My Step-Daughters Are The Villainesses

"That is ludicrous."

Hermione’s voice carried over the music with enough force that Esther startled beside her.

Louise’s smile widened. She rested one elbow against the edge of the refreshment table.

"And why is it ludicrous?"

"I mean, it is obvious." Hermione crossed her arms. "Look at him. You can tell he does not understand what even means love. Or anything close to it."

"Can you?" Louise asked in return.

Hermione paused.

"What?"

"You sound very certain." Louise tilted her head. "I was wondering where such experience came from."

Hermione’s cheeks gained color.

"I know about love."

"Do you?"

"Yes. I love Airam and Esther."

"I love you too, big sister!"

Esther threw both arms around Hermione’s left arm. Hermione’s expression softened, and she shifted her hand to pat Esther’s blond hair.

Airam stood on the other side of them, silent. Her gaze had fixed on Louise intensely.

Louise noticed.

"Goodness," she said, amused. "That is not the kind of love I meant. I meant romantic love."

Hermione’s hand stopped in Esther’s hair.

"R-Romantic love?"

"Yes." Louise nodded. "Did you ever have a crush? Before Ulrich adopted you?"

Hermione’s eyes widened.

"What? No. I never had anything like that."

"Liar," Airam said.

Hermione snapped toward her. "What did you say?"

Airam turned her face away.

Louise’s gaze moved between them. "Oh? Our silver-haired lady truly had someone?"

"T—That is not true." Hermione’s answer came too fast. "I did not love anyone in my life."

"You must have liked someone," Louise insisted. "You are at the age when girls begin imagining such things."

Esther looked thoughtful.

"There was a boy big sister wanted to impress in our village."

Hermione went still.

Airam added, "He did not care, however."

"I think he was scared of big sister," Esther said, trying to be helpful.

Louise raised a brow. "Let me guess. The silver hair and red eyes frightened him?"

Esther did not answer, looking hesitantly at Hermione, who looked upset. It seemed Louise had perfectly guessed it.

Hermione folded her arms again and stared toward the dancers.

"I did not want to impress him," she muttered. "He helped me get a book I wanted. I thought I should repay him. That was all."

"By impressing him?" Louise asked.

Hermione glared at her.

"He is dead now. It does not matter."

The words changed the little group at once.

Esther lowered her head. Her fingers tightened around Hermione’s sleeve. Airam did not move, but the faint irritation she had worn while watching Louise gave way to a colder expression.

Their village had burned. The three of them had survived because Ulrich had found them after everything ended. The boy might have escaped before the attack, but none of them knew. For people marked by witch blood, survival beyond the village offered no comfort. A blooded son found by the wrong people could disappear into a cage, a laboratory, or a noble household that wanted a curiosity to display.

Louise sighed.

"It is a cruel world," she said.

"You nobles made it cruel," Airam replied.

Louise did not mind her tone.

"My ancestors did." She looked at Airam directly. "And I will not pretend Skargardia has given witches reason to trust us. I still have concerns about witches, yes. I would be foolish to deny that." Her eyes drifted toward Esther. "But do I hate you? Am I frightened of you?"

Airam said nothing.

Louise reached over and gently pinched Esther’s cheek.

"Of course not. You are adorable."

Esther giggled and pulled back with both hands over her cheeks.

Airam watched Louise’s hand until it withdrew.

Louise turned back to Hermione. "Now, enough about the unfortunate village boy. Has Ulrich ever shown any interest in someone? Has he ever spoken of love?"

"He does not even know what love means," Hermione replied, rolling her eyes. "How many times do I have to say it?"

"You truly believe that?"

"I have never seen him smile at a woman."

"Sometimes, he smiles when he threatens people or insults," Airam said thoughtfully, remembering the evil, small smirks he showed seldom, perfectly meant to irritate more than a real one.

Esther looked up at her eldest sister. "T—That is not true, eldest sister."

Airam’s gaze shifted to her.

"Did you see him smile at someone for another reason?"

Esther’s mouth closed.

Her eyes lowered.

Airam looked toward the opposite side of the ballroom, where Ulrich had disappeared among the nobles near the royal dais.

"He is like the others," she said. "He does not like witches. He hides it because he thinks we are too far beneath him for hatred to be worth the effort."

Hermione’s brows drew together.

The words were harsher than usual. Airam had insulted Ulrich before, often and without hesitation, but she had done so less in recent months. Tonight, during the dance, something had changed in her expression when Ulrich spoke to her. Hermione had noticed it, though she had been too occupied with the music and the people watching them to ask.

"Did something happen while you danced?" Hermione asked.

Esther looked worried immediately.

Airam did not answer.

"He said something to you," Hermione continued.

Airam’s fingers pressed against the side of her dress.

"He said nothing."

"That is a lie."

Airam looked at her.

Hermione did not look away.

"You were fine before he asked you to dance," she said. "Then you came back angry. You have been watching him ever since."

"I am always watching him."

"And you are not embarrassed to say that?" Hermione asked, wincing.

Airam looked away.

She had meant that she watched Ulrich because he was a threat. That was different from simply watching him. Yet Hermione was right in the most irritating way possible: Airam had spent too much of the evening looking for him across the ballroom. Anger or not, she had allowed him more of her attention than he deserved.

Louise stared with open interest.

"Hmm. I think I understand." She leaned against the table. "You are confused about why Ulrich adopted you, aren’t you?"

Airam’s eyes returned to her.

Louise continued.

"You wonder whether he intends to use you for something and discard you afterward."

"D—Do you know why he adopted us?" Hermione asked immediately.

She had leaned forward without realizing it. Esther looked up as well, her expression suddenly attentive.

Even Airam stopped pretending she did not care.

Louise’s expression softened, though she shook her head.

"How would I know what goes through Ulrich’s mind? He has always been difficult to read." A fond smile appeared on her lips as she remembered something. "Even when he was younger. Back then, he was far more expressive than he is now."

"Ulrich?" Hermione asked, shocked. "Expressive?"

"That is mean, big sister," Esther complained.

Louise laughed under her breath.

"You might not believe it, but Ulrich was younger than all of you when I first knew him. He was shy at times. Quiet, but not like this. He was intelligent even then. Far too intelligent for his age. And he was protective of Ashara."

Esther tilted her head.

"Who is Ashara?"

Louise’s smile faded at the name. She took a moment before answering.

"Ulrich’s first love."

Esther’s eyes widened.

"Lord Ulrich had a love?"

"Yes," Louise said. "He loved her very much."

Hermione stared at her.

"Love as in... a man loving a woman?"

"Yes, Hermione. Romantic love." Louise gave her a knowing look. "Ulrich is not the heartless stone statue you believe him to be. I saw him when he was in love. He was ridiculous about it."

The warmth in Louise’s voice weakened at the end.

"It hurt me terribly," she added, almost casually.

Esther looked up at her, cheeks pink.

"Y—You loved Lord Ulrich, Lady Louise?"

"I did." Louise did not hesitate. "I still do."

The answer left the three sisters staring at her.

Airam’s red eyes narrowed slightly.

Louise noticed but continued with a small, stubborn smile.

"It is unfortunate that he has closed his heart since then. Still, I am patient. If he could adopt three witches and bring you openly into the royal palace, I think there is hope for almost anything."

"Um," Hermione said.

Louise turned to her.

Hermione immediately regretted speaking.

"I think... he might have interest in another woman."

Louise’s smile remained in place, though her fan stopped moving.

"Ashara?"

"No." Hermione looked toward the floor. "Her name is Meera."

"Meera."

Louise repeated the name carefully.

Her eyes sharpened.

"Now that is interesting. Who is she?"

"I do not know much," Hermione said quickly.

"She has very pretty blue hair and blue eyes," Esther offered. "Like the lakes."

Louise frowned.

"I do not know anyone like that among the capital’s nobles. Is she from another kingdom? A foreign noblewoman here on business?"

"I don’t think so," Hermione muttered.

Louise leaned closer.

"Then who is she?"

Hermione went quiet.

She remembered when she saw Meera in Rubenhart’s estate. Meera had come out of Ulrich’s room with damp blue hair and a towel wrapped around her body. She had looked too comfortable...

Hermione had understood what the sight could mean.

She had heard Esther mention strange sounds from Ulrich’s room at night.

She was not foolish enough to connect those things aloud.

Her face became redder.

"She..." Hermione began.

Louise waited.

"She what?"

Hermione squeezed her eyes shut, trying to erase the image before her mind added details she had no wish to imagine.

"W—Why do you want to know so badly?" She asked instead.

Louise blinked once.

Then she smiled again.

"Is that not obvious?"

The three sisters watched her.

"I intend to become Ulrich’s Countess."

All three sisters had different scale of surprise hearing that.