Julia could barely sleep during the night. One of the reasons was that Nika insisted on being with her, just like Nemi and Lily did. Kana being the only one who simply laid down and didn’t bother with arguing. Her philosophy being; master decides where she wants me.

While the three girls argued about who had more right to sleep next to Julia, Julia herself was trying to sleep.

"If you don’t lay down in ten seconds, I will have Kana kick you out."

Their arguing died down, and with the speed of light, Nemi lay right next to Julia while Nika was on the left. Lily, meanwhile, was trying to lay in such a way that she would not disturb Julia’s sleep.

Julia began regretting not kicking them out soon enough. While the three girls stopped arguing and were completely silent. They did press themselves close to Julia, too close for her liking. Starting a cold war among themselves by seeing which of them will claim the most of Julia’s body for herself.

Sandwiched between three girls, of whom one was her sister. Was definitively not how she imagined sleeping today. But she did manage to fall asleep eventually.

By morning, her body was so sore that she began to question if she even had a real body to begin with.

Despite her uncomfortable position, Julia carefully freed her body from her two capturers. Slowly, she liberated herself, and once she could feel her body in its entirety, she sneaked out the door, not forgetting a mandatory head pat for Lily.

Grabbing a simple coat from her closet, she wrapped it around herself and slowly creeped out. Once outside the room, she let out a sigh.

"What will I do with you?"

A gentle smile appeared on her face. What could she say? While it wasn’t comfortable, she liked waking up to see herself being surrounded by those who cared about her. even if it was uncomfortable.

It was the only thing she ever wished for in her formal lives, and now she has finally obtained it.

"If only I didn’t have this royal burden on me."

Her murmuring voice was tinted with sadness. When she was born a vampire princess in her past life, she was kind of happy. She expected to be spoiled by her parents. But that never happened; instead, she was thrown away like trash.

Is it really too much to ask to have someone who would like me? Was what she was asking the heavens each and every day. But she knew that the powers of heaven were not on her side. She had to take the happiness she was denied with her own hands.

And so she did. Even though it took her a long time, she got closer to her younger sister. She managed to have a close friend as well as an adorable daughter.

"If only this time it was different."

Julia sighted. Her previous life started nice, then went to shit, then got good again, and ended in the depths of hell.

That is why she hoped this time would be different. That she will not have to carry the burden that the crown presents. She shook her head in spite of herself. Now she could only do what was expected of her. the role of the queen.

…

Loriam made sure that the hood covered her hair perfectly. Once she was sure that not a single strand of her silver hair could be seen, she managed to relax a bit. But she was still as scared as she could be.

"I never thought I would have to break into my own home."

She broke out plenty of times when she was a little girl. purely because she wasn’t allowed to go outside, not because she had something to do outside. And now she was about to break in.

"If you don’t keep it quiet, then we will be caught."

One of their guides let out a sigh. In reality, they weren’t even sneaking in; there was no reason to. The patrols had cleared the way for them to make it look like they were successfully sneaking in.

As they moved through the hidden corridors that had been hidden for centuries. Loriam and Mirei were curiously looking around, the corridor’s aesthetic captivating them.

"To think something like this is in the palace."

"A lot of things now make more sense."

Loriam now understood, for the first time in the last twenty years she understood just how easy it was to get in the palace. If I knew about these... No one would take her from me.

"Your majesty…"

Mirei whispered worriedly as she saw Loriam staring silently in the hall through the peeping hole in the wall. Loriam shook her head, giving Mirei a weak, reassuring smile.

"…The gods be my witnesses. I am Alia Lilnixi, daughter of Irinelin Lilnixi, the 52^nd queen of the succubi race. Renew the pledge of my ancestors... to be a loyal subject of your imperial majesty."

As they continued on, the throne room became visible. There on the throne sat Julia, dressed in an elegant dress. In front of her was a little succubus. She looked nervous, if not straight-up scared. Behind her stood a couple of succubi dressed in uniform.

"Your loyalty is appreciated."

Julia nodded her head. The succubi got up from the ground, stepping aside. Glancing nervously at the two soldiers that were accompanying her

Julia slowly stood up from the throne, scanning the people that had gathered.

"After millennia of uncertainty, infighting, and general collapse, The new era has begun today. At long last, the empire is united."

"Long live her majesty! Glory to the empire!"

The assembled soldiers shouted out, while the gathered nobles joined them reluctantly out of fear.

…

After the ceremony ended, Julia was walking alone through the hall. She didn’t miss these sorts of things in the slightest. Damn this stupid title. She cursed mentally.

"Julia."

A familiar voice coming from behind her brought her to an abrupt stop. When she turned around, she saw Loriam standing behind her. Tears of happiness ran down her cheeks.

"Mom."

Julia was shocked. And for a few seconds, she couldn’t believe her eyes. It made more sense that this was just a hallucination. But Loriam still stood there.

"Mother."

Julia snapped out of her shock and ran towards Loriam, embracing her.

"I missed you."

"I did too."

Mirei and the other women stepped out of the secret passage. The first thing they got to see was the mother-daughter duo hugging. Mirei felt happy about it, of course. While the others kneeled down when they saw Julia standing there. They were ignored since Mirei looked at them with a sweet expression at the reunion.