When looking down upon the Palazzo dei Priori from such a height, Katherine realized that the area occupied by this ancient castle was so vast that it was probably even larger than Windsor Castle.
Unlike the solemn and majestic Windsor, the Palazzo dei Priori was especially gloomy and oppressive. Admittedly, however, the precious artworks here were definitely beyond what Windsor could match.
Katherine was a bit surprised that Windsor was still so vivid in her memory. She still remembered that on each of her birthdays in the past, her mother would make a cake for her with her own hands. The frosting would fall from her fingertips like a miniature snowfall.
Back then, there would also be specks of white frosting on Katherine's brown curly hair. Her mother said, "Not even the hair of a princess is decorated like this. You are the most beautiful little princess, Cassie. You are the princess of Windsor."
Such words could only stay in the days before she was six. After her mother's death, the power struggle within Windsor grew fiercer and fierrer. Katherine and her father could hardly protect themselves. She still remembered the words spoken to her by the ghost of a Windsor ancestor three hundred years ago at her father's funeral.
"Katherine, your parents and you are all victims of the struggle for the throne. The Queen favors Princess Angelina. Your parents just chose the wrong side. Leave Windsor, or you'll be the next one."
Thinking about it this way, perhaps Amber and the others had chosen the right side to seek shelter from. They were really lucky.
Sulpicia affectionately held Katherine's arm as they walked through the woods. Noticing that she was staring unblinkingly at the Palazzo dei Priori not far away, she gently tugged at the other's long curly hair to draw her attention back: "What are you looking at, Cassie?"
"Oh, nothing." Katherine blinked, shrugged. "From this angle, the Palazzo dei Priori looks a bit similar to Windsor Castle."
"That's really sad. Aro told me that you don't like it there." Sulpicia's voice was so gentle that it could melt one's heart. Katherine suddenly thought of her mother. She was also this gentle.
But her mother's gentleness was like water, while Sulpicia was like a water snake.
"I did like it once." Katherine replied.
"It's all in the past." Sulpicia patted her hand. "Now you're in the Volturi, the safest place in the world. No one will dare to harm you anymore."
After saying that, she became cheerful again and quickened her pace down the hill: "Come on. The designer chosen by Gianna for you has already arrived. You can't meet humans yet, as it will cause you great pain. But they have your photos and will present many options for you to choose from."
Katherine seemed to hear the groaning of her meager salary card. The custom-made clothes by a designer who comes to serve specifically are worth more than she herself is. She didn't dare to inquire about the interest rate in the Volturi. She was afraid she would faint right away.
"Well..." Katherine pulled Sulpicia, without much effort. "I'm really not particular about clothes. Thank you for your kindness. Actually..."
Actually, even if you use a rag from the Volturi as my clothes, I still can't afford it...
"This is a gift, dear. Don't refuse." Sulpicia smiled, looking as beautiful as an angel.
The distance from the Palazzo dei Priori to the valley was negligible under the speed of vampires. The outdoor scenery with sunlight, flowers, and vivid colors disappeared quickly beside Katherine like frames of a film being played at high speed. Then, they arrived at the main entrance of the Palazzo dei Priori.
Katherine looked at the heroic angel statue above her head, but in her heart, she had already begun to miss the vibrant valley and the nervous expressions on Demetri's and Alec's faces when she was taken away by Sulpicia.
She was more and more certain that the relationship between Sulpicia and Aro was definitely not ordinary. Otherwise, why would all the vampires passing by stop and greet her very respectfully?
She guessed that they might be husband and wife, but more likely lovers. After all, in the long and almost eternal life of vampires, she could hardly believe that they would practice lifelong chastity and monogamy.
After all, even in the short span of a few decades of human life, many people can't manage to be faithful to only one person forever.
However, Aro and Sulpicia were similar in many ways. It wasn't strange that they got together.
Katherine accepted Sulpicia's suggestion and went to take a bath first. She hadn't taken good care of herself since Caius had picked her up from the sewer. Although thanks to her fast speed, she hadn't been smeared with any dirt from the sewer at all, she still felt uncomfortable psychologically.
Especially since Caius seemed to like pulling and squeezing her like a rag doll. Katherine felt her scalp tingle. Didn't he think she was dirty?
"But, I remember there was no bathroom in my room." Katherine suddenly remembered something and said. She remembered that in the room that only appeared in her wish on her twentieth birthday but was messed up by herself, there were no facilities like a bathroom or a toilet.
Katherine suddenly shuddered. Don't tell her that the Volturi had the perverted habit of bathing in a large public bathhouse! She'd rather squat in a corner and fester alone!
Sulpicia shrugged indifferently: "Oh, of course not. That was just a temporary resting place for you when you fainted. If you like, you can also kill time there when you're bored. Your room isn't that one, so of course there's no bathroom."
Thank goodness. Although the showing-off of wealth in this sentence made Katherine's values tremble a bit, at least her logical nerves still dutifully picked out the key point - bathroom, bathroom, she said there was a bathroom, not a crazy large public bathhouse!
Katherine let out a sigh of relief: "So where is my room?"
"Follow me."
Sulpicia led the way, walking familiarly through one corridor after another, and stopped in front of a room at the southeast corner on the fourth floor of the palace: "Here it is. You go in and take a bath first. I'll go get your clothes."
Saying that, she reached out and grasped the carved handle of the dark brown door and opened it. Looking at the interior decoration, Katherine had the illusion that time had flown back to her childhood when she first entered Buckingham Palace to visit the Queen of England.
The room was very spacious. That was also the reason why it could only be built in a corner of the castle. Only in this way could there be enough space, excellent lighting, and good views. Since it was daytime, the thick hand-embroidered curtains were quietly drawn together, leaving only a sliver of light streaming down through the gap, winding and shining brightly across the soft and exquisite Persian carpet on the floor, and finally climbing up the wall full of hidden patterns and a small hand-painted fresco.
The balcony was hidden by the curtains. Katherine could only see through the gap that there seemed to be some things like chairs outside.
The light in the whole room was a bit dim. Ebony was the main feature of this living room. From the wardrobe to the desk, from the cabinet to that neat and huge...
Bed?
Katherine was a bit puzzled. Vampires didn't need to sleep at all. Why did they get such a large bed for her?
"Cassie, do you want pants or a long dress?" Sulpicia's question interrupted Katherine's doubts. Katherine quickly replied: "Pants."
Sulpicia looked at her with a bit of regret: "Well, I was going to say that you would look really nice in a dress."
Katherine didn't have the mood to refute because all her attention was now on this exquisitely dizzying room. She always felt that there was something wrong with this room. It wasn't just the unfinished book lying open on the ebony desk and the chair that hadn't been pushed back into place.
There was also the black cloak casually draped over the chaise longue. Katherine estimated the length and it didn't seem to be for her at all.
This wasn't her room. It was a room that had been occupied by someone else.
"Sulpicia." Katherine felt a bit creepy. She turned around and looked at the smiling angel, feeling bewildered. "Is this room occupied? Did you make a mistake?"
"No." She said. "This is Caius's room."
This was like a bolt from the blue! Katherine was so stunned that she could hardly speak coherently: "Then... then where's mine?"
Don't tell her that only Caius's room in the whole Volturi had a bathroom. How pitiful your Volturi would be!
Sulpicia seemed to find Katherine's reaction quite interesting. She smiled with her eyes narrowed: "Yours is with his."
With Caius's...
Katherine desperately held back the urge to rush out and hang herself under the angel statue at the main entrance. She quickly backed away to the outside and pressed herself against the hard and cold stone railing, looking panicked.
The sense of taking-it-for-granted in Sulpicia's demeanor was just like that of the other vampires towards her sudden inclusion. It seemed that these things were all perfectly normal, which was beyond eerie!
Last night, Caius had bitten her neck to suck blood as easily as if she were prey. And this afternoon, they were arranging them to be in one room with a maddeningly calm expression?!
Do your Volturi vampires have any logic at all?! One room?! Bathing?!
Katherine kept shaking her head. She'd rather go and bathe in the fountain outside and be seen by everyone than stay here. Why hadn't Caius just bitten her to death last night? Why did he let her face all this soberly?
Where was Landon? Landon...
"Cassie?"
"I don't want to bathe here. What about other places? Do you have a place like a public bathhouse here?"
Sulpicia was so amused by her that she laughed until she was doubled over: "How could there be a public bathhouse here, Cassie? It's okay. You need to take a bath to relax. Come in."
"I won't. It's his room! I won't go in!" Katherine was shaking like an overly frightened kitten. "He'll kill me!"
"I swear in the name of the Volturi that he definitely won't." Sulpicia tried to comfort her and walked over to hold her hand.
Katherine jumped back immediately: "No. Give me a bucket. I'll go and get some water from the fountain and wipe myself in the previous room. I won't go in!"
No way, no way. She'd rather die than go in. The dark brown door seemed to have twisted into a monster in Katherine's eyes, looking as terrifying as could be.
"I really can't do anything with you." Sulpicia shook her head. "Why are you so afraid? He's the last person you should be afraid of."
Why? Katherine almost roared. He almost killed me! Why do you say that? What do you mean by the last person? What is supposed to be right in your eyes? Is it right to put a captive and an executioner in one room?
So the logic of vampires is really frustrating even for those who don't have balls. What kind of world is this!
"What are you doing here?"
Caius's signature siren-like beautiful voice suddenly rang out from behind. Katherine turned around in a panic, opening her mouth but unable to speak. He looked at the panicked Katherine, frowned, and looked at Sulpicia beside him, as if waiting for her explanation.
"The designer has arrived, but Cassie needs to take a bath and change her clothes first." Sulpicia shrugged, looking rather helpless. "You know, the previous temporary resting room didn't have a bathroom, so I brought her here."
Katherine gritted her teeth secretly. If you two fight, it would be best if you both die. She wouldn't help either of them.
However, after hearing this, Caius didn't show any intention of fighting with Sulpicia at all. Instead, he looked at Katherine and said unpleasantly: "Then why haven't you gone yet?"
What?! Why was this reaction different from what she had expected?! According to Caius's violent and moody temperament, shouldn't they be fighting?
Katherine stared blankly at Caius: "But, it's your room."
"What? Are you feeling wronged to take a bath in my room?" He reached out and pinched Katherine's chin, gently rubbing it, challenging the limit of Katherine's nerve endurance.
If a normal person is among a group of crazy people, then the abnormal one must be the normal person.
Silence would make the displeasure in Caius's eyes more and more obvious. Moreover, that half-hidden room was like a huge monster waiting to swallow Katherine whole and not spit out the bones.
She finally said: "But it's your room. I have nothing to do with you. Why should I..."
Looking at the shocked expression on Sulpicia's face, Katherine's voice couldn't help but get smaller and smaller. Although the Italian people are passionate and unrestrained, for a woman to go and take a bath in a man's room, if Landon knew about it, he'd drive a police car and smash right through this room.
What a brave guardian. She just didn't know if a police car could kill Caius?
Caius tightened his grip on her chin instantly. His delicate brows furrowed tightly, and his eyes were dark and turbulent, as if he wanted to pierce Katherine into a sieve with his eyes.
What was she saying? Having nothing to do with him? And then? Go and find someone she had something to do with?
"I'll tell you one last time, Katherine." Caius lowered his head, his forehead against hers, their noses almost touching, and his cold breath spread freely on her face. "You belong to the Volturi, and you also belong to me. Do you understand?"
Belong to you? Just because you bit me once?!
Before Katherine could recover, she was grabbed by Caius and carried into the room: "Get her clothes. She'll finish bathing soon."
Sulpicia smiled and nodded, then floated downstairs.
Katherine struggled immediately: "I'll bathe myself! Let me go! I'll bathe myself!"