I Only Love My Greatest Enemy

Eris and Armand stood across from each other. They wore padded armor. Practice rapiers were in their hands. The sword weighed on Armand's sickly body. He did his best to look strong despite that.

Sir Felix the Red looked over the two. A grimace crossed his face.

"I'm sorry, Armand. You and Eris are a great couple, but my friend asked me to tear you apart. It's time for you to be humiliated by your fiance," he thought before speaking. "Begin!"

Eris struck first, going at Armand with a lunge. Her decade of experience helped her aim the attack. It would have been impossible to parry for most children. However...

"In Armand's state, being aggressive is a bad idea for him. If I just attack, he can sit back and defend. He should be able to handle a light blow like this," Eris thought.

Armand deflected the blade with ease. He then counter-thrust, aiming at Eris' leg. She stepped back to dodge the attack.

"Thank the gods, Eris is holding back. Hopefully, it'll stay this way. I just need to show Eris that I'm not trying to take advantage of her leniency," Armand thought.

"Why is Armand attacking back? He doesn't have to do that? Is he trying to trick Felix into thinking that this is a normal spar?" Eris thought.

Armand pressed his attack, moving closer to Eris and thrusting at her arm. He went slower than he would normally. She parried the attack without difficulty. Then, Armand swung his sword around in a cut. Eris blocked it with ease.

"I was right. Armand's definitely trying to trick Felix. He'd have thrust and not cut if he wasn't," Eris thought.

She thrust with her sword, aiming for the top of Armand's shoulder. He deflected the blade with ease. Then, Armand unleashed a barrage of thrusts. These blows weren't aimed to hit; however, Armand used his experience to stab at angles that would make Felix think they were. Eris batted them to the side.

"This is...starting to get fun. I never thought I'd feel anything other than hatred when fighting Armand," Eris thought. "Every day where I do something with Armand is fun. I'm glad that he is by my side. I hope we can do some actual sparring soon."

Eris unleashed a barrage of blows back. She kept them slow enough that Armand could deflect them with his sickly body. He parried and counter-thrust while Eris did the same. It became a rhythm of moves, none intended to hit.

As the two traded attacks and parries, their eyes widened in shock. A revelation dawned upon them.

"By the gods, we're not fighting at all," Armand thought.

"I move, and Armand moves in response. Then he moves, and I move in response. We lead and follow each other. We're not trying to get any advantage," Eris thought.

"This isn't a sparring match, not really, it's a..." Armand gulped.

"A dance!" a wide smile crossed Eris' face. "I'm dancing with my fiance! This is so romantic! I can't believe how happy I am!"

The two danced their dance of steel blades. Eris moved closer to Armand as they continued. A smile crossed his face too.

"Eris is a monster. I can't trust her, and I hate her. She's my greatest enemy. But would it really be wrong to enjoy dancing with her? She's my fiance, so I might as well make the best of it," Armand thought.

He stepped towards Eris. The two were too close to thrust at each other, so they cut instead. Their swings became wider as their motions became more graceful than practical. Armand grabbed Eris' hand at one point and spun her around. She twirled with the movement.

"Calm down, Eris. Don't dance too hard. Felix still has to think that we're sparring," Eris thought.

Then, Sir Felix's voice rang out.

"That's enough. We're doing sword work today, not grappling," he said.

Eris and Armand stopped in their tracks. The two bowed to each other as was expected of nobles who finished a dance. They turned to Felix, whose face was stone.

"I think we've trained enough for today. I'm going to talk to your parents now, Eris," the knight stated.

Sir Felix walked out of the room at a rapid pace. The moment he was gone, Armand collapsed onto the ground. He took ragged and heavy breaths.

"Do you think he figured out that we weren't fighting?" Eris asked.

Worry was plain on her face.

"I hope not," Armand said.

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Outside of the room, Felix rushed through the castle. He found the Lord and Lady Hapsburg sitting in the solar. They were drinking tea. The knight was covered in sweat.

"Sir Felix, you're finished so soon?" Lord Hapsburg asked.

Lady Hapsburg noticed the knight's state. She jolted up.

"You're covered in sweat! Is Eris hurt?"

"Not at all," Sir Felix the Red said. "There's something I need to tell you two right away."

"What is it?" Lord Hapsburg wondered, standing up.

"Your daughter and Armand are prodigies, geniuses with the sword. I've never seen anyone their age fight as well as they do. It's as if they have an incredible amount of innate talent and over a decade of experience."

"That's incredible news!" Lord Hapsburg smiled. "I wonder why Karl hasn't picked up on that?"

"If she's as skilled as Sir Felix claims, she probably didn't want to make him feel bad," his wife speculated.

"I'm sure you know that she's worrying about nothing. Sir Karl will be proud when he learns how skilled his cousin is," Sir Felix said.

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Back at the sparring grounds, Armand stood up. His knees shook, and his breath was ragged. However, the boy still stood firm.

"You're not as sickly as I thought," Eris stated.

"Thank you," Armand wasn't sure how to respond.

"I never looked into your sickly childhood during our first life, but I'm certain that an eight-year-old child would be worse off than you are," she said.

"Is there some secret to Armand's recovery, or is it just natural?" Eris wondered.

"There's no damn way I'm letting Eris know about my rituals," Armand thought.

"You are mistaken," he stated.

"Are you sure? Perhaps you're doing something different this time around?" Eris suggested.

"No. Nothing's different," Armand replied.

"Are you sure about that? Maybe you have some new medicine?" she said.

"If it's medicine, Armand might be able to do more with it than recover from sickliness. He might be able to save someone I want dead."

"There's no medicine. It's just my body naturally recovering," Armand assured her.

"The most I can do is deny things while looking for an opening," he thought.

"If it isn't medicine, maybe it's magic?" Eris suggested.

Armand kept his face the same as it had been throughout their conversation.

"I'm not using magic," he said.

"Are you telling the truth or not? It's hard to tell, but I hope you're lying. I want to have more fun manipulating you. Wait a minute, there was something Armand did," Eris thought.

A smug smirk crossed her face.

"I recall that you made a trip to some foreign city when you were young. When you returned, you knew magic spells that no one else did, spells that manipulate the human body. I wonder if you used that magic to recover?" Eris pondered.

"She's on the right track. I can't give anything away," Armand thought.

"If I was using magic to get rid of my sickliness, it'd be gone already," he said.

"Unless the ritual takes a truly long time. Or unless you're keeping some sickliness to avoid making people suspicious," Eris replied.

"With you around, I want to be healthy as fast as possible," Armand stated.

"It's safe to say that Eris won't assassinate me, but I still can't bring myself to trust her," he thought.

"That's right. Armand still doesn't trust me, even though he loves me. He's telling the truth about not using magic," Eris thought.

She sighed before smiling.

"I'm glad you're recovering, Armand," she said.

"Thank you, Eris," he replied.

"Even if she is a monster, Eris still loves me. She's probably telling the truth," Armand thought.

The Lord and Lady Hapsburg entered the room with Sir Felix the Red. There were wide smiles on Eris' parents' faces. Lord Hapsburg knelt down and hugged his daughter.

"Eris, I'm so proud of you!" he said. "You're a prodigy!"

"A prodigy?" shock covered Eris' face.

"Sir Felix told us all about it. You're a genius of the sword," Lord Hapsburg stated.

He turned to Armand.

"And to think that my daughter's marrying another prodigy. Your children will be the best fighters in the world," Lord Hapsburg said.

"That's so cool!" Armand replied.

"Why, in the name of all the gods, does Sir Felix think we're prodigies? Armand and I held back so much. Is Sir Felix trying to get something from my parents? I'll have to ask Armand about this later. In the meantime, I should take advantage of this," Eris thought before speaking. "I want everyone to know I'm a progidy!"

She said prodigy wrong on purpose to make herself sound more childlike.

"Introducing you as one might not be a bad idea. It'd bring prestige to you and our family," Lady Hapsburg stated.

"Perfect. I just need to keep up the image of a prodigy. If we assume that Sir Felix actually believes Armand and I are progidies, he most likely...," Eris thought.

"Thinks we're prodigies because we fought at a level beyond children. We have years of experience, and that might have shown up in our dance," Armand thought.

"If Armand and I keep training with each other, we can keep that experience advantage. When we're in our 20s, we'll have the experience of someone in their 30s and young bodies. We can increase this advantage by training like hell with each other."

"But this means we'll have to train hard. I'll need to perform the final ritual as soon as possible. Then, Eris won't have to hold back when we're training."

"Armand, I hope you fully get over your sickliness soon. Then, we'll train more in secret. You can bring out your third arm, and I'll bring out the magic I used to keep up with you," Eris thought.

Sir Felix sighed.

"I'm sorry, my friend, but I won't be able to break Eris and Armand apart now. They're too perfect for each other," he thought.

"Lord Hapsburg, can we go into town? There's something I want to buy," Armand said.

"Of course. As long as it's not too expensive, we'll get it. Just give us a few moments to get ready and get ready yourself."

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Several minutes later, Armand was out of his sparring suit and back in his normal clothes. He stood in the courtyard near the gate. Armand felt a cool breeze wash over his face. The sound of bird songs flowed into his ears. A sense of peace came over him. Even Eris showing up didn't break it.

"What do you want to buy?" she asked.

"There's no point hiding most of what I'm buying from her. She'll see it during our trip anyway," Armand thought.

"A few things. The first is a chicken," he answered.

"Why would you want to buy that?" Eris questioned.

"So I can keep it in my room and have eggs whenever I want," Armand said.

"That doesn't make sense. We have chickens in the courtyard," she stated.

"There must be something more to this," Eris thought.

"It's time to throw Eris off," Armand thought.

"Okay, I'll tell you the truth: I'm actually a Moroi. I'm bringing the chicken into my room so I can have a source of blood," he said.

Eris looked at him with utter shock on her face. Armand burst out laughing.

"I can't believe you actually fell for that!" he stated.

She joined his laughter.

"That was pretty funny!" Eris agreed.

"As expected of you, Armand. If you are a Moroi, you wouldn't say you're a Moroi. Unless, that is, you were trying to hide that you're a Moroi by saying you were and making it look like a joke. But that's a big risk for you to take. I know that if you're a Moroi, you'll be able to hide it from me. If you really are a Moroi, I think you're worried that I'll kill you for being one. But this means you're comfortable making jokes around me if you aren't. You don't need to worry either way, Armand. If you are a Moroi, all I'll do is ask for you to turn me," she thought.

"Eris, I have something I want you to do," Armand's face turned serious.

"I don't want to have to rely on her for this, but she's the only person who has memories of the future," he thought.

"What is it?" she asked.

"When we're in town, could you keep an eye out for commoners doing strange things, anything suspicious? And if you see something strange, could you at least listen into it?" Armand answered.

"Why do I have to give those subhumans any attention?" Eris glared.

"Because they might have information we need. Not me, we. It's something that affects us both. I'll look out too, but I'll be in the flower shop. Please do it, Eris. Please help me."

"If you insist," she sighed.

"Dammit! Why did Armand have to ask me to spy on commoners for him? I'm happy that he's relying on me, but I'd prefer it if he asked me to do something that isn't a waste of time."

Eris' parents arrived, fully dressed for the trip into town.

"Are you ready for our trip," Lord Hapsburg smiled.

"We are, father," Eris said.

"Armand, where do you want to go first?" he asked.

"The flower shop," the boy answered.

"Why there?"

"I keep my promises, even if they're made to myself in my head," Armand thought.

He said, "I want to buy Eris some flowers."

Eris fainted, overwhelmed by the romantic gesture.