NOVEL NEXT 31. Unexpected guests
"Congratulations, your Highness. May the heavens bless you."
A young-looking succubus, dressed in the most revealing outfit Julia ever saw, kneeled in front of her. Just like many other nobles before her, this succubus presented a gift in the form of an elaborate hairpin.
Dresses, ancient artifacts, exotic animals, a statue of exotic animals made of gold and jewelry, tons of jewelry. All of those have Julia received from the nobles while she sat on a throne. For Julia, this was a strange feeling. Thanks to all these nobles kneeling before her in front of the throne, as well as the tiara on her head, she felt like a queen.
"Thank you, Lady Aezora."
Of course, the real queen sat on the throne next to her. Loriam thanked the succubus, who slowly backed away while keeping herself in a light bow. Julia had to admit that if she didn’t know the usual Loriam, she would think she was the embodiment of a graceful queen.
Julia caught herself looking at Loriam in awe. Once she realized that, she immediately looked elsewhere and took a sip of her wine.
This wasn’t at all what she imagined her 26th birthday to be like. Instead of the people that she called family her entire life, she was now surrounded by nobles who were there purely because who knows what would Loriam do to them otherwise.
"Julia, happy birthday!"
As Julia began wandering with her mind, The voice of the enthusiastic vampire girl brought her back to the present. When Julia looked at her, she saw Nemi smiling at her while holding a small box wrapped in a pink ribbon.
"Did Miss Amir call her highness by her given name?"
"Unbelievable…"
"I heard that they were close but…"
The nobles all around them began muttering as they looked in shock at Nemi. who just kept smiling at Julia. By all appearances, it didn’t even seem like anyone other than Julia existed in her eyes.
"Thank you, Nemi."
Julia returned her smile of her own and took the small box from her hands. slowly untying the ribbon as Nemi looked at her in expectation. When Julia took the gift that Nemi had given her out of the box, Almost all of the nobles looked at Nemi in ridicule. Nemi’s father could be seen looking worried.
What Julia was holding was a bracelet with a simple design that seemed to be handmade by Nemi. The only part that seemed to be bought, was a heart-shaped ornament made out of silver.
Julia stared at the bracelet for a few seconds. After that, she put the bracelet around her wrist with a light smile.
"It looks good on you."
commented Loriam in a whisper, causing Julia to blush lightly.
"Thank you, it’s beautiful."
Nemi looked pleased by Julia’s reaction to her gift. And with a smug smile, she passed by the nobles that were ridiculing her just a few seconds ago. Her heart beat fast. She did her best to not let it show. If she should be honest, she didn’t have any confidence in her gift when she saw what other nobles were giving her.
But it turned out that the gift from Nemi made Julia happier, even if it was less flashy. Just like Kolen said, a gift from love is the best gift. Even though Nemi didn’t really know if her feelings were love or not, She was only sure that Julia had more than a special place in her heart. Was that love?
While Nemi was bathing in the afterglow of Julia’s smile, the next person to present the princess with the gift approached. As much as Nemi was disinterested in the person or their gift, the shocked murmurs from the surrounding nobility forced her to take a look. And just like them, she too was shocked.
In front of Julia stood a young, dark-skinned girl with a pair of fluffy wolf ears adorning her head. The girl stood there completely empty-handed. That wouldn’t be a surprise. She didn’t even look like she was a guest; instead she looked like a….
"A prostitute?"
Nemi muttered her bewilderment. The girl standing in front of Julia; the princess of the vampires. was barely dressed. In fact, the only thing she was wearing was a red ribbon wrapped around her, while the only clothes she had were only covering enough to classify as not-nude. The shock of all present was understandable.
The reason for Nemi’s bewilderment was the fact that this weirdo was allowed to approach the princess without anyone stopping her. Even the queen seemed more amused than bothered by it.
"What are you doing, Lily?"
Lily didn’t respond to Julia, she instead snuggled against Julia’s leg, her tail waving all the while.
"A present for the master."
Lily said nonchalantly, proudly showing what appeared to be a black choker with a name tag attached. Out of curiosity, Julia reached for the name tag on Lily’s neck, and as she expected. The name Lily was written on it, and right under it was a smaller text stating "property of Julia Leranpe".
Nemi was fuming. It appeared that that girl had given herself to her precious Julia. How dare she cling to her like that!
"Why don’t you put on some clothes? You will be sick like this."
"I am okay as long as I am with you, master."
To Julia’s worry, Lily answered like a dejected puppy and snuggled into Julia more. Julia started to wonder how can Lily not be embarrassed in this situation, she was almost naked in front of a bunch of people, after all. Though true to be said, Julia, herself didn’t care what they thought.
With a sigh, Julia rubbed Lily’s ears. Once Lily was satisfied, she sat on the ground next to Julia. Despite being stared at, she was unbothered. Julia expected that a young girl like her wouldn’t do something so... bold with so many eyes on her.
I should have done that! Nemi gritted her teeth. She began regretting her gift choice. If she was just as bold as that beast-slut, she could maybe get to kiss Julia. She could feel her cheeks heating up just thinking about it.
"Tsk.
Vampires…"Nemi’s daydreaming was cut short by a disgusted-sounding woman close to her. Looking over towards the person interrupting her fantasies, she saw a tall blonde-haired elf woman, who was with disgust looking at Julia with a short look of pity given to the wolf girl.
"Come on, it’s our turn now."
The elf nodded to the human girl standing next to her and, after taking a deep breath, the two approached Julia, whose eyes went wide when she saw them.
"Congratulations, your highness."
"Congrats."
The two women addressed Julia in a strongly accented Vampiric language. Julia, however, was in too much shock to even hear them. Why are you two here!? She wanted to scream at her sister and her fiancé bowing to her. Instinctively, she glanced at Loriam, who was smiling mischievously. Of course, it’s your doing!
"We bring you these gifts as a sign of goodwill between our nations."
Ele said with a bow as she presented Julia with another piece of jewelry, with a diplomatic smile on her face. Olia followed suit and presented Julia with a wooden box, in which was a bottle of dark red liquid.
"…It’s a vine from my family’s vineyards.... "I hope it’s to your liking."
"Thank you, Ele, Olia."
Olia was slightly confused about why Julia sounded so touched as she thanked them. Well, it was true that she was, not only did she get to see them again after several months. She could also share this delicious vine with them, just like in the old days. though they didn’t seem aware of her true identity.
