War of Hearts || Reign || REWRITE

15- Florence

July 19th, 1562

The carriage drove through the paved streets of Florence. After more than a day of traveling I had finally arrived. The place where I was born and lived until I was nine.

This all felt like a bad dream and I thought I could wake up at any moment, but when the carriage drove over a tile and I bounced I felt reality.

I wondered what Francis was doing. Was he with his wife? Did they spend the nights together? Did he say those same sweet little words he once said to me?

I knew I shouldn't think about it but I couldn't resist.

I looked out the window of my carriage again. The streets of Florence were busy around this time of day. It was still morning, almost noon, but everyone seemed to be active anyway.

I recognized some of the buildings and knew I had almost arrived at my parental home. As a child, when I first arrived in France, I could dream the streets. I knew exactly where each house was and knew the entire floor plan of my house.

I rearranged my clothes. I was still wearing that same dress from the wedding. If I could I would have burned the dress, I only had bad memories of it.

The carriage drove into the courtyard and the rider opened the carriage door for me and helped me out. "Palazzo Pitti, My lady," he said. I ignored him and looked around me.

A lot had changed in the 7 years that I had been away.

A group of maids came out of the palace and approached me. The oldest of the group began to speak, "Welcome back Madonna Bianca. We'll take your things to your room." The other maids walked over to the carriage and she motioned for me to follow her "Your father is not at home at the moment, he has gone to Rome with your brothers to visit your older sister, but they will be here the day after tomorrow. Your father says that you should make yourself at home"

I nodded "I assume my father was pleasantly surprised by my sudden move?" The maid smiled "We were all surprised to be honest, your letter only arrived last night, just before your father left so we had to get everything ready in a hurry"

I smiled "What's your name?" I asked "Camilla" she replied.

She opened the door of a room and let me in.

The room was large, bigger than my room in France and even nicer. "Your father made sure you got one of the best rooms. If you want anything changed, just let me know," Camilla said, opening the curtains to let the warm sunlight in.

"Thank you Camilla. I would like to take a bath, where can I wash?" I asked as I unbuttoned my cape. "Next door is a room with a bath. I will heat the water for you and help you if you give permission" I nodded.

"That would be very nice, yes. I still have a few simple dresses in my chests that I would like to wear"

She nodded and left the room.

~

After I was washed and dressed, Camilla made sure that a whole table was filled with breakfast that I ate very well.

I had missed the Italian food. In France they ate more meat while Italy ate more fruit and vegetables.

"Do you think I'll be able to go outside?" I asked Camilla who stood across from me and watched me eat. She nodded "of course madonna, you can walk through the gardens"

"I meant outside the palace, through the city for example" I put a grape in my mouth. Camilla looked doubtful. "Well, I'm not sure. messer Cosimo didn't say anything about exploring the city." She thought briefly "if you go with a carriage and take someone with you I'm sure it won't be a problem"

I smiled with satisfaction.

Now that I was in Italy I had to do something I've always wanted to do but couldn't.

"Camilla, could you have a carriage set up for me, and get dressed. You're coming with me"

This is a new part of Bianca's life with new bad guys. I'm sure you will hate this villain even more than King Henry. At least I already hate the person.

By the way, I had written in the chapter "Father and Daughter" that all her older sisters had died but that is not correct. Her second older sister, Isabella is still alive and you will get to know them in the following chapters. To be honest, she's one of my favorite characters in this part of the story. Her character and her knowledge simply intrigue me.

In this part of the story we will not hear anything about the "French". So it's purely focused on Italy and Bianca's metamorphosis from an innocent girl to a Girl who uses her knowledge and connections to get more for herself and her family.