Twilight: Darling of Volturi (YURI/GL)

The training session continued until the early hours of the following morning.

Before dawn broke, Caius personally assigned the guard's patrol duties. Those who received missions were permitted to remain outside. Many of them were itinerant guards who had been summoned from across the world for Aro's upcoming banquet. Their task was to monitor the surrounding territory and welcome the "special guests" who would soon begin arriving in Volterra.

Those without patrol assignments were led back to the Palazzo dei Priori by Caius himself, departing from the abandoned church deep within the forest.

Caius's instruction had produced remarkable results. As the only newborn among them, Sophie had received far more guidance than anyone else. By the time they returned to the palace, she no longer needed someone to lead her every step of the way.

Jane was quite satisfied with Sophie's progress. During the mock battles, both she and Alec had indeed held back ever so slightly. Still, Sophie's ability to persuade Demetri and ultimately secure victory had relied far more on her own tactical brilliance than on anyone else's mercy.

Yet throughout the journey home, Sophie remained unusually quiet.

Fatigue and disappointment lingered plainly across her face.

Jane found the silence unsettling.

Ever since their first meeting, when Sophie had barged into a palace full of vampires while starving, she had almost always been in a miserable state. She had fled into the Alps with a twisted arm, been forced to kneel helplessly while restrained by others, and even had her arm torn off during training after attempting to use her gift. Every one of those incidents had been etched permanently into Jane's flawless vampire memory.

And yet...

Even during those moments, Sophie had never stopped talking.

Even while the two of them had struggled beneath the water, Sophie had stubbornly blown a stream of bubbles, trying to continue chatting with her underwater.

A quiet Sophie is simply too strange.

Jane guessed the exhausting training had consumed too much blood, leaving the newborn's throat so painfully thirsty that she lacked even the energy to speak.

After all, newborn vampires existed in a constant state of unbearable bloodlust.

Since her transformation, Sophie had tasted fresh blood only once. The refrigerated blood bags stored in the palace had never truly satisfied her.

A trace of guilt quietly surfaced within Jane.

She had already prepared today's reward.

Once they returned to the palace, she had planned to show Sophie the room specially prepared just for her.

It was located only a short distance from Jane's own room and even featured an enormous walk-in wardrobe that was larger than the bedroom itself.

The shopping arrangements had already been made.

Considering how painfully slow human manufacturing and transportation were, Gianna estimated Jane's custom orders would not arrive in Volterra until the middle of June. While waiting, Jane had personally selected a collection of items she considered suitable and placed them inside Sophie's wardrobe to keep it from feeling empty.

But now...

Jane realized she might have misunderstood what Sophie truly needed.

A room of her own...

Or countless luxurious outfits...

Neither could really be called a worthy reward.

What Sophie needed most was blood.

Fresh blood.

Warm blood.

Blood flowing directly from living human veins.

Of course, every vampire longed for blood.

A room could never compare.

Only warm, freshly flowing human blood could truly reward someone who had earned victory.

Finding prey was Heidi's responsibility.

At the beginning of every month, newborn vampires were allowed one opportunity to enjoy fresh prey as a reward.

Jane silently made a note to herself.

When June arrived she would arrange it for Sophie.

After thousands of years of expansion and renovation, the Palazzo dei Priori had accumulated an astonishing number of rooms and specialized chambers. Besides housing the Volturi's core members and permanent guards, it had also welcomed countless temporary guests and wandering guards throughout the centuries.

Jane had carefully chosen an empty room that was close to her own and just the right size.

It had taken only a single day to have the entire room remodeled.

The elevator descended to the appropriate floor.

Seeing the unfamiliar floor number, Sophie couldn't help asking, "Jane, aren't we going to the library to study today?"

Jane took Sophie's hand as they stepped out of the elevator, a mysterious smile tugging at her lips.

"No. We're skipping the library today. There's somewhere else you need to go first."

The routes beneath the palace were incredibly complicated.

Maze-like tunnels branched endlessly toward countless hidden rooms.

No one could say what the underground complex had originally been built for. Perhaps its architects had modeled it after the escape passages beneath some ancient imperial palace.

But ever since the Volturi had become its masters, the sprawling underground had gradually replaced the surface as the family's true center of activity.

The magnificent halls bathed in sunlight above ground had become little more than an elegant façade.

After thousands of years, cracks had formed between the ancient stone walls, allowing occasional shafts of sunlight to slip inside. Combined with the palace's towering light wells, scattered rays of daylight wandered through the underground corridors like escaping ghosts.

Only the so-called Black Room on the 20th underground level remained untouched by sunlight.

There...

No light ever reached.

Whenever the guards traveled through these passageways, they instinctively pulled up their hoods to shield the exposed skin of their faces and necks from accidental contact with the sunlight.

The diamond-like brilliance of a vampire under the sun was simply too eye-catching.

And attracting attention violated one of the fundamental laws of vampire existence.

Sophie still wore the gray cloak issued earlier.

It was the standard uniform worn by the itinerant guards.

As a newborn, she was not yet qualified to carry out a guard's duties.

Strictly speaking, she shouldn't have been entitled to wear what the guards wore.

Newborns of the same status as Sophie were, at that very moment, still locked inside the pitch-black cells of the twentieth underground floor, howling endlessly inside the Black Room.

"We're here."

Following the corridor, they arrived at a long connecting gallery.

Judging by the layout, Sophie guessed they were somewhere near the mountains behind the palace.

Jane stopped before a pair of massive bronze doors.

Where an oil lamp had once hung beside the entrance, someone had installed a cold light tube instead.

The faint glow was more than sufficient for vampire eyes.

Sophie noticed elaborate relief carvings of Roman deities decorating the bronze doors.

Unfortunately, her knowledge of mythology wasn't extensive enough to identify which god had been depicted.

Jane placed both hands upon the central handles and slowly pushed the doors open.

"Go inside."

There was light.

Real light.

The gloom weighing on Sophie's heart momentarily lifted as curiosity replaced it.

The underground palace barely possessed any lighting equipment, so where was all this brightness coming from?

Jane remained standing quietly beside the doorway, allowing Sophie to cautiously step past her and enter the room first.

The very first thing Sophie felt is softness.

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