"Who do you two even think you are? Can’t you just leave her alone?"

Nemi muttered angrily as she observed the trio having a lively conversation in a human language from her hiding space behind a fountain.

As for why she was hiding, shortly after their toast, both Lily and Nemi were asked to go enjoy the party because Julia had diplomatic matters to discuss with her two guests.

"They definitely want to seduce her."

Whatever the case, Nemi saw no resemblance to a diplomatic meeting. Instead, she saw two big-breasted devils flirting with her loved one.

"It definitely looks like that."

"What are you doing here?!"

Nemi growled angrily at Lily, who was peaking from the same cover as Nemi and pressing herself unconformably too close to Nemi’s liking.

"The same as you."

Lily answered without looking at Nemi. Her golden eyes were fixed on the trio. Nemi gritted her teeth and resumed her observation. After all, both of them had bigger rivals than each other.

…

"Say, sis… Do you like the taste of blood? Since you’re a vampire and stuff."

Ele’s question made Julia freeze for a second. Likewise, Olia looked at Ele as if she had said something strange. But she too soon looked at Julia curiously.

Julia herself didn’t know what to say about it. Until now, she hadn’t really thought about it, not to mention that she almost never drank pure blood. But if she did, to be honest, she didn’t hate it. The question was, would the other two hate her for it? True, that may be a pointless worry, but they accepted her being a vampire. So, therefore, accepting that she has to drink blood to survive, But even so, Julia was worried; would they hate me if I say that I don’t hate it?

"I think you may drink too much, sister dearest."

Julia smiled at her sister, hoping that she would drop the subject. Olia didn’t seem to want to allow her that luxury, though.

"Even though our wine is quite strong, still we just poured a second round. Not to mention both of you barely touched yours."

Julia’s weak attempt to avoid the topic was destroyed by Olia, who pointed out the obvious matter-of-factly while calmly sipping her wine.

"Not to mention is just a simple yes or no question. And I am curious as well."

As Olia added, Julia tried to come up with a way to avoid having to answer that. But under the curious eyes of both her fiancé and sister, she wasn’t able to. And so, she nervously said the truth.

"I don’t hate it… Sometimes it tastes good."

Julia braced for a reaction from the two. Expecting their disagreement. That is why Ele’s next words catch her off guard.

"She is a vampire after all. Haha."

Ele announced, with cheerful laughter. Julia had to wonder what the point of that question was, but it seems it was just pure curiosity.

"umm… I heard that vampires consider elven blood a delicacy. Is that true for you?"

Olia added her own question to the topic, pure curiosity written on her face. Come to think of it, did I ever actually drink elven blood? Julia wondered. As far as she knew, she didn’t.

"I am not sure. never tasted it."

"Is that so?"

Julia said honestly, Olia however, seemed sad briefly. As Julia tried to figure out why would Olia seemed sad about this, Mana gathered around Olia’s hand, and almost immediately it formed into a wind blade, which then flew out, injuring Olia’s finger in the process.

"Oh my, I am so clumsy. Darling, would you mind?"

Olia showed a cute smile as she presented her bleeding finger to Julia. while Julia swallowed a mouthful of saliva. Her sense of smell was assaulted by a strong sweet fragrance. Her instincts were screaming at her to just bite Olia and suck her dry.

"I am worried that it will get infected soon. It would be nice if my adorable little vampire fiancée would lick it clean for me〜"

Olia inched her finger closer to Julia’s face. Julia wondered why did her fiancée even want this. Was she making fun of her? It did make her happy that Olia thought she was adorable and that she was still hers. However, she didn’t appreciate Olia toying with her cursed vampiric instincts.

"It wouldn’t be good if I licked it. It could get…"

"Don’t be shy. You drool so much, it’s obvious that you want to."

As Julia attempted to protest, Olia used the moment when Julia opened her mouth to talk and inserted her injured finger into her mouth.

As Olia’s blood touched Julia’s tastebuds, she was overwhelmed with ecstasy. The sweet and rich taste of Olia’s blood made Julia unable to focus on anything else. Savoring what little blood was dripping from Olia’s finger, Julia desired more.

Her mind clouded from happiness, barely registering her fangs nearing Olia’s finger. Just before she bit into Olia’s finger, a loud thud brought her back to her senses. Even though she was curious about what that sound was and where it came from, she decided to ignore it and continued to lick Olia’s blood.

"Are you enjoying my blood?"

"Yeshhh."

I see. Olia smiled and stroked Julia’s hair.

"Say those two girls. Who are they?"

Olia’s voice was cold. Julia froze, Olia was definitely suspecting her of cheating on her. But despite her voice being as cold as an ice, she was still stroking Julia’s hair affectionately.

"The redhead is Nemi…. She is the only friend I have here. And Lily is my... self-proclaimed pet."

"Self-proclaimed?"

Olia and Ele were confused by Julia’s words. She wasn’t surprised by this. After all, who in their right mind would denounce themselves as a person and become someone’s pet just because they felt like it?

"Well, mom bought her as a slave for me, but when I tried to free her, she started crying. And keeps calling herself my pet or my possession,"

Julia gave them a brief moment to process it. before continuing with a sigh.

"And I actually caught her a few times with bruises on her neck. I thought someone was bullying her, but it turned out she was just secretly tightening her collar... When I asked why she was doing it, she said, "It gives me peace of mind. This slight pain is reminding me that I belong to you, master." Lily is a strange one."

Julia shook her head while the other two stared at her in shock. After all, they just heard that there was a girl choking herself because she wants to be reminded that she is property. They had to wonder if this Lily girl was even in the right state of mind.

"You called me master?"

Speaking of the devil. Olia and Ele glanced at the wolf girl who appeared just because her name was mentioned. Standing next to Julia with an affectionate smile, her tail was waving back and fro.

Julia rubbed Lily’s ears before she gave her a slice of cake, which Lily accepted with a smile.

"Thank you, master."

Lily beamed and sat on Julia’s lap, tickling Julia with her fluffy ears. Julia promptly rewarded her with another head pat. The other two just looked on. And Olia let out a relieved sigh.

"Oh, am I interrupting something?"

"Greetings, your majesty."

Everyone except Lily looked toward the origin of the voice. Seeing Loriam standing there, Ele and Olia greeted her with a bow. Loriam smiled in response and approached Julia. holding a long object wrapped in cloth.

"I wanted to give this to you. Happy birthday, sweety."

Julia took the object from Loriam and unwrapped it. In her hands was now a familiar-looking black-curved vampiric sword. The sheath of the sword had strange symbols engraved on it.

Feeling nostalgic, Julia unsheathed the sword. Unlike any other blade she had seen before, this one was jet black. When the sun reflected off the blade, a soft scarlet undertone was visible, as well as countless small circles.

"This sword has been a heritage of our family for generations. It is also said that it is supposed to be enchanted buuuut no one ever managed to activate it."

"Thank you, mother."

Hearing Julia thank her made Loriam visibly happy. Likewise, Julia was actually happy with her gift. But holding it in her hands gave her a strange feeling.

"…without a reason, you shall not pass."

Cling.

"To celebrate the seventh birthday of this child, we dedicate our offerings... as if she cared."

Cling

An image of a young girl covered in scars with silver hair with an undertone of blonde Forging what appeared to be a sword.

"I will show you, I will show you all!"

The girl yelled angrily, intensifying the strikes of her hammer.

Huh? What was that… Julia blinked as the image disappeared from her eyes.

"Your highness, I prepared a bath for you."

"Huh? Oh, yea, thank you Mirei."

Julia thanked Mirei, who had just arrived, and after once again thanked Loriam and wished good night to her fiancé and sister. She followed Mirei to the bath.