“If I may, your highness.”

Here it is, we arrived. Julia sighed as she got out of the carriage with the help of the guard. The sun was already setting and music was audible from the mansion in front of her.

“Seems like they already started. Let’s go.”

Loriam urged Julia to go but Julia didn’t move, she just kept looking at the mansion. She couldn’t bring herself to move. Just a few minutes ago she was confident but now she was starting to get nervous.

“Your highness is something wrong?”

Mirei approached Julia, her concern audible in her voice. Julia thought didn’t respond, she just silently stared at the building.

“Julia, what is wrong? Are you unwell?”

When Loriam heard Mirei talking to Julia and realized that Julia isn’t next to her. She almost instantly ran back to Julia without any care for appearances. Julia looked at Loriam once she felt her tightly gripping her hands.

“I can’t do this, I don’t want to go.”

“Julia…”

Julia looked at Loriam’s worry filed face, for some reason she was glad that Loriam was worried about her. Though she was sure that Loriam would force her to go if she heard why Julia didn’t want to go.

“I am not ready. You said that this is an opportunity for them to meet their princess but I just…”

Hate this. Julia didn’t want to live like this, she feared that if she would go there and was announced as the crown princess then she would lose a bit of herself.  She thought that she was already used to being the vampire princess to the point of letting Mirei address her with the title. But it turned out that she still wasn’t okay with it. But even so, she didn’t want to say so to Loriam.

“Please don’t let them know…that you are my mother.”

Julia looked at Loriam pleadingly. Doing her best to look as adorably as possible, though it was extremely embarrassing for her. She dug deep into her memories for reference and replicated her sister.

“Okay…if it will make you happy, then I will not tell them.”

Luckily Loriam wasn’t able to resist her daughter’s puppy eyes and gave in without any resistance. Though Julia noticed that she sounded sad, as she began to walk towards the mansion. Come to think of it she was strangely excited to come with me here.

“I will still go but… just don’t tell them I am related to you, okay?”

“Okay.”

Loriam sounded slightly less sad as she answered, but she was still visibly sad. Julia felt responsible and before she could process what she was doing, she hugged Loriam tightly from behind, taking her by surprise. They stood like that for a few minutes in silence. During which Liora went to make sure that they would be able to enter without being noticed.

“…we should go. It would give a bad impression of the royal family if we stay here longer.”

Liora separated herself from Julia and began to walk toward the mansion with Julia in tow. Julia’s mind meanwhile was preoccupied with what just happened. Why did I even do that for? Why did it feel so comforting?

…

“This is really tasty.”

Julia was stuffing her face with a piece of cake in the inconspicuous corner of the ballroom while observing the gathered guests. All of them looked like high-ranked nobles, smiling and discussing various topics. Julia could feel her nervousness slowly disappear.

Luckily the servants in this mansion didn’t make a ruckus of their queen’s arrival and discreetly led them to the ballroom where the party was taking place. When they reached the ballroom Loriam and Julia separated, Loriam went through the ballroom to talk with a girl who looked to be in her late teens, all the while engaging in small talks with the other nobles.

Julia heaved a sigh of relief as Loriam gathered all the attention to herself. Julia used it to slip past a few nobles, where she managed to find an adequate place to stay, it was far enough from the most nobles and close enough to the buffet. For Julia, it was an ideal place to avoid the other nobles.

“Your highness, may I ask why you do not wish to be with her majesty now? Oh, here.”

While Julia continued eating absentmindedly, Mirei arrived with a glass of wine and offered it to her. Julia took the glass and took a sip of the wine.

“Thanks, Mirei.”

Mirei nodded and stood by Julia’s side. Julia began to ponder Mirei’s question for a bit before speaking up.

“It’s complicated, that is all I will tell.”

What was she supposed to say? “I used to be a human”? Julia wouldn’t believe it if she wasn’t the one in question, there is no way that Mirei would not think that she is crazy. After all only Julia, Loriam and Liora apparently knew the truth. To everyone else, the princess Julia and the hero Julian were always two different people.

“Seems like I overstepped, please forgive me.”

Mirei lowered her head as she saw that Julia isn’t going to tell anything more. Julia continued hanging out in the corner snacking and observing the party. She saw Loriam chatting with the nobles, though it was obvious that she was sneaking glances in Julia’s direction. When their eyes meet at one-point Loriam smiled and waved at Julia. Who decided to pretend to not notice as she finished her wine.

As time went on Julia’s plan seemed to have worked from the start, she remained secluded in the corner of the ballroom without anyone noticing her. However, she began to get bored. Initially, Mirei kept her company so she was able to talk to her if nothing else. However, some time ago Mirei spotted a few of her friends from the academy.

When Mirei mentioned them, Julia asked why don’t she go to talk with them. her response was “I wouldn’t dare leave the side of your highness merely to talk with somebody”.

Mirei sounded completely serious when she said that, but Julia saw in her expression that she would like to talk with them. Julia sighed, she was used to Mirei being like this, expecting Julia to be a selfish princess.

“You can go you know? I don’t want to force you to be with me.”

Mirei was surprised by Julia’s words and after confirming Julia’s permission multiple times. Mirei left to talk with her old friends, and Julia sighed again. I thought that she would know me a little better by now.

She didn’t regret letting Mirei go, though she was getting bored on her own. When she began to consider joining Loriam she saw the other guests start to dance so she decided to sneak out into the garden before someone would ask her to dance.

“Is something wrong my lady? You seem to be in a hurry.”

As Julia got to the doors that led to the garden, she was stopped by a maid that worked in the mansion. She was surprised by Julia but managed to keep her composure.

“It’s nothing I just need a little bit of fresh air.”

Julia gave her the best smile she was able to force, hoping that she didn’t look weird. The maid watched as Julia went past her before she gave dirty look to the young nobleman.

In the garden, Julia took a deep breath and looked at the sky. The stars are really beautiful here. She never knew that the night sky could be this beautiful or even calming. Julia continued into the garden, just as she expected there wasn’t anybody in sight.

Soon her attention was grabbed by flowers growing nearby. As she approached them to get a better look. She felt herself stepping into something mushy. It was too late for her to realize that there was a lot of mud around.

“Fuck! She will kill me if she sees this.”

Julia got back to the pavement and examined her shoe. Just as she expected they were covered in mud. There was no way she could go back inside like this, so she began to go further back into the garden hoping to find somewhere to wash the mud.

As she went Julia attempted to simply wipe the dried mud with the grass but that didn’t help, now her hands were dirty too. Luckily, she spotted a small building that seemed like a gardening shed. Maybe there I can find something that could help. She thought and started to walk in the direction of the shed.

Huh? What was that? Julia could swear that she saw someone going into the shed. Maybe they could help me. Julia thought and hurried to the shed hoping that the person she saw would help her get rid of all the mud. However, when she got to the shed, she couldn’t see anyone.

“How strange was that just my imagination?”

Julia shooked her head and began to search for anything that she could use. After a short while, she spotted a rag on the edge of the table that she would be able to use. However, when she pulled at the rag a gardening hoe and a rake had fallen taking everything down with them. Julia stepped back surprised by how many things began falling.

“Auu.”

Julia stared dumbfounded with the rag in her hand. In the pile of all the gardening equipment lay a girl with shoulder-length red hair dressed in a plain patched dress. It looked like she was hiding behind some planks that felt thanks to Julia.

“Uhh, are you okay?”

The girl looked at Julia with a scared expression on her face and tried to retread behind the table. Why am I getting this reaction for a second time today? Though Julia was slightly hurt by the girl’s reaction to her but she at least looked unhurt.

“…go away… please.”

“Sure, once I am done.”

The girl looked more scared at Julia, she, however, ignored her and began to clean her shoes from the mud.

“Damn it! It isn’t working.”

Julia cursed as she wasn’t able to get rid of all the mud. The girl observed her for some time before running out of the shed. Julia didn’t think much of it and continued her fruitless attempt at removing the mud. To Julia’s surprise, the girl returned back with a bucket of water.

“…it might help.”

The girl said quietly as she placed the bucked on the ground. Julia thanked her with a smile and dipped the rag in the water and started to remove the remaining dried mud from her shoes.

“It really helped. Thank you, you are a life saver.”

Just as the girl suggested the mud was gone leaving behind only small barely noticeable stains. There is no way Loriam would notice these now. The girl seemed to be taken aback by Julia thanking her and unsure of what to do.

“Say, why were you hiding in this shed?”

The girl looked even more surprised when Julia asked her. Was that really that strange for me to ask?

“I was told to hide… so that the guest would not see me.”

Now it was Julia’s turn to be surprised. Why would she have to hide from the guests?

“Why would anyone want to hide a cute girl like you? That makes no sense.”

“Huh? Cute? M-me?”

The girl was now blushing, Julia felt from the girl’s reaction that she was not used to hearing compliments.

 

“Yea, you. Who else is here? It can’t be like I am the first to tell you that. Your family or friends are saying how cute you are for sure.”

Julia was sure that even though this girl wasn’t used to compliments she have definitely been complemented before. But the girl’s expression told her otherwise.

“I don’t have friends and my family disowned me, so you are the first to call me c-cute.”

Julia was taken aback by her words, she didn’t expect to hear that from her. Julia felt bad for her and wanted to do something for her.

“In that case… I can be your friend if you want.”

The girl looked wide-eyed at Julia from head to toe. She seemed extremely shocked by Julia’s words.

“But, why would a noble lady like you want a useless ugly girl like me as her friend?”

“You are not ugly you are pretty. And as for why would I want you as my friend… you are friendly you helped me after all…”

Julia talked like it was the most obvious thing in the world as the girl listened to her. Julia smiled at the girl before she continued.

“…besides I don’t have friends either.”

Not here that is. Julia kept the last bit for herself as she waited for the girl’s reaction. The girl thought for a bit before looking Julia in the eyes.

“I would like that then. Oh, my name is Nemi.”

“I am Julia, Nice to meet you Nemi.”