May 1, 2005, Volterra, Italy
The passenger beside her looked her up and down before asking with a grin, "Did you come here chasing love?"
"No." Motion sickness had left Sophie completely drained, and she answered weakly, "I came here to collect a debt."
The moment the bus came to a stop, Sophie grabbed the strap of her backpack tightly with one hand while covering her mouth and nose with the other. Before any of the other passengers could react, she rushed off the bus.
The travel guide had described Volterra as the City of Wind, and now she finally understood why. The cool breeze immediately dispersed the suffocating odor of sweat and packed bodies trapped inside the overcrowded bus.
Judging by the number of passengers alone, the bus had definitely exceeded its legal capacity by at least ten people. The winding mountain roads, combined with the sweltering summer heat, had nearly made Sophie vomit from the constant jolting and nauseating smell. Thankfully, the driver had stopped just before she reached her breaking point. Otherwise, she really would have made the air inside that bus even worse.
Italy was famous for producing smooth-talking men. Most people came here in pursuit of romance.
What an artistic, romantic country. Sculptures, literature, music... a land seemingly blessed by the Muses themselves.
Yet Sophie had come for the exact opposite reason.
She had traveled all the way to Italy...
To hunt down another woman over unpaid money.
"How exactly are you planning to repay what you owe me?"
She had always imagined her first trip to Italy would be inspired by one of her historical research projects. Perhaps Leonardo da Vinci, or maybe the fall of the Hohenstaufen dynasty.
Volterra's ancient ruins were remarkably well preserved, and according to local legends, the city's culture even had connections to vampires.
It was all Irene's fault.
Otherwise, Sophie could have turned Volterra and its vampire folklore into her next documentary topic and handed the finished script to Irene to narrate on camera.
They had run their channel together for three years.
How could Irene suddenly disappear without saying a single word?
The platform revenue had always been deposited into Sophie's account. Every payout, she transferred half to Irene while keeping the remainder to finance their next research project. That arrangement had continued for three years, satisfying both Sophie's endless curiosity and their living expenses.
Everything had been perfect.
Sophie disliked crowds. She much preferred exploring unknown places alone.
As she often put it herself, she had almost no resistance to beautiful things. Whenever she encountered beauty, she couldn't help wanting to get closer.
And her definition of "beautiful" was extraordinarily broad.
According to Sophie's personal classification system, her partner Irene unquestionably belonged in the category of physically beautiful things.
Although they were officially collaborators, Irene's entire job consisted of reading Sophie's finished scripts in front of a camera, inserting matching images into the video timeline, and clicking the upload button.
She never participated in researching or creating the content itself.
Yet that amount of work earned her fifty percent of Sophie's income.
They split everything evenly.
Of course, their videos were rather crudely produced. Otherwise, they probably would have gone viral during their very first year.
Did Irene simply think the money came in too slowly?
Sophie herself was perfectly photogenic. If she wanted to, she could easily have appeared on camera instead.
But she hated socializing. She had absolutely no interest in standing beneath a camera lens or becoming the center of attention.
Besides, she and Irene had met during a time when they were both struggling financially. Sophie had gladly shared the opportunity to earn extra income with her.
By the end of her sophomore year in college, their channel had accumulated a respectable number of followers. Confident in its future, Sophie had taken a leave of absence from university and devoted herself entirely to running the channel.
Perhaps those first two years had simply been laying the groundwork.
During the third year, both their social media accounts and video platforms experienced explosive growth. Their income underwent a dramatic leap.
If Sophie had no desire to buy luxury goods, invest in expensive real estate, or casually raise a handful of children...
If money existed solely to keep her alive...
Then she had essentially achieved financial freedom.
Now, however...
One additional condition had to be attached to that statement.
If... Irene hadn't betrayed her.
Beautiful things were poisonous.
Beautiful women lied.
For the first time in her life, Sophie admitted those old sayings actually made sense.
Many of her friends had warned her before, some bluntly and others more tactfully. They told her to be a little more cautious, to stop spending all her attention studying mysterious creatures and unknown phenomena, and to invest at least some effort into understanding people.
But Sophie seemed to have been born without that particular instinct.
Besides...
They had already worked together for three years.
"Bleurgh..."
The wind sweeping through the valley carried away the unpleasant odor clinging to her body. After forcing herself to swallow a couple mouthfuls of water, the nausea lodged in her throat gradually subsided.
Along with it...
The feelings she still held for Irene were blown away as well.
"Those who leave me behind cannot be made to stay in yesterday. Those who disturb my heart leave today filled with endless sorrow."
Her professor had once taught her that poem.
Quietly, Sophie made up her mind.
If she managed to recover the money this time, she would find a new partner she could truly trust.
And that partner...
Absolutely had to be even more beautiful than the traitorous Irene.
My head is spinning...
The blazing midday sun stabbed directly into her eyes, darkening the edges of her vision.
She couldn't tell whether it was because the sunlight was too harsh...
Or because she hadn't had time to eat.
My phone's dead...
Though it didn't matter.
Scammers never answered their phones.
Fortunately...
Sophie had another way to catch her.
After stealing the money, Irene had packed up almost immediately, moved away, and deleted every means of contacting her.
But while rummaging through the pile of discarded papers Irene had left behind, Sophie had found an unopened envelope.
More precisely...
It contained a travel company's itinerary booklet.
That single discovery had given Sophie the clue she needed.
Irene had fled to Volterra.
Raising her eyes, Sophie gazed toward the city ahead.
Golden stone walls.
Terracotta domes.
Weathered masonry that spoke of centuries of history.
This is Volterra.
Irene's hiding place.
Suppressing every instinct urging her to immediately explore the city, Sophie forced herself to open the tourist booklet and compare the itinerary against the map.
The Museum of Sacred Art?
No. It was closed today.
The Etruscan Arch?
That was the first stop on the tour. The site was small enough that they had certainly finished visiting it by now, guide included.
The Archaeological Park?
The midday sun was blazing. The group was far more likely to be indoors at this hour. After eliminating the other possibilities, only one location remained.
Palazzo dei Priori.
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