Twilight: Darling of Volturi (YURI/GL)

Behind the returning Felix stood two familiar figures.

Jane and Alec.

When Felix had left, there had only been two people. By the time he returned, the group had somehow doubled to four. Sophie felt an immediate headache coming on.

Fetching a tablet can barely be considered a task... but did it really require an entire team?

Alarm bells exploded inside her head as her thoughts raced frantically, desperately searching for a believable excuse that might somehow smooth everything over.

"Sophie, we brought your tablet."

Felix cheerfully reported the successful completion of his mission, completely oblivious to the disaster he had just delivered. The smile froze on Sophie's face.

She had gone out of her way to keep this from Jane.

So why... why couldn't I hide it from her?

The lowest-ranking Italian guard respectfully carried the tablet in both hands as he walked at the rear of the group. Jane's expression was as pale and indifferent as ever.

Yet Sophie had the unmistakable feeling that beneath that icy composure, Jane was suppressing an enormous amount of anger.

They had argued over this very matter before. Somehow, they had reconciled without ever resolving the actual problem.

Sophie had deliberately avoided Jane these past few days precisely to prevent the same argument from happening again. Yet despite all her efforts, there had been no escaping it.

And now...

Everything was different.

Only moments earlier, through deception, Sophie had finally learned the truth about Chelsea's dark gift. At last, every strange occurrence made sense.

She was forced to accept a painful reality.

The emotional bond connecting Jane to her had been severed. Perhaps now, they were only slightly better than complete strangers.

How...

How was she supposed to face a Jane who no longer felt even the slightest joy upon seeing her?

Sophie stood there with the uneasy heart of someone awaiting judgment, silently waiting for the verdict that would determine her fate.

"Your belongings were originally handled personally by Jane," Felix explained with complete sincerity as he walked in front. "So I specifically asked her to come."

Earlier, the Italian instruction he had given the guard in front of Sophie had simply been:

Go find Jane and tell her to meet us at the front entrance.

Felix still remembered the order Aro had publicly given, appointing Jane as Sophie's guardian. Throughout his years in the Guard, he had always excelled as an executor of orders.

His mind might not have been as quick as Alec's, but his unwavering obedience was the reason he had survived for so long. Naturally, he hadn't noticed the subtle but devastating change that had taken place between Jane and Sophie.

In Felix's memory, things were still exactly as they had been on the day he first met Sophie. Back then, after he had accidentally injured her during training, Jane had immediately punished him with her illusion of burning pain gift without the slightest hesitation.

Now, the twins walked past Felix.

Or rather...

Jane did.

Alec simply followed closely behind his sister, and in the blink of an eye, the two of them appeared directly in front of Sophie.

Alec silently swore to himself...

Since meeting Sophie, he had never once seen such a hopeless expression on her face.

Vampires were naturally pale. Yet Sophie looked even paler than usual.

Not merely pale...

There was an ashen lifelessness about her, as though every trace of vitality had been drained away.

It didn't make sense.

Every member of the Guard had bent the rules behind Aro's back at one time or another. The people standing before her were only him and Jane.

Not Aro.

Not Caius.

So...

What exactly was Sophie so terrified of?

Jane slowly lifted a hand and pulled back her black hood.

"I see..." Her red eyes remained cold. "You still haven't given up the idea of returning to human society."

Without another word, she grabbed the collar of Sophie's black Gothic dress and hauled her bodily off the grass. The movement was rough, almost domineering.

"Is abandoning your human identity really that difficult?"

Yet the instant Jane actually stood before her, every ounce of panic inside Sophie abruptly disappeared.

They hadn't seen each other for several days. Today, Jane had styled her golden hair into a single side braid, while her bangs were neatly secured with a delicate pearl hairpin.

No matter how desperately reason warned Sophie that she ought to feel anxious, her body...

Or perhaps...

Her heart, which had long since stopped beating...

Always found peace the moment it drew close to Jane.

Sophie quietly attributed that strange dependence to nothing more than fledgling imprinting.

It's just the instinct of someone clinging to the person who first guided them... That's all.

Watching the atmosphere grow increasingly tense, Felix couldn't help feeling nervous. Jane genuinely frightened him.

Still, since this whole situation had begun because of him, he forced himself to step forward despite the pressure.

"Jane..." He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "It's really not that serious. When Heidi and Dimitri leave the castle, they bring their phones too."

He spread his hands helplessly. "Aro personally gave every one of us a phone. We just don't use them very often."

Jane's gaze never left Sophie.

Coldly, she replied, "But we don't use those phones to contact relatives and friends from our human lives."

Their transformations had occurred centuries ago. Some had lived for a thousand years.

The families they had once known were long dead. Even their bones had already crumbled into dust beneath the earth.

Suspended by the front of her dress, the newborn vampire remained completely silent.

This time, she had been caught red-handed. Jane remembered every word Aro had spoken when he summoned her earlier.

From now on…the way she interacted with Sophie has to change.

"Do you remember the most important law among vampires?" Jane asked quietly.

"I remember."

There were only two fundamental laws. Sophie had memorized them perfectly.

"We must never expose the existence of vampires."

The rules governing the Guard were not the same as vampire law. That distinction was precisely why Sophie had dared step so close to the line.

She finally argued back.

"It's only a tablet. As long as I don't post online saying, 'I'm a vampire,' then I haven't exposed anything."

She even couldn't help adding, "And honestly... even if I did post it... no one would believe me."

The neckline of the dress had already been pulled dangerously loose. Jane's fingers tightened involuntarily, nearly piercing the fabric.

If she continued pulling any harder, another dress would be ruined.

Only then did Jane remember that three male guards were still standing nearby. She immediately released Sophie's collar.

Without ceremony, she dropped her back onto the grass.

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