Chapter 265: A Witch Tutor For The Sisters

The silence in the courtyard lasted long enough for the birds to become impossible to ignore.

They were somewhere in the trees beyond the practice ground, calling to one another in the cool morning air. Usually, Hermione would not have noticed them. Now every chirp seemed too loud. Ulrich had turned to face them and then stopped speaking, and she found herself wishing he would say anything, even if it was to ask what they thought they were doing in his old clothes.

Her face burned. She fixed her eyes on a patch of ground just beside his boots, unable to meet his gaze but painfully aware that it moved from one sister to the next. The shirt she had finally chosen had felt perfectly comfortable upstairs. Under Ulrich’s silent inspection, she could suddenly feel every fold of it.

Esther had been smiling when they entered the yard. That smile faded. Perhaps she had only now understood how bold it had been to take clothes Ulrich had worn when he was young and put them on without asking him. She edged behind Airam, peering past her elder sister with an embarrassed and scared expression.

Airam showed no such regret. She stood straight, her head held high, and made no attempt to hide what she wore. She liked the way the clothes felt on her. Although they had been kept away for years, there was something about them that made her think of Ulrich. She could almost imagine that they still carried his scent, though she knew that was unlikely. Perhaps she simply wanted them to.

Ulrich stared for several seconds more. Airam met his eyes. Hermione could not bring herself to.

At last, he turned away. Whatever question he had considered asking, he evidently decided it was not worth the answer. Hermione let out the breath she had been holding, only to stiffen again when he looked toward a knight waiting apart from them.

“Bring her.”

The knight nodded and went to one of the back doors of the estate. A moment later, it opened, and a pretty young woman stepped into the courtyard.

She had dark brown hair that fell in curls, tied neatly back from her face, and light brown eyes that flicked toward the three sisters before falling on Ulrich. Her gown was simple and clean. She walked beside the knight with an expression she tried to keep composed, though her nervousness was plain enough by the time she stopped near Ulrich.

“My lord.” She bowed carefully.

Hermione’s brief relief vanished.

“Who is she?” she asked, not hiding the annoyance in her voice.

Lately, it seemed there was always another woman appearing at the estate and standing close to Ulrich. Hermione could not understand where he kept finding them. It felt like he was just adding them one after another, and they all looked pretty to boot.

Airam’s good mood disappeared just as quickly. Her gaze fixed on the newcomer and darkened. Esther, standing partly behind her, looked between the woman and Ulrich with curiosity rather than suspicion.

“Her name is Shana,” Ulrich said. “She is a witch, like you. From now on, she will teach you witchcraft and what you need to know about your Tree.”

All three sisters turned toward Shana again.

For a moment, Hermione forgot about the clothes she was wearing. She had wanted to learn more about witchcraft, but Ulrich’s announcement raised a question far more urgent than what this woman could teach them.

“W—Wait a minute,” Hermione said. “Is she one of the witches you captured?”

Shana stiffened. Her eyes lowered, and the nervousness she had struggled to contain became more visible.

Ulrich nodded.

“One of the witches who tried to abduct us,” Airam said. She took a step forward, fixing Shana with a stare that made the young woman go still. “And you expect us to trust her?”

Shana did not defend herself. There was nothing she could say that would change what she had done. She remembered why Anna-Maria had taken her daughters away from the Coven. Looking at the three girls now, she regretted more bitterly than ever that she had helped try to drag them back.

“I agree with Airam,” Hermione said, crossing her arms. “She came here because the Coven wanted to use us for its own purposes. Why would we believe anything she tells us?”

Shana looked at her but could offer no answer. She had taken part in the attempt. Hermione’s anger was deserved.

“It does not matter whether you agree,” Ulrich said.

His stern tone pulled their attention back to him.

“You wanted to learn witchcraft. I brought you someone who can help you understand your Witch Trees. I have decided that Shana will teach you, and you will obey.”

Airam’s expression did not change. “How are we supposed to trust her?”

“You do not have to trust her.” Ulrich glanced at Shana. “She will not dare try anything unless she wishes to challenge me again.”

Shana went stiff beneath that glance. She had no intention of testing him, and he knew it. The warning was for the sisters as much as it was for her.

Hermione replied, frowning. “I’m still not comfortable with this.”

“Perhaps the clothes are too loose for you,” Ulrich replied.

Hermione’s face turned bright red. “T—They’re comfortable!”

“I would expect so. They’re mine.”

The answer was so dry that Hermione could not tell whether he was mocking her, but she knew he had recognised every piece. Tears gathered in her eyes before she could stop them. She looked away, furious that he had managed to embarrass her again when she was trying to make a serious objection.

Ulrich let her recover without another remark. His attention returned to Airam, whose gaze had not left Shana.

He knew what Airam could do when she decided someone posed a threat to her sisters. An order to attend lessons would not, by itself, prevent her from going after Shana later. He needed her to understand why he had brought this particular witch into their lives, even if she disliked the decision.

“When I met you in the village and took you into my House,” he said, “I already knew who you were. Do you think I saved you out of charity?”

The courtyard fell quiet again.

Esther stepped out from behind Airam. Hermione lowered her arms. Airam finally looked away from Shana and met Ulrich’s eyes.

None of them believed charity had been his reason. He had told them as much from the beginning, when they were newly orphaned and had no reason to trust a count who had taken part in the attack on their village.

Ulrich had known something they did not. From Silas’s memories, he had known what the three sisters might become and how their hatred could lead to his death. He had adopted them to prevent that future and to help them grow into powers that might one day be useful to him.

It had been a calculated choice. He would not pretend otherwise now.

But two years had passed since then. He had defended them against enemies who wanted to claim them, fought to bring Airam home, and nearly died more than once. The reason he had first taken them in no longer accounted for everything he had done to keep them safe.

“People change,” Ulrich said. “Not all of them. I will not give you my word that she has changed, either.”

Shana accepted that without protest. She had not earned his confidence, much less the sisters’.

“I am not asking you to trust her,” he continued. “You do not need to join some witchly sisterhood or accept anything she says without question. She is here to teach you what you are and help you become stronger. That is all I expect from her, and it is all I expect you to take from these lessons.”

Airam held his gaze for a few moments longer. Then she looked toward Shana again. The suspicion remained, but the murderous edge of her stare had eased.

Hermione’s arms slowly fell to her sides. She was still unhappy that Ulrich had chosen one of the witches who had tried to kidnap them, and she had no intention of letting Shana forget it. Still, Ulrich had not demanded that they forgive her. He had asked them to learn from her.

For now, that was a distinction both elder sisters could accept.

Esther had listened to the argument without joining in.

She remembered the attack on the estate, and she understood why Airam and Hermione did not want Shana near them. But she could not look at the young woman now and feel the same anger. Shana stood beside Ulrich with her eyes lowered, plainly aware that none of the sisters had reason to welcome her. Esther had already forgiven her if there was actually something to forgive from her perspective.

More than that, she was curious about what Shana might be able to teach them. Until now, most of what Esther knew about her Witch Tree had come from scattered explanations and the little she could feel for herself.

Ulrich looked across the three sisters. Airam remained wary, and so was Hermione, but neither was arguing any longer.

“If you want to learn and progress, you will listen to her,” he said. “She may have been a younger member of the Coven, but she is older than you and knows more.”

The girls gave their agreement without speaking. Put so plainly, it was difficult to refuse. Airam, in particular, had wanted someone to teach her Witchcraft for a long time. She did not have to like Shana to recognise that Shana possessed knowledge she lacked.

Satisfied that they would at least hear the woman out, Ulrich walked toward her. Shana stiffened as he approached.

She had stood before him indoors, where corridors and low ceilings made it possible to keep her gaze fixed somewhere other than his face. Out here in the full morning light, with the yard open around them, he somehow seemed more intimidating. There was nowhere for her to retreat without everyone seeing it.

“As demanded, you will act as their tutor,” Ulrich told her. “Do not teach them useless or dangerous things. Above all, help them understand themselves and their Witch Trees.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Shana nodded, but her eyes remained fixed on the ground. Ulrich noticed the small tremor in her hands and paused before stepping away.

She had spent two years confined beneath the estate. He had given the order, and he was well aware of what that length of isolation could do to a person. Shana had helped attack his home and had intended to take the girls back to a life Anna-Maria had gone to great lengths to escape. Ulrich would not excuse it. Even so, she had killed none of his people, and the woman standing before him now seemed sincere in her wish to help the sisters.

She had been foolish, and dangerously so. Spending most of her life inside a Coven had hardly prepared her to see Anna-Maria’s daughters as girls with wishes of their own. Her worldview had been narrow-minded since birth.

None of that meant he trusted Shana without reservation. It meant he had decided to give her a task she could do well and a reason not to fail at it.

“Do well and stay loyal to me,” he said, lowering his voice. “I will reward you properly.”

Shana went stiff. Her gaze dropped further.

“Y—Yes, my lord.”

The words sounded strange to her, particularly coming from a nobleman who held such power over where she lived and what happened to her next. She had agreed to obey him. Now he was promising a reward in that quiet tone, and she found herself fearing what he expected in return. If he meant to demand her body, she did not know how she could refuse. The thought made her stomach twist, but she forced herself to remain still. Anything seemed preferable to being sent back to the cell beneath the estate. And perhaps she deserved it for trying to steal three innocent girls’ futures. If she had to pay it with her body, she was willing to do it.

Unbeknownst to her and her negative thoughts, Ulrich had clearly meant to truthfully reward her and wasn’t giving her some meaningful nightly twisted promises to her…

Had he known what Shana was imagining when he meant reward, he might have been tempted to send her back underground for a day simply to put an end to the thought.

As it was, he only frowned at her reaction. She looked more frightened after he had promised her a reward than she had when he warned her not to teach the girls anything dangerous.

Perhaps she was still afraid of him. There was little point trying to make sense of it in front of the sisters, so he stepped away, not knowing he would regret later not having inquired further and stopped the dirty misunderstanding within Shana’s head.

“My lord.”

Fabian had arrived at the edge of the yard. He waited until Ulrich turned before continuing.

“Young Lady Ceres has arrived.”

At the mention of Ceres, Airam’s and Hermione’s expressions twisted into distaste.

Ulrich nodded to Fabian. “Have you prepared the room for us?”

“I have, my lord.”

“Good. Have her wait for me there.”

Fabian bowed and went to carry out the instruction. Ulrich followed him toward the estate, leaving Shana and the sisters in the practice yard after a suspicious exchange with Fabian.

Hermione watched the two men go. Once Ulrich was far enough away that she could no longer ask him without calling after him, she turned toward Airam.

“W—Why does he need a room with Ceres?”

Esther tilted her head. “Maybe he wants to teach her something.”

“Then why didn’t he say so?” Hermione asked.

Esther had no answer. She glanced at Airam, hoping their elder sister might have understood the exchange better than they had.

Airam remained silent. She had noticed the ease with which Fabian and Ulrich discussed the prepared room, as though it had been arranged before Ceres arrived. She wanted to follow Ulrich and find out what he intended to do there. It would have taken very little effort to slip away while everyone’s attention was elsewhere.

But Ulrich would know. He had only just told them to stay and learn from Shana, and he would be angry if Airam abandoned the lesson to investigate Ceres instead.

Airam narrowed her eyes toward the door through which he had gone. Then, reluctantly, she turned back to the practice yard.