the king finish and rose up from his seat , dashing out of the throne room immediately.

The king continued ignoring the prince and removing the tension in the hall "kids can be really stubborn these days ! "

Venezia didn't had a nice feeling about the king ignoring the prince's activity and worried about him to her surprise .

But , She immediately realised and didn't let that emotion come near to her mind . "No , I hate that cruel prince " she reassured herself , and all of these thoughts made her leave track of time and situation she was in.

" It's my humble request to you to join in for a cup of tea by the gardens Pope Charles . Kindly accept my offer ?" Is what she heard the king speaking , the last time and found the perfect way to take an exit from the situation .

She asked for permission , and took Hannah with her wandering around the huge corridors of the castle . Playfully running around alongside each other , Hannah teased Venezia saying "oh I saw how the king saw you , everybody was looking at you in admiration , especially prince mark ".

"Oh shut up Hannah , why do you keep saying his name on my face" Venezia stopped and starts marching in irritation .

Mark sprinted towards the arena standing in the middle of the huge ground . He felt so uneasy that he decided to take it all on out By practicing his sword skills .

He picked up a random sword kept aside and start swinging it carelessly . Venezia was now walking through the corridors alongside some servants here and there , greeting her. she finally caught hold of the beauty of large castle walls , But instead decides to make fun relating to it "How can someone live in such a huge space? " She spoke out of curiosity . "maybe that's why the prince and the king has so much space between them" her voice lowers down this time in mischief and she giggled .

" M'lady ?" Hannah spoke in a unbelievable manner . "You cannot speak ill of the prince here !" Hannah tried to silence the lady by looking around as if she's giving a signal .

Just then , Venezia stopped , spotting the Prince at the arena , swinging his sword carelessly in the air . The battle of thoughts running in his mind didn't let the prince to focus and it looked like he was playing with a n***d sword which irritated Venezia . She approached and watched him through the railing and as soon as Hannah spotted what was happening , she hid herself behind a wide pillar , not knowing of what she impulsively did .

The mere swinging of the sword and the wrong techniques irritated Venezia to death and she couldn't caught hold of him herself but still Hannah held Venezia's wrist in order to stop her , like she knew what she was going through . Then suddenly the prince got swooned while practicing and gave himself a minor cut on right side of his shoulder .

But the prince didn't feel anything .

Venezia pressed her palm on the stone railing when she saw it happening . It looked like the pain got shifted from him to her because it wasn't felt . The pain , the wrong techniques and the prince's conflicted mind bothered her so much that couldn't stop herself . She flicked Hannah hand at once and rushed towards the area .

The worry in her eyes was felt by the prince when she appeared in front of him all of a sudden . "You ! Do you have any idea of what you've been doing " Venezia shouted in frustration at the prince .

Mark couldn't utter a word still trying to regain his consciousness of what just happened .

Venezia snatched the sword from mark's hand at once and said in a bold , serious and deep tone . A fire of rage burned inside her when she took a full circle , and pointed the sword at a 90° angle , straight to her eyesight and she cut the air in front of her criss-crossing in a full swing .

Mark watched her in astonishment while Venezia hairends brushed his face . Slowly , Venezia's anger got washed up and she stopped , looking at the floor with the face of embarrassment .

All she could think of what did she do , and if anyone has noticed holding a sword . Sword , that's when she got reminded that she was still holding it in her hands , the panic made her leave the sword at once and she rushed towards the carriage like anything .

She was trying to run away of the situation as soon as she can after committing of what by the world she was living in , was called a sin . She jumped up on her carriage and ordered coachman to return ignoring the fact that she came with his father .

She couldn't sleep that night.

Endnote - why do you think Venezia might do that? Comment your thoughts below and vote please !! ?❤️