NOVEL NEXT 4. The new life
"Ughh"
Julian groggily awakens as he stares at an unfamiliar ceiling with a chandelier hanging from it. Looking around the room he was in revealed a luxurious room with exquisite reliefs on the walls. He himself was laying in a luxurious bed that most definitely belonged to a noble. Where am I…
Knock, knock
His line of thoughts was cut short by a knock on the door, startling him slightly.
"Please come in."
Uh? Was my voice always this high? Perplexed by his own high-pitched voice, he answered the knocking out of habit. But it was quite possible that the person outside was the one who saved him from Loriam’s clutches, and so he got ready to thank his savior properly.
"G-Good morning, I h-hope that I did not interrupt your rest."
Contrary to Julian’s expectations, a tall, young-looking blonde-haired girl with light pink eyes dressed in a typical maid outfit entered the room. Her nervousness was audible in her voice as she bowed deeply once she spotted Julian sitting on the bed.
"No, I was already awake, so don’t worry about it. Oh, that reminds me, where is your master? I believe that I have something to talk about with them."
The maid shook for some reason as she carefully looked up at Julian.
"We-well, my master is you, your highness."
As she answered, she was completely nervous as if she would be killed for it at any moment. She quickly lowered her head to the floor. For a brief moment, slightly pointy ears peeked through her hair. A pointy ears? A half-elf, perhaps? Also, what is with this ‘your highness’ business?
"What do you mean by ‘your highness’? I think you got the wrong- "
Wrong person. Or so Julian wanted to say before his attention was taken by a strand of silver hair on his shoulder when he noticed a body-length mirror nearby. Without wasting a single second, Julian scrambled towards it.
"No, no way... What’s the meaning of this!?"
The mirror was showing a reflection of a confused beautiful girl with slightly pointed ears. She seemed no older than 12. Her eyes were blood red and shone like precious gems. Her long hair was silver in color with a slight shade of blonde in it. She was also dressed in a white nightgown that came up to her knees. Julian was shocked when the girl in the mirror repeated his every action. There is no way that that girl is me, right? I am a guy, after all, and a human. There is no way for her to be me. This has to be some kind of trick.
"Are you admiring yourself as the first thing after waking up?"
That voice! When Julian turned around, in the doorway stood Loriam, with a smile on her face. The blonde maid was visibly shaking as she was bowing toward her.
"G-good morning, your majesty."
"Mirei, leave us alone."
"As you wish."
The maid, named Mirei, had left the room more than happily. Hey, if you are supposed to be my maid, then get back here and save me! Julian slightly panicked as he was left alone with the demon in the form of a little girl named Loriam.
"Do you like the way you look?"
"So, this is your doing then."
Julian was throwing daggers at Loriam with his eyes, she on the other hand was just smiling back at him.
"Oh, come on now, is that how you should look at your mother? You’re rather rebellious, aren’t you, Julia."
"What are you talking about? What mother and who the fuck is Julia?!"
Julian was getting pissed off by Loriam. Just who does she think she is?
"You are Julia, silly, isn’t it obvious?"
Loriam kept smiling at Julian as she talked, completely ignoring Julian’s dumbfounded expression.
"Why? Why did you turn me into a girl?!"
Julian clenched his fists as he tried to suppress his rage toward Loriam, who was still smiling right in front of him.
"Don’t worry your pretty head about silly things. You are my daughter and that is all that matters, Julia."
Daughter? Did she just call me her daughter!? Julian was enraged by her words, but before he could say anything, Loriam approached and hugged him tightly. Julian’s anger took over, and he pushed Loriam away.
"Take your dirty hands from me, you vampiric bitch!"
Loriam looked surprised and a little hurt by Julian’s words. But she didn’t react in any other way, just showed a self-mocking smile as she mumbled.
"What did I expect… after all of that?"
Loriam didn’t say another word as she turned towards the door and started to walk out of the room. But she stopped right before the door and turned her head towards a still angry Julian.
"
I almost forgot, but I kept my promise. All of those guys are safe. I hope you will keep yours."After she said all that, she wanted. She opened the door and left the room, leaving dumfounded Julian alone. The blonde maid peaked into the room briefly after Loriam left, but when she saw Julian’s expression, she bowed and closed the door without a single word.
Julian sighed exhaustedly as he calmed down a little. After which he explored the room in more detail to search for a way to turn back. But his only find was an empty closet and a luxurious couch with an expensive-looking coffee table.
Right opposite the bed was a sturdy wooden desk with a cushioned chair. On top of the desk lay a few books, but Julian was unable to translate their titles from vampiric.
Out of curiosity, Julian approached the big window opposite the door and peaked out. The view that he saw took his breath away, outside of the window that seemed to be on the second floor. Spread beautiful garden, Julian had never seen a garden like this one, not even in an elven royal palace. Just behind a wall that separated this place from the outside world, a big city was visible, a city whose architecture Julian hadn’t seen before.
Julian was enjoying this view, forgetting about his predicament. His view of the garden was stained by the vampire soldiers patrolling through it. Sure, the garden wasn’t empty; there were gardeners, most likely vampires, but unlike the soldiers, he had no reason to hate those guys, so he politely ignored them.
What he couldn’t ignore, however, was the familiar figure of a silver-haired girl accompanied by a maid with short black hair. They were walking on a paved path towards a luxurious, palace-like building on the other side of the garden. For some reason, he felt sad looking at her like this.
Loriam stopped briefly at the fountain and looked at the window where Julian stood. She smiled and gracefully waved at Julian before continuing toward her destination with the maid in tow.
"Seriously, why am I worried about her?"
Julian shook his head and decided to lie down to process everything that happened to him today and how will he get back to his life.
…
In the halls of the royal palace of the vampires, a black-haired maid accompanied her mistress, the 23rd queen of vampires, Loriam Kaane Leranpe herself. As the two entered the queen’s palace from the garden, the maid spoke out.
"I was under the impression that the reunion between your majesty and her highness didn’t go too well. But you seem somewhat cheery. Was I perhaps mistaken?"
It came as a surprise when she heard that the queen had returned back to the capital with an unconscious daughter. And now, after three days of rest, her highness woke up. It stood to reason that she herself was overjoyed at the premise of a warm reunion of mother and daughter, but instead, she overheard yelling and cursing. Her mistress left her daughter's room looking rather sad, but now? There was no trace of it anywhere.
"It didn’t go as well as I would have liked, but I am pretty sure that she is just in her rebellious phase. Didn’t you notice? She was looking at us from her window. She looked like she regretted saying those things to me."
Her majesty said this without a single bit of worry about her relationship with her daughter. Seeing how the queen was confident in getting their relationship on the right path, the maid decided to ask about other things.
"I am also curious why you decided to make Mirei her highness’s personal maid instead of somebody with more experiences?"
It was an understandable question that anyone who worked in the palace would ask. After all, Mirei was a half-vampire from the borderlands, an illegitimate daughter of a minor noble. She also worked in the palace for barely a few months, and yet she became a maid to the crown princess.
"It is rather simple. She is the only one of all of you here that can speak human language."
"Is it true then? That her highness can’t speak the language of her homeland?"
The maid clenched her fist, angry toward those that caused this to happen. The queen ignored her maid’s reaction and simply continued.
"She will learn it soon enough. I will help her with it. Say, Liora, could you go and make me a cup of tea? I am getting thirsty."
"As you wish, your majesty."
The maid, Liora, bowed and went to fulfill her mistress’s order. Loriam sat herself down on her throne and hummed happily. You will soon accept who you are, my sweet little Julia.