In the grand dining hall of the Rubenhart Estate, Airam, Hermione, and Esther sat around the long table, waiting for the maids to bring out their dinner.
Hermione sat on one side with Airam, while Esther sat across from them.
Esther let out a small, exhausted sigh as she slouched slightly over the table.
"I am tired and hungry," she complained.
"All of that because of Linnea's classes," Hermione grumbled, crossing her arms. "We already know how to read and write, so why do we need to read even more and understand all those extra things?"
"I like what we do with Linnea though, big sister..." Esther said softly.
To begin with, she liked Linnea very much. She was kind, attentive to all their demands, and always answered every question Esther asked. But beyond that, Esther genuinely enjoyed reading and learning.
"That's useless," Airam scoffed.
"I—It's important, elder sister. We have to know how to speak properly, and we have to be knowledgeable in every domain of literacy. Poetry and speech are arts that must be learned too," Esther said, her eyes bright with unexpected excitement.
"What are you going to do by learning poetry?" Hermione snorted. "Write embarrassing poems to Ulrich like Linnea?" She added, throwing a jab at their tutor, who, thankfully for herself, had already eaten and retired to her room.
"I—I wouldn't write poems to Lord Ulrich..." Esther replied with a small sulk.
"Hmph, you had better not. And poems are useless anyway. We learn far more useful things from the Grandmaster," Hermione declared.
"That was useless too," Airam said.
Esther quickly stifled a giggle.
"W—What?! We are learning magic, Airam!" Hermione exclaimed.
"We didn't learn anything today. He only talked about useless things," Airam replied without the slightest hesitation.
Obviously, Airam had wanted to immediately learn proper spells, good spells, practical ones, the kind she could train with and perhaps one day even use on Ulrich. Instead, Brian had spent the whole lesson lecturing them about the dangers of magic, how it had to be handled carefully, when it should be used, and the responsibility that came with it.
It had been long, tiring, and painfully dull for someone like Airam, who could not care less about the dangers of magic.
As far as she was concerned, she was the danger.
"That's because magic is dangerous, sister!" Hermione said seriously, puffing out her chest as though she were repeating some great wisdom. "The Grandmaster is worried about us, so of course he wants us to know all of that before we start practicing."
"We should just learn witchcraft. Why didn't he simply call a witch to teach us?" Airam asked.
"For what? Mother didn't take us away from the Coven just for us to involve ourselves with it again," Hermione said, crossing her arms more tightly.
"Not every witch belongs to a Coven," Airam replied.
"Fine, but do you really expect Ulrich to have contacts with witches and bring one here to tutor us?" Hermione shot back.
"B—Besides, we are not supposed to be witches, elder sister..." Esther added softly. "Everybody hates us here. That is why Lord Ulrich brought that grandpa-Grandmaster so we can learn magic like everyone else."
Airam said nothing to that, but the displeasure on her face was obvious.
Though she understood the need to blend in with the nobles and all the rest, more than anything she wanted to grow stronger.
She wanted revenge against this kingdom, against the prince who had led the attack, and against the king who had ordered it.
Of course, Ulrich had also taken part in that attack.
Airam still had murderous thoughts about him sometimes, considering him one of the reasons their village had been destroyed and their mother had died. But each time those thoughts surfaced, she would also remember clearly that Ulrich had tried to save them, including their mother. And in the end, he had saved the sisters from the Crown Prince by adopting them.
Monika had told her the truth of it: the attack had been orchestrated by the King, and it was he who had ordered Ulrich to destroy the village with the assistance of his son, Crown Prince Albert.
That fact did not erase Airam's hatred.
But it made things more complicated.
She was simply unable to put Ulrich in the same category as the hateful Crown Prince or the King, no matter how hard she tried to hate him enough to kill him one day.
In that regard, her younger sisters were even worse.
Though Hermione acted the most blatantly hostile whenever Ulrich appeared, Airam knew her well enough to recognize that this was merely a defense mechanism. Hermione didn't want to trust him, didn't want to let her guard down, and purposefully refused to go easy on him. She was naturally wary, but she also knew that once she did let her guard down and actually trusted someone, she would have a very hard time staying neutral and uninfluenced. That was why she was so impolite and disobliging toward almost everyone else.
As for Grandmaster Brian, Hermione's hostility had completely melted. Her pre-existing interest for magic had simply transferred into a starry-eyed admiration for the Grandmaster himself. In her own stubborn way, Hermione was still naive.
Then there was Esther, the most naive and innocent of them all. Though she was scared of Ulrich, she simultaneously felt a deep gratitude toward him for saving them and keeping the three sisters together.
While Airam and Hermione were focused on the trauma of what had happened to their village, to their mother, Esther was focused on what Ulrich had done afterward. They all understood the importance of the protection, food, and shelter he provided, but Esther placed far more emotional weight on it. Consequently, she felt far more inclined to respect and trust Ulrich.
Obviously, Airam would have preferred her sisters not to trust anyone except themselves. But since that was hardly possible, she simply had to play her role as the protective older sister and watch over them.
To do that, she had to become strong, and quickly. From Airam's perspective, Witchcraft was far superior to ordinary magic for this purpose; Witchcraft was inherently more destructive, and given their biology, it was far more natural for them to use.
But, as expected, Ulrich was never going to allow them to train in Witchcraft.
His own mother had died from a witch's curse, after all.
Remembering that dark fact, Airam's expression hardened slightly. It was difficult to parse exactly how she felt about that piece of information.
If anything, she was certain that this fact alone made her even more wary of him.
She currently felt like hating every single person in Skargardia because of what had been done to her own mother. Therefore, she constantly wondered how Ulrich must truly feel toward Witches, and yet, despite that hatred, he had chosen to adopt them.
No matter how many times she turned it over in her mind, it was simply too suspicious. But at the same time, over the course of the last month, he had done nothing to harm them.
He barely even stayed in the same room with them longer than strictly necessary, all while providing them with food, shelter, lavish clothes, and everything else a commoner could ever dream of.
They were being treated exactly like the true daughters of a Count.
While Airam was lost in her dark, complicated thoughts, the plates finally arrived.
The maids worked silently, having finally grown accustomed to serving three young witches. Truthfully, while some of the staff still harbored lingering fear and perhaps some unjustified hatred, it was becoming difficult to hate the girls completely, especially Esther.
"It smells amazing," Esther sighed, almost drooling as the rich scent of the food filled the air.
"After all our hard effort today, we deserve this," Hermione said with a haughty little smirk.
Esther nodded enthusiastically before glancing over at Monika, who was standing nearby, quietly watching over them.
Even though Monika was Ulrich's personal maid, he frequently sent her to manage the girls, likely because she was the closest to the three sisters and held no prejudices against them.
And perhaps she was also there because her presence made the other maids far less inclined to let slip any dangerous, prejudiced remarks that could result in either Airam or Hermione snapping.
"Monika, why doesn't Lord Ulrich ever eat with us?" Esther asked innocently.
Hermione's expression immediately soured into profound displeasure.
"Why would you want Ulrich to eat with us, Esther? Aren't you happy just eating with your sisters?" She asked.
Airam also shot the youngest sister a sharp, questioning stare.
"I—I am happy! I was just curious..." Esther stuttered, shrinking back slightly.
"Well, I will tell you exactly why. It's because he hates us, that's why," Hermione replied, offering a dismissive shrug. "He barely stays in the same room as us for more than a single minute, and every time he looks at us, he gives us that 'You miserable witch' gaze." She said pitched her voice down into a cold, deep tone, perfectly imitating the Ulrich's intimidating demeanor.
Every maid in the room was dumbfounded by the display, though they all strictly maintained their silence.
It was far from the first time, and certainly not the last time, that the girls would speak behind Ulrich's back.
Well, perhaps now that they were officially daughters of the House, they cared a little less about hiding their disdain, though Hermione clearly made a point to refrain from speaking like that directly in front of Ulrich.
She still harbored very bad memories of the last time she had tried that...
"I—Is that really so...?" Esther mumbled, feeling immediately dejected at the thought that Ulrich might hate them.
"The Count does not hate you," Monika sighed gently, having overheard the entire exchange. "My Lord, in fact, considers all three of you to be very precious," she added, offering the dejected girl a soft, reassuring smile.
Airam and Hermione didn't buy it for a single second, but Esther believed it immediately, a bright, hopeful smile returning to her face.