My Step-Daughters Are The Villainesses

"Why did he leave us out of nowhere?" Hermione asked with a grumble, crossing her arms over her chest.

The three sisters were still seated inside the armory, left waiting in uneasy stillness. Ulrich had suddenly stepped out without a word, leaving his guards behind to watch over them. It was strange, far too strange to ignore.

"M—Maybe Lord Ulrich abandoned us..." Esther mumbled from beside Hermione, her voice small.

"Are you stupid?" Hermione shot back, though not without a trace of exasperated affection. "He didn’t spend that much gold on us just to abandon us afterward."

"R-Right!" Esther’s face brightened at once.

As usual, she had simply let her fears run too far ahead of her reason. The mere thought of being left alone was enough to disturb her, no matter how much evidence said otherwise. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"But then where did he go?" Hermione muttered, still frowning as she folded her arms tighter.

"Someone followed us. He went to find them."

Airam’s voice came suddenly.

"Hm? Airam?" Hermione turned toward her older sister, who was still standing in front of the glass display filled with daggers and knives, her gaze fixed on the shining blades.

Hermione feared for a moment that Airam would break the glass and steal the blades, but thankfully, she did not.

"R—Really, Elder Sister?" Esther asked, rising from her seat at once, panic already creeping into her face.

Airam gave a small nod.

It had happened after Ulrich had abruptly stopped in the street and looked toward one of the rooftops. He had continued walking after that as though nothing were wrong, only to leave them a short while later. Airam had not been certain at first, but the feeling had lingered. She, too, had felt as though someone had been watching them.

"Then isn’t Lord Ulrich in danger?" Esther asked, her eyes widening in panic.

"Well, he can handle himself," Hermione replied with a shrug, though her answer came a little too quickly.

"But Sister, you said Lord Ulrich has a broken core! He can’t fight properly!" Esther cried, clutching at her own skirt.

At that, Hermione’s expression turned awkward.

Right. She had nearly forgotten. With the way Ulrich carried himself, calm and untouchable, it was easy to forget there was something physically wrong with him at all.

Seeing Esther already growing teary-eyed, Hermione let out a long sigh. Then she raised a hand and summoned a small red bird made of mana using her favorite spell.

Esther immediately sat back down beside her, clinging tightly to Hermione’s arm.

"What is it, Sister?" She asked nervously.

"I’m going to look for Ulrich," Hermione said with a faint smile.

She lifted two fingers to her right eye, covering it lightly as the bird fluttered upward and slipped through the narrow gap between the knights standing outside the armory door.

The moment it took flight, Hermione focused. The bird climbed higher and higher, and at once a strain settled over Hermione’s features. Her silver brows drew together as she processed the flood of sensations and images passing through the spell.

"Did you find him, Big Sister?" Esther whispered.

"Quiet, Esther. You’re disturbing me," Hermione muttered, her frown deepening.

"Hm." Esther nodded quickly, saying no more, though she continued clutching Hermione’s arm in anxious silence.

Airam finally moved from the dagger display and came to sit on Hermione’s other side. Unlike Esther, she did not look frightened. She looked curious.

"Oh, wait, I see something..." Hermione said suddenly.

From the height the mana bird had reached, she quickly noticed an unusual gathering atop one of the rooftops. Several figures dressed in black stood there, their silhouettes contrasting against the bright sky. Among them, Ulrich was impossible to miss, his dark red hair standing out even from a distance.

"I see him..." Hermione said, her voice hesitating a bit. "He’s on a rooftop."

"Is Lord Ulrich alright?" Esther asked immediately.

"I... I can’t tell," Hermione answered, her expression sharpening. "There are people around him. They’re all dressed in black, and they seem to be surrounding him."

"Big Sister!"

"Calm down, Esther," Airam said, glancing at her as Esther nearly leapt out of her seat again.

Esther’s grip on Hermione’s arm tightened, but she nodded.

"I can’t hear anything..." Hermione muttered bitterly.

Unfortunately, seeing through the magical bird’s eyes was one thing. Adding sound to the spell was far more difficult, far more delicate, and far more draining than she could manage so quickly.

At that moment, Airam suddenly seized Hermione’s free left hand.

At first, Hermione did not understand what she was doing. Then she saw it, the large rune circle floating before her hand, maintaining the spell, trembled slightly, its shape shifting under a foreign interference.

"A-Airam..." Hermione panicked at once, immediately realizing what her sister was attempting.

She was intervening directly in her spell to alter it.

It was reckless.

It was even dangerous.

"Just focus," Airam said.

Hermione swallowed, then nodded, forcing herself to trust her. A moment later, new runes began to appear within her spell circle, weaving themselves into the existing structure.

For an instant, both Hermione and Esther could only stare in shock.

Manipulating runes was one thing.

Inserting them into another person’s active spell, even with permission, was something else entirely. It was a shocking sight, but the moment the integration settled, Hermione suddenly winced, a sharp ringing bursting through her ears.

"Big Sister?" Esther asked, concerned.

But Hermione quickly shook her head. "I-It’s fine," she muttered.

She could hardly believe it.

Airam had given her hearing.

Hermione would never have been able to do it on her own, but with Airam reinforcing the spell, a new layer of perception opened inside her mind. At first, all she could hear was the wind, harsh and overwhelming, rushing far too loudly through her senses. Frowning, she immediately guided the mana bird lower, bringing it closer to the rooftop until the noise dulled enough for voices to emerge.

"That spy... am I to assume he was not sent merely to watch me?"

Ulrich’s voice rang out clearly.

"Airam was right," Hermione said at once, her expression twisting. "There really was a spy."

Through the bird’s vision, she could see the man collapsed on the rooftop stones behind Ulrich, gasping and clutching at his throat.

"The daughters of Anna-Maria—"

Spurt!

Hermione flinched so strongly her shoulders jerked.

She had just seen Ulrich drive his blade straight through the man’s chest, killing him on the spot without a second of hesitation.

If Airam had not been stabilizing the spell for her, Hermione was certain she would have lost control of it that very instant, and the spell would have dispelled. She had ’heard’ before Ulrich killing those blooded sons without hesitation, but hearing of it and seeing it with her own eyes were two different things.

"What a terrifying stare."

Hermione heard the woman say those words from the rooftop.

And, unwillingly, Hermione found herself agreeing.

As she looked through the mana bird’s eyes, she saw Ulrich’s expression clearly.

His eyes were cold.

Truly cold.

Until now, Hermione had always thought he merely looked at them with distance, with indifference, with that detached coldness he seemed to carry everywhere. But this...

This was different.

What she was seeing now was the real coldness of Ulrich.

Compared to the way he looked at the three sisters, it was the difference between heaven and earth.

"W-Wait..." Hermione suddenly blurted out, her breath catching. "She mentioned Mother..."

"W-What?" Esther froze, all color draining from her face. "Why?" She asked immediately, shocked.

The answer came from Airam, who concluded almost at once.

"These people came for us."