"That was tiring…"

It had been a couple of hours since the party had started, and Olia had spent all this time trying not to start a screaming match with the queen.

Olia sighed while taking a sip of the wine. How can they even call this wine? Stupid bloodsuckers. She frowned at the disgustingly sour and overwhelmingly sweet wine. As the princess of the elves, she sampled the best wines there were. Of course, she did not expect that vampires could offer something even remotely close to the standard she was used to. But this was pathetic.

"For sure, you looked like you would rather punch her."

Ele commented joyously, earning herself a cold glance from her friend.

"Putting aside that I planned to give that wine to your brother, did you not see that slave? And I am supposed to negotiate with them."

"Say how many slaves do you guys have?"

"But we are working on it! Unlike them."

Olia knew that, at present, she had no right to criticize vampires for slavery when her own race had thousands of them as well. Even if her mother planned to free them soon, they were still enslaved without any rights at the moment. She knew that she just wanted something to serve as an excuse for her complaining.

"Yea sure, but would you abolish it if my brother wasn’t around?"

Olia went silent. She couldn’t refute it. If Julian hadn’t shown her this dark side of her homeland, she would most likely have just looked the other way until her last breath. That was one of the reasons she loved him in the first place.

"Say... did you really give her the wine meant for my brother or did you just say it for the hell of it?"

Ele decided to change the topic. To which Olia nodded, the wine she had used as a bribe for a vampire. It was one of the best wines made by her family’s vineyard. a gift she intended to give to her fiancé on the day of their wedding. The day that never came, because of the vampire queen.

"In any case, I have to go to meet with the queen."

"Good luck with that. I would like to join you as moral support, but I forgot to give this to their princess."

Ele showed an envelope with her family’s seal to Olia. She took a curious look at the envelope, trying to figure out why her friend’s family would send a letter to the vampire princess. In the end, she could only take a deep breath and wish her friend luck as they parted ways.

Olia carefully scanned the ballroom they were in, searching for the queen of vampires. Unfortunately, the thrones on which the mother-daughter duo sat a few minutes ago were still empty. It didn’t seem to be so easy to find them. As much as she looked around, she could just see a bunch of nobles engaging in discussions among themselves. Not a single glance from the queen or her daughter for that matter.

"…even so, you have no right to seduce her like that!"

"It is my purpose as the master’s property to keep her company, especially in bed."

"You little…"

What the... An argument unbefitting of the noble gathering within the royal palace reached her ears. As she wondered who in their right mind would have such an argument right here and now, she noticed a young vampire girl standing not so far from her. The girl, dressed in clothes that were a strange mix of maid's uniform and noble attire, carried a worried expression directed at the corner of the ballroom.

As Olia got closer to the girl, she noticed another two girls in the said corner. One was a noble-looking vampire with shoulder-length red hair. While the other one was the slave Olia saw giving herself to the vampire princess. 

The two girls were arguing back and forth as if they were the only people present. It clicked to Olia that the seemingly worried girl was most likely a servant of the noble girl.

"Excuse me, would either of you happen to know where your queen is?"

Well, whatever these girls were arguing about wasn’t her problem. She just had to find the queen, negotiate, and then go to sleep. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Who do you think you are!? She is a princess! A dirty dog like you has no right to cling to her!"

"Hm? A dirty dog?"

The slave girl theatrically looked over her body. Both girls either decided to ignore Olia or were just too absorbed in their argument to notice her.

"Maybe I am really a little dirty. I should take a bath with master again〜"

"You…!"

"Now if you excuse me, I will go to my master’s side. See ya washboard."

"Wha… Washboard!?"

The slave turned around and lightly slapped the girl with her tail. The girl thought she was more concerned about the slave’s comment, as she instinctively glanced at her own chest.

"I am not flat! Ack!"

Enraged, the girl manifested a small flame ball, but before she could use it on the smug slave. A small ball of water slammed into her face.

"Calm down, Nemi. If you hurt her, then her highness would not forgive you."

The servant girl sighed as she canceled another water ball that was floating in her hand. Olia was astonished. She never expected to see a vampire noble being disrespected by her own servant, let alone by a slave.

To Olia’s further surprise, the noble girl didn’t react to her servant hitting her with a water ball. She only glanced at the slave who was looking at her mockingly. The girl clenched her teeth in anger.

"So... can you help me?"

"Huh? Who are you?"

Getting tired of being ignored, Olia spoke up. The noble and the slave looked at her annoyedly, while the servant gasped in surprise.

"My name is Olia Visele, the eldest princess of Lóendim. pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Yeah, yeah, what do you want."

As Olia introduced herself with the standard courtesy, the girl just waved her hand dismissively at Olia, unimpressed that the princess of elves was talking to her, while the servant girl seemed shocked by her casualness.

"As I was asking before; would you happen to know where your queen is?"

"Most likely with a master..."

The slave girl answered with a hint of jealousy in her voice. In fact, both of the girls seemed jealous. As Olia waited, it became clear that neither of them had plans to say anymore.

"Then where can I find them?"

Since the queen is supposed to be with her daughter, then maybe I should regroup with Ele. Olia thought. The two girls looked at her suspiciously.

 "What do you want with her?"

"As she said!"

The girls were standing right next to one another, their previous hostility towards each other nowhere to be found. Instead, they seemed to perceive Olia as a threat of some sort. With the noble girl seeming the most hostile.

"I just have some dealings with the queen, so where is she."

Olia was starting to lose patience with these two. Luckily, when she answered, the girls sighed in relief.

"Master is in the garden."

"You just told her?!"

The slave answered disinterestedly, while the noble just got angry at her. She then pointed her finger accusingly at Olia. Or more specifically, at her chest, where she also aimed her most hateful glances.

"Listen here, witch. I will not let you anywhere near my Julia alone, you hear me!"

"Ha!? Your’s? Master is my master."

"Can you take me to her or not?"

As the two began arguing again, Olia was having a hard time keeping calm. The two were obviously annoyed but took Olia towards the garden.

…

In the meantime, Ele had much more luck thanks to the helpful maid she encountered.

"Here it is it."

"Thank you."

While Ele admired the garden, the maid left with a bow. Ele took a deep breath before taking another step.

In front of her, at the table, sat the vampire princess, accompanied by a blond maid. The princess was audibly sighing while playing with the bottle of wine given to her by Olia.

"Good afternoon, your highness."

Ele greeted the princess with a bow and a polite smile. The princess looked at her wide-eyed.

"Ele?"

A mixture of surprise and happiness appeared on the princess’s face.

"Please have a seat. Would you like some tea?"

"If you would be so kind."

Ele bowed and took the chair offered to her. Surprisingly, the princess poured the tea for her, personaly. While Ele was wondering what was that about, the princess whispered something to the maid who nodded and with a bow excused herself in vampiric language.

"Your, highness. I wanted to give you this earlier, but it slipped my mind."

Ele placed the envelope on the table apologetically. The princess took the envelope into her hand and opened it.

…

Why is father sending me a letter? Julia wondered when she saw the crest of her adoptive family on the envelope. She was definitely glad she got to see her older sister again, though it hurt her each time Ele called her "your highness".

"Huh? What…"

Julia opened her eyes wide when she read the first line of the letter;

Happy Birthday, Julian... well, Julia.

Not only was it written in vampiric, which Julia wasn’t surprised by, Her father was a diplomat before the war, after all. But how does he know? She continued to read.

I am sure you have some questions. Like, how do I know that you became a girl? Simply put, who do you think gave you the name Julia? Yes, I did. The truth is, I am your actual father, in case Loriam hasn’t told you.

Julia stared at the letter blankly, earning a confused look from Ele.

"Is something wrong your highness?"

Julia didn’t answer her, just blankly looked at her. Does it mean that Ele is actually my older sister? Wait, isn’t he married for 30 years? If she remembered correctly, her father was married to his current wife before Julia was born, so how could he have a child with Loriam?

So, she read more;

If you're thinking wait, weren’t you married? I have two things to say; alcohol and marriage troubles.

"…"

So, you cheated on your wife, and had me? Julia didn’t know if she was more disgusted or just disappointed.