THE POPE'S DAUGHTER

Chapter 3 - Venezia's room

Weeks later , Venezia was sitting beside her window , gazing at the street below .

Children played while women chattered , but not much noice came up to her room. After an awkward silence which was only felt by Hannah , she kept two fruit bowls , one containing freshly washed grapes and on the other , freshly cut apples .

Venezia observed a little boy playing with a ball with another boy , maybe his only friend .

"Here m'lady" Hannah offered the grapes bowl to Venezia in order to break the silence but failed .

Venezia gave little to no attention to her and was fully immersed at the children playing downstairs . So , Hannah found the only way to gain her attention and dared to ask indirectly "hmm , the grapes are sweet , which reminds me , how do you like the prince m'lady ?"

As soon as she asks the question , it felt like a hard rock have been put on Venezia's shoulders , the boy to whom her gaze was stuck at , fell down and hurt himself while his only friend left him .

Seeing him hurt , she got disheartened immediately and finally removed her attention from him saying "oh please , there's nothing likable about the prince."

She said while standing up and eating a piece of apple .

At the same time , the prince was hanging around with his dear friend Bruce on a tower , viewing the city from above gave him a sense of satisfaction . As if these lives he's been looking at are an art piece to admire .

It looked like Hannah and Bruce were two passenger of the same boat when Bruce also broke the awkward silence between them . "I know that , You've never been gentle with women but up until there at the market last week ... " He stopped for a brief moment realising that he's daring to speak something worse , but still continued . " Why did you ask me to unclench that tramp ?"

Hearing those words , the prince gave a side glance to Bruce in order to intimidate him and said nothing . The silence complimented the emotions mark was feeling inside him . Anger , l**t , attraction and revenge all at once didn't let him do any of his work completely.

Venezia walked towards the water bowl in a way as if she avoided the conversation that was going to take place . And as to her predictions , Hannah didn't leave her "but still m'lady , don't you think he's a type of man you want to fall in love with ? " She said while changing her position from the chair to Venezia's bed.

"C'mon , we have to leave for the castle , the king asked us to be there by an hour" Bruce replied feeling hopeless of the prince. He didn't liked the prince in the first place but was told to be with him by his mother , the lady of Verona due to political reasons . "What ? Why didn't you tell me that before " the prince asked in reply.

"I did " replied Bruce in a taunting tone and offered a hand to pick up the prince .

"Hannah .... I'm the Pope's daughter ? Remember ? I'm not meant to find love . And anyways , he would be the last person in this earth I'd want to fall in love with" Venezia replied in a satirical tone , like she's indirectly mocking herself .

"But still a girl can dream " with that Hannah lay on Venezia's bed Dreamily and Venezia chuckled while drying her hands with a towel and looking at Hannah , having young and foolish dreams .

"You like her ? Don't you?" Bruce said suddenly between the depressed silent aura surrounded around them while they both were on their horses riding slowly in between the main marketplace.

The prince is still in silence and was trying to convince himself that he doesn't . How could he ever like a girl that made him feel guilty about himself ? That was so inexplicably rude that she dared to raise a hand on him , the prince.That was the prince's alter ego talking to himself when he chooses to not answer Bruce this time again .

A sudden knock on the door made Hannah jump from the bed , when she saw the pope enter . "Father !"

Venezia spoke getting shocked by her father's first presence in her small room at a nearby tavern.

Yes , till now Venezia was living in hiding , like a mediocre young girl In a small tavern and she had no issues with it , instead she loved this kind of life and treated everyone as equal to her . After coming to town from the Vatican City after 20 years , she was still kept in hiding in the City of milan because of his overprotective father , the pope wanted to hide her from all the dangers of life and give her a life of a princess.

But that was not the intention why he protected her so much . "Well , what are you doing here ?" Venezia toned her shocking voice down this time and sat down.

"The day has come" the pope said in a serious yet happy voice .

"I want you to get ready , we'll be heading towards the castle any moment " he didn't even sat or touched anything I'm her room and returned back from the gates itself immediately after ordering .

"But..." Venezia didn't had the chance to talk back or ask him what's happening but the mere thought of the castle reminded him of the prince .

After what she faced at the marketplace , she never wanted to face him again , but still she got dressed all formally and prayed of not being able to see the prince at the castle while Hannah groomed her .