Chapter 67: Hermione Wants Ulrich to Watch

"Good morning, young ladies."

Brian Strelley stood waiting in the back courtyard, ready as always for the morning’s lessons in magic and the arts.

Two years had passed since he had first taken on the role of teaching the three sisters, and if he was being honest with himself, he had been deeply skeptical when the position was first offered to him. Teaching the daughters of a newly adopted noble household had seemed an unremarkable assignment at best, and he also doubted Ulrich’s real intentions behind it.

How wrong he had been.

Now, without a single doubt in his mind, Brian could say that accepting this job had been one of the finest decisions of his entire life, or perhaps in the future the best one.

All three girls were exceptionally gifted, and for a scholar of magic who had devoted his years to the pursuit of knowledge, teaching such remarkable students was nothing short of a privilege. They were, without question, the most talented pupils he had ever had the honor of instructing. Knowing their extraordinary potential, Brian was certain they would one day rise to the very pinnacle of their craft, and he was glad to have played even a small part in shaping that.

This morning, however, something was off.

When he greeted the sisters, no one answered.

Airam was her usual silent self, but even Hermione and Esther, who could normally be counted on for an enthusiastic response, said nothing. All three of them were searching the courtyard for someone else entirely.

"Why isn’t he here yet?" Hermione muttered, crossing her arms with visible impatience.

The magic lesson was finally beginning. Magic, of all things, her finest subject! This was exactly the moment she had been waiting for, the perfect opportunity to show Ulrich just how extraordinary she truly was.

She had shown poor sight compared to her two sisters in the other lessons after all. A truly humiliating display on her part.

Yet for the first time in days, his usual spot at the back was conspicuously empty.

Every single day this past week, he had been there without fail, watching their lessons with a focused and intense gaze from the back. So what was the problem today of all days?

"Maybe Lord Ulrich is still sleeping?" Esther said.

"Don’t be ridiculous, Esther. There is no way that man is still in bed at this hour," Hermione replied, dismissing the suggestion without a second thought.

"But I didn’t see him training outside this morning either," Esther added, her brow creasing slightly.

"What time did you even wake up this morning?" Airam asked, glancing at her sideways.

"T—That’s...!" A faint blush crept across Esther’s cheeks. "Um... I couldn’t sleep very well because Big Sister was snoring."

"W-What?! I do not snore!" Hermione lowered her arms, outraged.

"You do, Sister..." Esther said, wearing the most angelic expression she could manage.

It was, admittedly, a rather convenient excuse. The truth was that Esther had been waking up early each morning to watch Ulrich’s training sessions from a distance. But since he had not appeared outside this morning, she was left confused.

"Is that true, Airam?" Hermione turned to her immediately, demanding backup.

"I don’t know."

"You never sleep properly, you should know better than anyone!"

"Perhaps you only snore when I am asleep," Airam replied, crossing her arms.

"My snoring is not a lullaby!"

"See, Sister! You just admitted it!" Esther burst into a bright giggle.

"I do not snore!"

Brian watched the three of them bicker with a warm smile. It was a familiar scene after two years together.

He could not help it. Despite his best efforts to remain a composed and professional tutor, he had grown deeply fond of these three girls.

"Now, now," Brian finally spoke up, stroking his white beard to gently quiet them down. "Hermione, I do understand your desire to impress the Count, but Lord Rubenhart is a very busy man. He has his duties to attend to."

"I—I do not want to impress him, Grandmaster!" Hermione shot back, her face flushing a soft pink.

She did not want to impress him. She simply wanted, for once, to come in first during the lessons he actually chose to watch! She just wanted to avoid looking like the most incapable, foolish sister of the three. Was that so wrong?

Before she could argue any further, the sound of approaching footsteps echoed across the courtyard, accompanied by the distinct groan of the estate’s front gates swinging open.

The sisters immediately turned their attention toward the entrance.

To their collective shock, the figure walking through the gates was none other than Ulrich himself.

He must have left the estate early, long before the sun had risen. But something about him seemed off. He wasn’t wearing his usual perfectly tailored coats or neat linen shirts. Instead, he wore rugged traveling clothes, the kind meant for long rides and hard roads, and his newly acquired sword dangled securely at his hip as he strode calmly past the bowing knights.

"Where on earth did he go?" Hermione muttered, squinting at him in bewilderment.

Unfortunately, neither Brian nor her sisters could offer a single answer.

"Maybe Lord Ulrich decided to train outside the estate today?" Esther asked. A pang of disappointment flared in her chest at the thought. If training away from the estate became a habit, she would lose the chance to secretly watch his morning sessions.

"Well, it doesn’t matter! He is perfectly on time!" Hermione said, straightening her posture and crossing her arms as she waited patiently for Ulrich to walk over and join them.

Brian let out a soft, knowing sigh. Deciding to indulge her, he quietly pushed back the practical magic demonstrations, understanding perfectly well that Hermione was desperate to show off only when she had her intended audience.

Unfortunately, an entire hour passed in painful slowness, and there was still no sign of Ulrich emerging from the estate to join them.

"W—Why!"

Hermione finally snapped, throwing her hands in the air.

"B—Big Sister, don’t worry! You can see Lord Ulrich again at lunch!" Esther said, rushing to comfort her flustered sister.

"I don’t want to see him at lunch! I want to see him now! I want him to watch me right now!" Hermione shouted, stomping her foot against the stone courtyard.

She had already embarrassed herself enough. Whether it was Linnea’s poetry lessons, Thomas’s history and geography lessons, or Elana’s etiquette lessons, she had looked pitiful compared to her sisters. Magic was the one thing she possessed true talent in! There was no better moment than now to prove to Ulrich that she was a genius.

But he wasn’t here.

"He’s here," Airam said dryly.

Hermione whipped around, following Airam’s gaze.

Standing silently, like a ghost that had materialized out of thin air just behind them, was Ulrich. His dark red eyes were locked directly onto Hermione.

Hermione’s body froze instantly. Her jaw hung slightly open as the silence stretched on for a torturous second.

Then, as her brain finally processed exactly what she had just been shouting at the top of her lungs, her face turned the color of a ripe tomato.

"I—I...!" She stuttered helplessly, taking a step back.

"Lord Ulrich!" Esther beamed, greeting him with a bright, adoring smile, while Airam merely offered him a silent, piercing stare.

Thankfully for Hermione’s sanity, Ulrich’s gaze did not linger on her flushed face for long.

He shifted his attention to the tutor.

"Lord Strelley," Ulrich said, "I would like a word with you."

Brian nodded respectfully and stepped away, accompanying Ulrich as they moved off together. Instead of heading inside the estate to talk, they simply walked a fair distance away across the courtyard, putting themselves out of earshot.

They began discussing something quietly, their expressions serious, but from where the sisters stood, it was impossible to tell what the conversation was about.

"I can’t hear a single thing..." Hermione grumbled, straining her ears to catch even a fragment of a word.

"I can’t either, Big Sister," Esther agreed. She squinted her eyes tightly, trying to read their lips from afar, but the angle and distance made it futile.

"Then I have no other choice," Hermione said.

Without a moment of hesitation, she raised her hand and summoned her spell, the familiar red rune circle materializing as the small red mana bird fluttered into existence above her palm.

She turned to her older sister with a confident smile.

"Airam! Do exactly what you did before. Quick!" She asked.

"No," Airam replied, crossing her arms in refusal.

"Why not?!"

"I have no desire to spy on them," Airam answered dryly. "Besides, it is useless."

"They could be exchanging some kind of dangerous plan against us right now!" Hermione argued, trying to appeal to Airam’s inherent paranoia.

There was a long pause.

Then, silently, Airam reached out and pressed her hand against Hermione’s glowing spell circle.

Hermione smirked in triumph. She carefully stabilized the magical structure while allowing Airam to weave her own runes into the array to grant the spell hearing. Once the integration was complete, the little red bird took flight, darting quickly across the courtyard toward the two men.

But the very second the bird crossed into hearing distance—

Snap.

It was instantly shot out of the air, bursting into a shower of harmless red mana particles.

"What!" Hermione gasped, staring at the empty space in shock.

"It was Lord Ulrich! I saw him raise his finger!" Esther gasped, clasping her hands together in awe.

"How can he even do that?!" Hermione cried out, speechless.

She was baffled as to how he managed to pull off such instantaneous magical disruption with such ease. After a moment of frustrated silence, she reluctantly accepted that spying on him was impossible. Defeated, she crossed her arms and forced herself to wait.

Eventually, their conversation ended. Brian turned to walk back toward the girls, but Ulrich was already turning away, clearly intending to leave the courtyard entirely.

Hermione panicked the moment she realized he was leaving.

"H—Hey...!" She took a sudden step toward him.

Ulrich paused, casting a slow glance over his shoulder, making her immediately feel small and nervous.

"A—Aren’t you going to watch us today?" Hermione managed to stutter. She buried her overwhelming shame beneath a mask of haughty irritation, crossing her arms defensively and turning her head to look away.

"There is no need," Ulrich replied calmly, already turning his back on her.

Hermione clenched her fists tightly against her sides as she watched him walk away.

’Watch me!’

She wanted to scream the words out loud, to demand his attention and force him to stay. But in the end, her pride won out, and the words remained trapped in her throat.