I Only Love My Greatest Enemy

A grand table was decorated with red and gold cloth. Candles covered it, lighting up the room. Dishes of roast capon, swan pie, pottage, and numerous others filled the table.

"You didn't have to throw a party for me," Armand said.

"It isn't as big as we'd like to make it since you don't want a big party, but we couldn't leave you out. We throw these parties for Eris, and you'll be our son-in-law in the future," Lord Hapsburg stated.

"Happy birthday, Armand," Lady Hapsburg smiled.

Some servants washed Armand's hands. He then sat at the table. He held his pinky up as he grabbed a leg of capon and put it on his trencher. After that, Armand put his pinky in some spices. The boy spread them over his capon.

After getting her hands washed, Eris sat next to Armand. She took some swan pie.

"It's a shame no one in your family came," Eris said.

"Is she trying to get more information about them?" Armand thought.

"My parents are busy. They'd throw a birthday party for me if I was with them, but they couldn't make it here," he stated.

"And that's the truth. They'll probably be especially busy wondering where their little book is."

"If I say anything else about Armand's family, he'll get suspicious. No, wait, he's probably already suspicious. He'll get even more suspicious. I should drop that topic for now. Armand's birthday is the perfect chance to get closer to him. I can't mess this up," Eris thought.

"So, you're nine now. How did your last ninth birthday feel?" she asked.

"The same as my last eighth birthday," Armand answered.

"Why did I say that? I need to make sure that Eris truly cares about me. My birthday is the perfect chance to get closer to her, even more than just staying at her family's castle. I'll try some simple questions to break the ice," he thought.

"Eris, what do you think of the swan pie?" Armand questioned.

"I can't just say it tastes good. I need to impress Armand somehow, but I don't know anything about cooking. He probably won't check what I'm saying, so maybe I should make something up?" Eris thought.

"The core is grilled to perfection. I can tell that the spices have been boiled in a stew of thick lime. The crust is a perfect blend of saltines and margarine," she said.

"I have no idea what Eris is talking about. She could just be making things up, or she might know things about cooking that I don't. I can't have Eris thinking I'm an idiot, and I can't bluff her if she actually knows about cooking. I need to find some other way to impress her," Armand thought.

"Yes, it is. I also noticed that the tablecloth has some fantastic craftsmanship. It seems to be of Eastern origin, perhaps made in the style of a foreign land?" he pondered.

"Does Armand know that much about tablecloths, or is he making things up too? Either way, I...by the gods, I'm not impressing him, am I?" Eris thought.

"I doubt Eris was actually impressed by what I said. It looks like I'm back at square one," Armand thought.

Then, they both smiled as the same revelation came to them.

"Maybe trying to impress him/her is the wrong way to go about this?"

"Tell me, Eris, do you really know about cooking, or were you just making what you said up?" Armand asked.

"It's a risk, but if I ask her this question, I could transition to some complement," he thought.

"I find that if you say something with enough confidence, people will often believe you. Even if you don't know what you're talking about," Eris said.

"Reminding Armand of our past life is a bad idea. Thankfully, there's plenty of things to praise about him in this life," she thought before speaking. "And yet you managed to see through it. That's the brilliant cunning I expect from you."

"Good. This is perfect for a complement. I don't trust Eris, but she already saw me cry. Admitting a bit of weakness is nothing compared to that," Armand thought.

"I wasn't certain if you were lying or not. I suspected you were, but this was just me calling your bluff. I know nothing about cooking, so if I called you out publicly, you could have made me look like an idiot," he said.

"Armand turned that compliment on me," Eris smiled while thinking. "I love it. Even now, we're having another game of manipulation! Armand, you know how to make me happy."

"Come, now, Armand. You're far too clever to make me look like a fool. If this was public, you'd bring in someone who knows about cooking before calling me out," Eris stated.

"True, I would, however..." Armand thought with a smirk.

"We're in a city owned by your family. There isn't a cook here who would dare contradict a member of your family," he said.

"You're right, Armand, but it's a moot point," Eris thought before speaking. "There are cooks in your family's lands that you could bring over."

"You're as persistent as ever, Eris," Armand thought.

"That's too far away. I wouldn't bother bringing one in just to call a bluff about cooking," he said. "A bluff you wouldn't make in public. You have nothing to gain from it, and there is a chance that a noble in the room would know about cooking. Then, they'd be able to call you out on it. I wouldn't even be involved."

"Then, to sum things up," Eris replied. "I wouldn't have made a public bluff about cooking."

There was a moment of silence between the two. Armand grabbed a slice of swan pie.

"That conversation was stupid," he said.

"It was very stupid," Eris agreed.

"At least I managed to give Eris some compliments. Hopefully, she likes me more now. She loves me, but there is a difference between mild love and truly caring for someone," Armand thought.

"I hope Armand enjoyed our game of manipulation as much as I did. I don't know if couples have pointless, stupid conversations like that. If they do, that's a good sign," Eris thought.

The two of them spent a few moments eating. A smile crossed Armand's face.

"Do you like the pie?" Eris asked.

"Yes," Armand answered. "I never liked the taste of swan, I always preferred pigeon, but your cook made it work."

Eris' smile turned to a smug smirk.

"At our wedding feast, I'll make sure that every pigeon in the city is killed and cooked. Armand will have a grand pigeon pie," she thought.

Armand saw her smirk.

"Every time Eris made that smile, something bad happened. If I had to guess, she's probably plotting to massacre the city's pigeons and feed them to me," Armand thought.

"Pigeons are tasty birds, but I've always liked the taste of peacock the most," he said before thinking. "Having one imported to eat will cost a lot of money, but at least it'll stop Eris from massacring the pigeons. If they're gone, the insects they eat will ravage farms."

"Peacocks? I think Armand's only been to one feast where peacock was served. I could be mistaken, or that feast could have given him an incredible impression of peacocks. Or Armand could have figured out what I was planning and objects to it for some reason. In any case, I have nothing against serving peacock," Eris thought.

She gave Armand a smile.

"I agree that peacocks taste good," she said.

Armand smiled back.

"What sorts of food do you like, Eris?" he asked.

"The least I can do as her fiance is get Eris some food she likes," Armand thought.

Eris put a finger to her lips and pondered for a moment.

"I once tasted something incredible, but I forgot what it was called," she stated.

"You're not going to straight-up tell me, are you, Eris? You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Armand thought.

A hint of anger flashed through him; however, he forced it down.

"Stay calm. Eris might be trying to enrage you, but this is a small matter. I'll just beat her at her own game and try to get the answer out of her."

"What was this sort of food like?" Armand asked.

"This is perfect! Armand can help me remember what I ate. He wasn't at that feast, but he might know what it was," Eris thought before speaking. "It had a strange taste. It wasn't anything I've eaten before or since."

"Why don't we start with what the food looked like?" Armand asked.

"It was roundish, not a perfect circle but more like a lumpy oval," she answered.

"Something oval-shaped that has a strange taste. You've given me too much information, Eris," Armand thought before saying. "Was it brown or yellow in color?"

"It was brown," Eris replied.

"Was it a pineapple?" he questioned.

"A what?" she asked.

"They're a sort of fruit some explorers brought from overseas. They're brown or yellowish, spiky, and have some green leaves on top," Armand said.

"I didn't eat anything spiky. And the food didn't have any leaves," Eris stated before thinking. "It looks like we're back to square one."

Armand's thoughts were different.

"Eris is probably laughing at me internally. I fell right into her trap. I'll need to get more details before guessing."

"Was this food a fruit, a vegetable, or meat?" he asked.

"I think it was a plant," Eris answered.

"Think? That leaves a lot of room for error while also giving a vague hint. Very cunning of her," Armand thought before speaking. "Did it taste meaty?"

"Yes, it tasted like meat," she nodded.

Armand furrowed his brow and placed his hand on his chin.

"You told me that right away? This must be some trick," he thought.

"Armand's thinking hard. We might be on the right track," Eris thought.

"It also tasted like mushrooms," she added.

"Mushrooms and meat? There's only one thing I can think of that's like that, but Eris is practically giving me the answer. She must know some type of food I haven't heard of," Armand contemplated before muttering. "It can't be truffles."

A wide smile crossed Eris' face.

"Truffles! Yes! That's what it was!"

Shock blasted through Armand.

"It really was truffles? Is Eris messing with me?" he thought before speaking. "You've only had truffles once?"

"Yes," Eris nodded.

Armand thought back. He recalled all the feasts he'd ever gone to.

"Come to think of it, I didn't see truffles at many feasts. The truffle hunters always told me they were incredibly expensive outside of my family's lands, but I never cared enough about food to look into it," Armand said.

"Then they aren't expensive there?" Eris asked.

"They're still not cheap, but they grow in the forests of Concord County. We even have farmers who specialize in breeding truffle hogs," he answered. "I eat truffles all the time."

Eris' eye twitched. Anger flashed through her.

"All this time, Armand's been eating a luxurious food I've only ever eaten once! He's humiliated me again without even trying! I...I guess this is how Armand felt about me," she thought.

Controlling her anger, Eris simply huffed and dug into her pie. Worry floated into Armand.

"Oh, crap, I made Eris mad. I wanted to make sending her the food a surprise, but I need to calm her down before she does something bad," Armand thought before speaking. "When I get back to my family, I'll send some truffles over as soon as I can."

Eris' anger faded. She turned to Armand with a smile on her face.

"Thank you, Armand. I appreciate that," she said.

"I can't believe Armand's going that far for me! It's just food, but he only gave me flowers before! And before then, everything we did together benefited us both! I just can't believe it! I'm finally getting through to him! Soon, everyone will look at Armand and I with awe and fear! We'll rise higher and get more power than either of us could have alone!" she thought.

Armand's gaze turned to his food. He ate it listlessly. His mind churned like a storm at sea.

"My one-month stay with Eris' family is almost over. Soon, I'll be back in my family's lands. We'll write to each other, but I won't see Eris for years after this. What will she do while I'm not here? I won't be able to stop her or even know until I can get some spies over here."

He hid a grimace.

"And what awaits me when I return to Concord County? My parents will start considering me a possible heir, but they won't just disinherit Lucia and Charles. They'll probably make us compete in some way for inheritance. I have Lucia on my side. She thinks she can bring Charles over, but I doubt it. He might end up being my enemy. And then there's Mortimer. My parents won't die of the Orlock Plague this time, but he might have some other plan to take power."

Pain pulsed through Armand's heart.

"I might have saved my family, but I traded their lives for internal conflict. By the gods, I hope Lucia can convince Charles!"

Eris noticed Armand's listlessness.

"Armand, what are you worrying about?" she asked.

"Politics," he answered.

"He's probably thinking of all the things I did to people before he turned back time. I'm still going to do them, but maybe I can assuage Armand's worries?" Eris thought before speaking. "I understand your concerns, Armand, but you don't have to worry too much. If someone goes against you, they'll have to deal with both of us."

Armand shivered internally.

"That thought scares me more than anything else."