Ulrich awakens to find Airam straddling him with a blade at his throat, her dark eyes holding a coldness that should not belong to a thirteen-year-old girl. He remains unnervingly calm, recognizing this as the inevitable consequence of adopting the villainesses. In the original novel, the Bloodnight Sisters were broken by the original Ulrich, who led the attack on their village and killed their mother. But this Ulrich has changed the script. He tried to save Anna-Maria, failed, but managed to hide the three girls and bring them into his household. The next morning, he confronts them in the living hall, laying out the brutal reality of their situation. Witches are executed by royal decree, and their children are sold into slavery. He offers them a choice: leave and face certain suffering, or stay under his protection and learn to survive. When Hermione accuses him of causing their mother's death, he confirms it without flinching, taking full responsibility. Airam lunges with a hidden knife, but Ulrich catches her wrist and traps Hermione in a crimson barrier spell. He forces them to understand that the outside world is the enemy, and his side is the only light worth reaching for. By the end of the confrontation, the sisters agree to stay, and Ulrich reveals their first lesson: they cannot read. The three most powerful witches in the world are illiterate, and Ulrich must now teach them everything from the ground up.

Ulrich leaves his estate for a suicidal quest to the Maelstrom of Forgotten Depths, a abyssal scar in the ocean where a demon god fell and a human god tore out a divine core. His broken mana core is terminal, and the only cure is to destroy it entirely and forge a new one from the legendary Hollow Core. He hires the drunken pirate captain Meera to sail him to the edge of the maelstrom, then jumps into the vortex with nothing but enchanted potions and a reinforced bag. The water is saturated with corrupted demonic essence that should kill any ordinary person, but Ulrich's leaking core acts as a sieve, allowing the poison to flow through him without destroying his organs. His bones shatter as he is crushed by the pressure, his arms break, his ribs crack, and he loses consciousness. He awakens in a crystal temple deep beneath the sea, his body slowly healing. He walks through a void of absolute darkness until he finds the Hollow Core, a helix-shaped crystal of pure condensed mana. The moment he touches it, his old core explodes into microscopic fragments, and the new core forges itself inside his chest with excruciating pain. He collapses, but he has succeeded. The legendary core is now his, and for the first time in his life, he has a functioning mana core. Meera, against all odds, returns to the maelstrom a week later and finds him floating on the surface, pulled by a massive shadow beneath the water. She dives in, uses her own mysterious powers to calm the current, and drags him back to her ship.

Ulrich returns to his estate after nine days of absence, only to find the three sisters have been causing chaos in his absence. Airam has been threatening servants with sharpened pencils, Hermione has been attempting mind-reading spells on their tutor, and Esther has been crying from the hostility. Ulrich immediately reasserts his authority by trapping Hermione in a crimson barrier spell and forcing her to write an apology a thousand times. When Airam attacks him with a hidden knife, he catches her, throws her over his shoulder, and locks her in a similar barrier. He then chases down the fleeing Esther, who hides in the library, and convinces her that he will not hurt her sisters if they obey. The youngest sister agrees to speak with the others. Airam refuses to submit, pounding her fists against the barrier until her hands are bloody, but Ulrich remains unmoved. He even eats a lavish meal in front of her, using hunger as a psychological weapon. Eventually, Airam collapses from exhaustion, and Ulrich carries her to her room for medical treatment. The next day, he formally adopts them by sending a sealed declaration to the King, making the adoption legally binding. He then leads them to a hidden clearing where he has secretly preserved their mother's body and prepared a proper burial. The three sisters finally have closure, and Ulrich has secured their loyalty through a combination of manipulation, cruelty, and genuine kindness.

While Ulrich is away at the capital, a rogue witch named Lucida leads a raid on the estate to reclaim the three sisters for the Crimson Garden Coven. She shatters the outer barrier with a bone dagger, only to discover a second, stronger barrier that was a trap. Ulrich had hired Meera and her pirate crew to guard the estate in his absence. The inexperienced witches and Blooded Sons are easily overwhelmed. One is killed, another has his hand severed, and the leader Lucida is captured after watching her companions die. Ulrich returns the next morning and executes two of the prisoners in cold blood, sending Lucida back to her Coven with a warning. Hermione witnesses the slaughter and confronts Ulrich, asking why he killed them. He tells her that the witches would have killed the servants who bathe and feed them, and asks if she feels pity for her kind. Hermione admits she only cares about her sisters, and Ulrich promises that no one will take them from him. This brutal display of violence serves as both a deterrent to future attacks and a lesson to the sisters about the harsh reality of their situation. The raid also reveals that the Coven is aware of the girls' location and will continue to pursue them, setting up a long-term conflict.