As there was still text left, Julia begrudgingly continued reading.

I do know that you most likely think that I am scum and many other unflattering words that I can even name in vampiric. And I will not deny it, I cheated on her with your mother.

I will not make excuses. I will just say that Livia wanted to divorce me back then because I was always away from home, and when I was home, I was drinking... a lot. Believe me, when I say, you never saw me at my worst. And when I was like that, we would argue. But I can swear that I never hit Livia, or at least she never said I did.

You see, we had a huge argument just before I left for Kaenem to negotiate about... tariffs? If I remember correctly. Well, anyway, we had a fight and she brought up the divorce. We argued about it the entire night, and when it was time to leave, I was still angry, possibly even still drunk, so I didn’t even talk to her.

So, I arrived, still slightly angry. And your mother, you see, she threw this huge banquet and there was alcohol, a lot of strong alcohol. A fatherly tip: never try to out-drink a dwarf. You will die of alcohol poisoning.

Well, at some point in the evening, I was so drunk that I began to pour my heart out to her, how my wife wanted to leave me, and so on. She also began telling me how much pressure she was under; the nobles scheming; the need for her to give birth to an heir; and so on.

Well, I don’t remember much after that, but when I woke up, I was in bed with your mother. Neither of us was proud of that, so we decided to pretend that it never happened. That is until I had to return 9 months later and when we were alone, she presented you to me saying that you are my daughter. Yes, you were born as a girl, but why did you grow up as a boy? That was for your protection as well as the world's.

By this point, you may know that vampires went to war to get you back. Well, believe me, if I haven’t taken you with me secretly, or more precisely, rescued you from that cultist dressed as a maid. Not only would your mother die, but dozens of millions would die, and countless more would end up in slavery. All the while, you would innocently sign papers that you would have no idea of what they say, which would be execution orders.  As much as it pains me, this war was the least deadly outcome we could hope for.

I can’t give you proof because it was destroyed in Itten when your mother’s soldiers burned it to the ground. But in any case, you are free to hate me if you want.

Take care, my daughter, and remember the wolves have ears everywhere.

Julia looked away from the letter, staring into the distance as she sorted her thoughts. So now I know who both my parents are... and to think I was actually raised by one of them.

"Umm…Your Highness? Can you hear me?"

Ele became worried when Julia just stared silently into the distance after reading the letter. Upon hearing Ele’s worried voice, Julia came back to earth with her mind.

"Say Ele, would you believe me if I said that I am Julian?"

Julia looked at her half-sister nervously as she asked. She wouldn’t ask her normally. Who would even believe her if she did? But with the letter from their father confirming her identity in her hands, She felt more confident in revealing who she was to her.

Just as expected, Ele looked at her blankly. After that, her face was darkened by a sad smile.

"That is rather a cruel joke, your highness."

Of course, she would not believe something like that. Julia knew how absurd it sounded, but she had proof in her hand. Well, their father’s infidelity would be exposed as well, but that didn’t matter to her.

"Hmm? This is…"

Julia placed the letter in front of Ele, who eyed it questioningly before picking it up. Judging from her expression, she struggled with reading the vampiric script, but even though it took her longer than Julia, she too went wide-eyed once she translated the first part.

"No way... How could that be…"

Ele was visibly struggling to comprehend the reality she was given. Julia didn’t blame her; all she could do was wait for her to process this. and after a few seconds.

"...brother? Is that really you?"

Ele asked Julia nervously, tears forming at the corner of her eyes. Her expression was filled with a slight hope. Julia nodded with a sad smile.

"Yea, it’s me, sis."

As if a dam broke, a waterfall of tears began falling down Ele’s cheeks as she began to sob. And without warning, he embraced Julia with such force that they both fell onto the ground.

"hic, I thought that I lost you for good…. waaaaaaahhhhhh"

As Ele cried into Julia’s chest while Julia rubbed her back with one hand, all the while gesturing that everything was okay to the agitated maid, drawing a short sword from under her dress. The maid reluctantly put away the sword while looking at Ele with distrust. As could be expected of one of Loriam’s maids

"waaaaaahhhhhhh, I am so glad to see you again, brother. Hic… Though you are a girl now…. So, sister?"

"I am glad to see you too, but aren’t you way too accepting of all this?"

Julia smiled bitterly as she continued patting her back. She didn’t expect Ele to be so accepting, even with the letter from their father. But regardless, she was glad that her sister didn’t reject her current form.

"I don’t care how you look, even if you are a vampire and a girl now, it’s still you. That is the only factor that matters to me."

Ele raised her head and looked with teary eyes into Julia’s face, a light-hearted smile on her face.

"Wha-"

"…Another competition?"

"Ummm… Ele? What might you be doing?"

Ele and Julia froze when they looked towards the trio that entered the garden. Two shorter girls; one was a red-haired vampire with an angry, shocked expression, and the other one was a black-haired, dark-skinned wolf girl, who was tilting her head in confusion. And with them was a tall blond elf who, like the wolf girl, was perplexed.

"Olia! Guess what, my brother, he is still alive."

Ele beamed happily at her friend, ignoring the looks she was getting. Julia, for her part, was petrified when she saw her fiancé standing there.

"Is that so? But why are you hugging that bloo- ehm, her highness?"

Olia’s expression brightened slightly with hope. Still wondering why her friend was hugging the vampire princess. just barely avoiding insulting her out of habit.

 "Hey, you were saying something rude, weren’t you?"

Nemi turned at Olia angrily but was ignored.

"Huh?"

After Olia pointed it out, Ele realized what she was doing and embarrassedly looked away as she got off Julia. Likewise, an embarrassed Julia sat back on the chair, attempting to drown the embarrassment with tea.

"Master〜"

Lily, sensing her master’s embarrassment, attempted to help her focus on something else. Specifically, by rubbing her fluffy ears against Julia. Appreciating this distraction, Julia rubbed Lily’s ears and rewarded her with a cookie that was on the table.

"So where is your brother then can we meet him?"

"Well…."

Olia switched to the human language so she would not include the vampires present. Contrary to what Olia expected, Ele nervously motioned toward the vampire princess, who was indulging herself in a petting session with the wolf-girl.

"You’re joking, right?"

Olia blinked three times and carefully looked at Julia, who looked like she wanted to disappear.

"No, I am serious. She is truly well was..."

"Look Ele I know how you miss him and I do too, but you can’t seriously believe that this vampire is or at any point was Julian."

Olia looked annoyed. Julia didn’t blame her fiancé for not believing; in fact, she was glad that Olia didn’t just accept it without proof. But it still somewhat hurt her.

"No, look! See? I am not joking."

Ele grabbed the letter from her father and put it into the hands of a confused Olia. She eyed it suspiciously and read it as her brows slightly raised.

"And this letter is supposed to be?"

Olia asked, unconvinced by the proof she was given. Julia contemplated what she could say to convince her fiancé that it was really her.

"Come on, it’s the letter I was supposed to deliver from my father."

"She is saying the truth. It is really me."

As Olia still seemed unconvinced, Julia talked to her fiancé for the first time in over a month.

Olia, Nemi, and Lily were shocked when they heard Julia speaking in the human language fluently and more smoothly than in vampiric.

"And what proof do you have? Anyone can say that."

Olia yelled angrily at Julia. Knowing that there was no way back now, Julia took a deep breath and, in the broken language of elves, said:

"Even the glow of a thousand stars in the depth of night. Pales in comparison to the glow of your eyes, my lady."

"Huh? That was…"

Julia lightly nodded in response to Olia’s shock.

"That was what I said during our first date."

"No… that can’t be…"

Olia stuttered. No one in the world knew about their secret meeting by the lake. The only people that knew were herself and…

"…Julian?"

"…yes."

Olia couldn’t suppress her tears any longer once she received confirmation that the girl in front of her was the man she fell in love with.

The two stood in awkward silence for a bit. Before, Olia slowly embraced teary-eyed Julia.

The dammed witch, leeching onto Julia. If I had those then... Watching this spectacle, Nemi, who had no idea what was being said, silently admired Julia’s linguistic skills. while cursing Olia as well as her own body. I still didn’t lose. Nemi reassured herself, ignoring the blood dripping from her clenched fist. 

"Should  we do a celebratory toast?"

Ele suggested to her now younger half-sister and her fiance. to which both agreed. After popping the wine open, Julia poured a glass for everyone. Once all five of them took their respective glasses, they made a toast to Julia's birthday to keep the conversation a secret.