My Horny Stepmom Turns Me into Her Vampire Slave

Chapter 145: B - A last-minute suitor

A faint smile curls across Raelor’s lips as he closes the massive front doors behind him.

"One last suitor showed up at the very last minute. Besides, you’ve already met more than fifty of them today. What’s one more going to change?"

"Ugh... fine. Let him in. And this better be the last one, got it?" Eliss grumbles, sounding completely uninterested.

As soon as she finishes speaking, Raelor gives the massive front doors a light knock with his knuckles.

They immediately begin to open slowly.

"He’s actually struggling just to open a damn door. Pathetic..." Eliss mutters, throwing her arms up in annoyance.

But the moment the doors open just enough to leave a narrow gap wide enough for the person pushing them to slip through...

"N-No way..." Eliss chokes out in a shaky whisper.

She jumps to her feet, her eyes quickly filling with tears as she stares at the frail boy peeking timidly through the opening.

Then he slowly starts walking down the long red carpet leading from the entrance to the raised platform where the demon princess’s throne stands.

"A-Aoshi... w-what is he doing here...?" she murmurs, a joyful smile spreading across her face as thin streams of tears run down her flushed cheeks.

Aoshi looks around, completely lost, yet overwhelmed by a kind of awe he can’t even put into words.

He’s standing inside what looks, in every way, like the grand hall of a medieval castle. The walls are covered with paintings of countless incubi and succubi.

And yet, even though seeing Eliss fills him with overwhelming joy, a crushing sense of reverence makes his legs shake and his chest tighten.

He’s seen Eliss every single day for over three months. But now that she’s right in front of him, it feels like he’s seeing her for the first time.

The girl standing before him is nothing like the carefree Eliss he’d grown used to seeing in a T-shirt and leggings.

She’s wearing a long sky-blue dress embroidered with silver thread, sandals decorated with sparkling gems, and a jeweled tiara holding her hair neatly in place.

Behind her rises a massive golden throne, flanked by two bodyguards, while dozens more stand along both sides of the red carpet as Aoshi walks forward one step at a time.

The moment they see Aoshi, uneasy murmurs spread through the guards.

"What’s a human doing in our world?"

"Don’t ask me. He doesn’t even seem to have any magic. What could someone like him possibly want with Princess Eliss?"

"And yet Supreme Raelor Valraen introduced him himself. That’s never happened before. He’s never personally announced one of Princess Eliss’s suitors. None of this makes any sense..."

"In thousands of years, a human without magic has never set foot in this place. What a disgrace..." Vanya, Eliss’s older sister, says with open disgust.

Those words shake Aoshi’s confidence.

He gathers every bit of courage and determination he has and keeps walking, ignoring the cutting remarks and the hostile, suspicious stares from the rows of guards lining his path.

"Silence. Now."

Raelor’s voice thunders through the hall, and the room falls completely silent.

"The human standing before you is the one who cared for Princess Eliss with kindness and respect during her time on Earth. I expect every one of you to show him the respect he deserves. And if anyone has a problem with that..."

He cracks his knuckles.

"...I’ll be more than happy to hear it."

Everyone freezes like statues.

Everyone except Vanya.

She spins on her heel and storms out through a side door, muttering curses under her breath.

Raelor’s words don’t just silence the room. They give Aoshi the courage he needs.

He starts walking again, his steps longer and steadier than before. Then he kneels at the foot of the staircase leading up to the raised platform, lowering his head as Eliss stands above him with a trembling smile, broken only by quiet sobs.

"My name..." Aoshi begins, his voice rough and dry from nerves and emotion.

He pauses for a second to clear his throat, trying to remember the formal introduction Raelor taught him.

"...My name is Aoshi Toya, and I’m a human! I came here from Earth to ask for your hand in marriage, noble Princess Eliss Narkhalis."

He does his best to sound dignified and formal, but Eliss can’t help covering her mouth as a soft laugh slips out.

"Aoshi, I think we already know each other well enough. You really don’t have to be so formal..."

"I-I know, but Raelor told me to say it like that, and he doesn’t exactly seem like the kind of guy you can argue with..." Aoshi mutters, just as embarrassed.

"I-I still can’t believe you’re really here..." Eliss whispers, her voice breaking as she walks down the steps one by one. "I-I thought I’d never see you again. I thought neither Raelor nor my father would ever accept that the man I love is just a human. But if you’re here... then that means... it means..."

She can’t finish the sentence.

Her sobs become so overwhelming that she can’t get the words out anymore.

"It means this young man proved himself more worthy of you than anyone who’s ever walked through those doors to ask for your hand," Raelor says as he appears behind Aoshi.

The incubus crossed the entire hall in the blink of an eye.

"Over these past few months, the two of you formed a deep bond. But how deep was it, really? Neither I, as your guardian, nor your father could let you tie your life to his without knowing for certain that he would love you the way you deserve for the rest of your life. That’s why we chose to test both of you in the cruelest way possible—by making you face death."

He looks at Eliss.

"You, Eliss, refused to come back here quietly. You fought with everything you had, pushed your body past its limits, and even risked your life."

Then he turns to Aoshi.

"And you, Aoshi, not only turned down all that gold—"

"Oh, so you really are a gold digger after all, Aoshi," Eliss cuts in, shooting him a teasing grin.

"Seriously? We’re still doing this?" Aoshi grumbles.

Raelor clears his throat, silencing them before continuing.

"As I was saying, not only did you refuse that gold, saying — and I quote — ’Taking that money would mean admitting Eliss was a burden, and I’ll never admit something like that,’ but you also stepped through the dimensional rift without a second’s hesitation, even though I made you believe your chances of surviving were almost nonexistent."

Raelor raises his voice so everyone in the hall can hear him.

"In light of such loyalty and self-sacrifice, as the representative of King Azhelar Narkhalis, I hereby give my approval for the union between Princess Eliss Narkhalis and Aoshi Toya. Assuming, of course, that neither of you has any objections."

Instead of answering, Eliss throws herself into Aoshi’s arms, and their lips crash together over and over in a flurry of kisses.

"Well, I’d say neither of them objects," Raelor says with a satisfied smile. "Princess Eliss Narkhalis. Aoshi Toya. By the authority granted to me by King Azhelar Narkhalis, I hereby officially approve your marriage. The wedding ceremony will be held in this hall tomorrow morning."