"ugh…"

Julia tiredly opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes. How did I end up here? The last thing I remember was the carriage... She wondered before a sudden realization came to her.

She carried me, didn’t she? That sounds like something she would do. Julia nodded to herself once she reached her conclusion. And began stretching lightly, there was no use for Julia to ponder why Loriam does things. That would only lead to an unnecessary headache.

"And now before anybody arrives."

Julia sat on the bed in silence for half a minute, listening carefully to any footsteps outside in the hall. Once she determined that the air was clear, she started to get off the bed so she could begin her secret morning exercise.

"Huh?"

When Julia placed her feet on the ground, they came into contact with something soft and fluffy. Was the carpet always like this? After double checking her memory, whether her carpet is fluffy or not, She arrived to firm confirmation that it indeed wasn’t, but then what was this fluffy thing?

Julia looked carefully at the ground next to her feet. To her surprise, the thing touching her feet was a tail, a fluffy black wolf tail. Huh? Where did it…

"…umm."

A low groan sounded out, catching Julia’s attention. Only then did Julia notice that the tail was attached not to a wolf but to a person. There on the carpet next to Julia’s bed, curled up, was a dark-skinned girl.

Who is she? Why is she here? Don’t tell me that she is here to... kill me. Julia panicked once she fully realized that a stranger was in her room. And since Julia was, despite her own opinion, a princess, the possibility of an attempt on her life crossed her mind.

If Julia yelled out now, then her room would be filled with the guards. The only reason that she didn’t was the girl’s wolf features. The black wolves had been enslaved for two decades now, and since this girl seemed to be in her teens, she was most likely a slave. And Julia didn’t find it right to punish slaves for something their masters forced them to do. Instead, Julia decided to wait for the girl to wake up and get some answers from her.

Come to think of it why is she just sleeping on the floor? What kind of assassin would do that? The more Julia pondered about it the less sense it made. There is no way that an assassin would just lie down next to the target and sleep instead of killing them and escaping.

On top of that, how did she even get here? Isn’t this a royal palace? It should be better guarded... Loriam is lax, isn’t she? By all appearance, based on Liora’s and Loriam’s story apparently, anybody can just walk into the royal palace, take Loriam’s daughter and leave. And apparently, anybody can just walk in and take a nap in a room belonging to the heir to the throne.

"…aster? Master?"

A voice interrupted Julia’s thoughts. The sight that greeted her was the girl that was previously sleeping on the ground and was now staring right in Julia’s face.

"Good morning, master."

The girl, most likely noticing that Julia was mentally present, greeted her in a monotone, though her tail swayed slightly. Master? Who? me? What the hell just happened?! Julia began questioning herself as she looked at the wolf girl. She was dressed in rags rather than clothes and had a metallic collar around her neck. But why is she calling me master? I don’t remember buying a slave, I would never do such a thing.

Before Julia could ask the girl why was she calling Julia master, the door to the room opened and Loriam entered with a smile on her face. Mirei quietly entered after Loriam and closed the door. With a brief glance at Julia, she bowed and stood in the corner. For some reason, she seemed to avoid eye contact with Julia.

"Good morning〜. Do you like the present I got you, sweety?"

For a moment, Julia’s mind went blank as she looked from Loriam to the girl. What do you mean by a present?! Julia wanted to yell at Loriam, but she held back. Instead, she stood from the bed and dragged Loriam out of the room into the hallway, just to be sure that Mirei would not follow them. Julia closed the door right behind them.

"What in the world did you mean by the present?"

Julia stared at Loriam coldly. Loriam on her part, looked back at Julia with a slight confusion on her face.

"I mean that puppy I got for you. You said you wanted her, didn’t you?"

I wanted her?! When did I say that... Julia suddenly realized something. Was it back then? Julia recalled her failed rescue attempt from two days ago, the girl that was currently in her room was most definitely the same one that she tried to rescue. But why did she think I wanted her as a slave?

"What gave you the idea?"

"Well, you said that if I didn’t cover your mouth, you could have gotten her for free. So, I had Mirei look for the auction where she was being sold. And bought her for you."

Loriam looked extremely proud of herself. I am a wonderful mother, aren’t I? Julia guesses that Loriam is thinking something along those lines. Julia felt a headache, but she had to admit that Loriam helped her, though her motives were different.

"I didn’t want a slave, I wanted to free her."

"Then free her. She is yours; do what you want with her."

Loriam shrugged her shoulders, as she looked at Julia without breaking her proud smile. Julia, on her part, was obviously surprised.

"Your… Not going to stop me?"

Julia asked carefully, Loriam shrugged once again and looked Julia in the eyes.

"Of course not, I brought her for you. So do whatever you want."

 Julia expected that Loriam would be opposed to just letting the girl go, especially after she paid for her. So Loriam’s lack of objections rendered Julia speechless. Since Julia had fallen silent without any sign that she intended to say anything more, Loriam began leaving. Loriam only took four steps before turning her head back to Julia, as if she suddenly remembered something.

"Oh, yea. You should put something on before you get sick."

And with a smile and a light wave, Loriam walked down the hall. Julia remained standing in front of her room, confused. Put something on...? Julia, puzzled by Loriam’s words, looked down at her body. only to discover that she hadn’t worn anything other than underwear.

Couldn’t you say that sooner!? Julia panicked and ran into her room, so she could put on clothes and forget that she actually stood in the hall half-naked.

"Welcome back, master."

The wolf girl greeted Julia once she re-entered the room. Even though the girl didn’t have almost any emotions in her expression, Julia had the feeling that she was somewhat happy.

"Your highness."

Mirei bowed to Julia, presenting a black dress to her. Julia had conflicted feelings about being referred to as "master" or "your highness". So, she put those feelings in the corner of her heart and focused on the dress that Mirei was holding.

Luckily for her, the dress was just a simple plain black dress. Well, the hem of the dress was laced, but by this time Julia was used to it. So, happy that she didn’t have to wear clothes more befitting of a noble, Julia happily began changing into them.

Mirei was surprised that Julia was changing on her own. Normally it would be Mirei, but occasionally some other maid would help her change clothes. As a royal maid, Mirei couldn’t afford to do nothing while her mistress, the princess, was doing what was Mirei’s job in the first place.

Since Julia finished putting the dress on, Mirei started brushing her hair. Julia didn’t object because whenever she tried to do her hair it ended up as a mess, leading to a scolding from Loriam. Which in turn was almost always followed up by an apology from Loriam for overreacting and her extreme enthusiasm to do Julia’s hair for her.

"It’s done. Your Highness."

Mirei took a few seconds to admire her work before nodding in satisfaction. Julia looked in the mirror once she heard Mirei’s satisfaction.

"It looks beautiful. Where did you learn that?"

Julia was impressed by Mirei’s skill as she admired her new hairstyle in the mirror. The way her long silver-blond hair was intricately braided was astonishing to her.

"Your praise is more than I deserve. This is just a skill picked up through the years."

Mirei couldn’t suppress the proud smile that Julia’s praise gave her. In the past, when she would give this weary same hairstyle to her stepsisters, they would complain to her. But now the princess was praising it. For this reason, Mirei couldn’t help but feel proud.

"I mean it, it is beautiful. By the way, do you think she would be mad if I came to breakfast a little bit late? Like, let’s say... five hours?"

"Is there an urgent business that your highness has to attend to for so long?"

Mirei wondered. To her knowledge, Julia’s schedule should be entirely free until later that day, so there should be no reason for the princess to not attend the breakfast with her mother. Julia only shrugged.

"No, I just don’t look forward to seeing her."

Mirei’s mind went blank for a moment. I forgot that their relationship is damaged. Remembering the state the royal family was currently in, Mirei sighed.

"Okay forget it. Let’s go."

Seeing that Mirei wasn’t on board with her plan, Julia decided to go obediently like a good girl. As Julia began leaving the room, she suddenly stopped, earning a questioning look from Mirei. Julia ignored it though.

"Don’t just sit there. Come on."

Julia looked back into her room. The girl sat on the ground, not showing any intention of moving. Only when Julia told her to go did the girl stand up and, with a quiet yes master, followed Julia to the dining room, where Loriam was already waiting.

"Good morning."

Loriam greeted Julia with a big smile on her face. Julia merely returned the greeting and sat at the table.

"Sit down and eat something."

Julia noticed that the girl only followed her to the dining room but remained standing close to the door. Once Julia instructed the girl, she reluctantly sat on the chair next to Julia. Loriam then signaled to Liora to get closer. Once she did, Loriam whispered something into her ear. And with a bow, Liora left somewhere, only to return a few minutes later.

"She can’t eat our food, sweety. Did you already forget that?"

A light smirk appeared on Loriam’s face. Julia stopped mid-eating. With a fearful stare, she looked at the goblet filled with blood that sat next to her plate. Did I start to consider myself a vampire? When did this happen?!

"Master?"

The girl called out to Julia, seeing the face she was making. Julia looked at her as well as the steak lying on the plate in front of the girl.

"You should eat instead of looking at me."

Julia smiled at the girl, who nodded and began eating her steak slowly.

"You should be eating too; you will need lots of energy in the afternoon."

Loriam said as she focused on her own food. When Julia looked at her questioningly, Loriam continued.

"Today afternoon, Professor Kiril will arrive for your first magic lesson."

"You want me to learn magic?"

Julia was surprised by Loriam’s words. That didn’t change the fact that she was excited about it. Vampires were very proficient in magic unlike humans, so her vampiric body should allow her to get on Olia’s level.

"Of course, I want you to learn magic. One day you will be the queen, so you must be able to kick the ass of anybody stupid enough to oppose you."

"I don’t want to be one."

Julia refused her supposed destiny and returned to her food. Her previous worry about her vampirism disappearing in favor of magic.

…

Once Julia was done eating, she returned to her room together with the girl. There she placed a few articles of clothing as well as a few items that could be sold for a high price and placed them in front of the confused girl. The girl’s confusion only grow when Julia removed the metallic collar from the girl’s neck.

"These are yours, take them and you can go, you are free."

Julia tossed the collar aside with disgust. She couldn’t understand why somebody would even be so cruel. Julia wished that she could give her some money, but she didn’t have any. Since Julia was brought to the palace, she didn’t see a single coin used by vampires, so she had to improvise.

Not having anything more to say to the girl, Julia attempted to look for a book on magic, unsuccessfully. When Julia wanted to venture into Loriam’s study room to look for it, a thud followed by crying was audible behind her. When she turned around, she saw the girl on her knees, crying.

"I am sorry for displeasing you." The girl vailed. "Please, master, don’t throw me out."

Julia was dumbfounded. She didn’t expect that the girl would cry when told that she was free from now on. If anything, she expected tears of joy. Just how much did they break her?!