Armand sat in the castle's courtyard with a heavy expression. There was no moon in the sky that night, but stars shined down on him. The boy held a dagger, a bag of salt, and a bucket. He scanned the area with great caution.

"Eris didn't follow me this time. It's time for the final ritual. I'll get rid of my sickliness once and for all," he thought.

The boy poured salt in a circle around him. Then, Armand made sure he was sitting in the center of it. He placed the bucket at his feet and took a deep breath.

"May my weakness be banished forever more. May my sickness come nevermore," he said.

Armand plunged the dagger into his eye. Immense pain washed over him. He let the eye drop in the bucket as blood trickled from his face. The boy stabbed the same eye socket with his dagger, pulling out another eye and letting it fall into the bucket.

Pain was all Armand felt as he dropped eye after eye. Soon, the bucket was filled with eyes. Armand then slammed his foot into the container. The eyes turned into a bloody slush.

Armand planted his face into the bucket. He swallowed, the liquid that was once eyes pouring into his mouth. The boy drank the entire bucket dry.

When the container was empty, Armand breathed a sigh of relief. All the pain and remaining sickliness had flowed out of his body.

"It's a shame that it's my last night here. I never got to go all-out when training with Eris," he thought.

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Morning came, and a carriage pulled up to the castle. Armand's parents stepped outside. The Hapsburgs came out to greet them. There was a degree of tension in the air; however, it remained small.

"It's hard to believe that it's just been a month since Armand arrived. It felt like years," Count Hapsburg said.

"Did he cause you that much trouble?" Count Concord asked.

"Quite the opposite. Armand's endeared himself to us in such a short time. We're happy to accept his marriage to Eris."

"Very good," Count Concord nodded. "Now, it's time for us to depart. Come, Armand."

Eris ran over to Armand and gave him a big hug.

"I'm going to miss you!" she said.

"It'll just be a few years, and I'll send letters," Armand promised.

"Thank you so much, Armand!" Eris smiled and hugged him closer.

She slipped a vial of poison into one of Armand's pockets.

"Remember, all it takes is one drop," she whispered in his ear.

"I'll remember," he said in a hush.

"After what he did the last time around, Mortimer's too big a threat to be allowed to live," Armand thought.

Eris broke the hug and waved goodbye as Armand was escorted into the carriage.

"Mortimer isn't here," he thought as the vehicle took off. "He must be with my siblings."

Carriage Interior,boy,red Eyes,light Brown Hair S- by Xela-The-Conqueror [https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/313aaab4-767f-4cea-91cb-69c8d8fbef2a/dgnllrt-13884913-c4b4-4999-b717-44609ed50840.png/v1/fill/w_1081,h_739/carriage_interior_boy_red_eyes_light_brown_hair_s__by_xela_the_conqueror_dgnllrt-pre.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9ODMyIiwicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvMzEzYWFhYjQtNzY3Zi00Y2VhLTkxY2ItNjljOGQ4ZmJlZjJhXC9kZ25sbHJ0LTEzODg0OTEzLWM0YjQtNDk5OS1iNzE3LTQ0NjA5ZWQ1MDg0MC5wbmciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9MTIxNiJ9XV0sImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl19.8ifiFLxS9aOecs7pIjVmenTDN_LIld3A_rJbDD59w5g]

Armand turned to his parents. Their faces were stern. He saw anger flash in his father's eyes. The man's glare could freeze water, and his teeth ground together.

"Armand, tell me how you knew about the book," Count Concord ordered.

"This is it. I have to convince my parents to make me their heir. Compared to dealing with Eris, this is nothing," Armand thought before speaking. "No."

His father leaned forward. He gazed right into Armand's eyes.

"Why not?" he asked.

"I'm not going to bother talking like a child. That would make this more difficult," the boy thought.

"Because if I tell you, you'll be able to stop me from spying on you," Armand stated.

Count Concord grinned from ear to ear. The countess smiled as well.

"Good answer," he said. "Now, tell me where the book is."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"No," Armand replied.

"I could force you to give it to me," Count Concord stated.

"If you try to force me, I will have it burned."

His father leaned back and clapped his hands.

"You've made me proud, Armand. I will admit that I underestimated you," Count Concord laughed. "So, I presume you have demands?"

"Never even think of putting me in a matrilineal marriage again. I am your heir, and I will stay that way," Armand replied.

"You're talking like an adult. Were you feigning childishness?" Countess Concord asked.

"I'm smarter than I seem," he answered.

"I need to prove that you're the best possible heir for House Concord. I'll put you in a competition against your siblings. The winner gets to inherit House Concord. The losers are sent to join other houses," Count Concord said.

"Inheritance being decided by merit could help the world a lot, so I'll have to prove I deserve to be the head of House Concord," Armand thought before speaking. "Why would I compete when I already won?"

"Explain. Surely you don't think stealing that book is enough to make you the heir?"

"Of course not. But having the backing of Eris' branch of the House of Hapsburg will be," Armand spoke before thinking. "That won't be enough to convince him, but the process of it might be."

"You know that I want that branch of the House of Hapsburg destroyed by any means," Count Concord said.

It wasn't a question but a statement of fact.

"That is your agenda. I have my own agenda, Father, and mine is more important than yours," Armand replied.

"Spoken like a true leader," Countess Concord beamed with pride.

"Very much so. Tell me, Armand, did you push Eris off the balcony that night? Was this all part of your plan?" Count Concord questioned.

"No. Eris fell on purpose. She came up with the marriage idea. We've known each other far longer than you think. And neither you nor her parents were any the wiser," Armand said.

"The best lies have a bit of truth in them, and everything I said just now was true," he thought.

He leaned forward, making sure to look his father right in the eyes.

"So, all this time, you've been collaborating with a member of our family's greatest enemy behind our backs," Count Concord narrowed his eyes. "And you did it so that you could defy our wishes and become the heir to House Concord? You betrayed us for your own personal benefit?"

"Yes," Armand replied.

Count Concord's entire being beamed with pride.

"Well done, well done indeed. I also noticed that you've been moving more smoothly since you came here. You've gotten over your sickliness awfully fast," he said.

"I was sickly at one point. But ever since then, I faked it," Armand stated.

"If Father sees through my lie, he'll be impressed that I made a lie that big. Otherwise, he'll be impressed I fooled everyone," the boy thought.

"Why would you fake being sickly? What would you hope to accomplish?" Count Concord asked.

"I wanted everyone to underestimate me," Armand answered.

"Wouldn't you prefer for everyone to think you're incredible? You'd benefit more if everyone knew your skills."

Armand pretended to think for a moment.

"I don't know about that," he said. "I'm going to inherit the lands of House Concord and a branch of House Hapsburg. I have the most important book in our family in my clutches. I know all your plans. And I have more powerful allies than you know. It seems to me that making you underestimate me was the best decision I've ever made."

The boy then smirked as smugly as he could.

"I'm still a child, but I've already surpassed you both."

"You indeed have," Count Concord smiled. "I never thought I'd feel this proud of you, Armand. You are a more than worthy heir."

After Armand left, Eris made a childish show of being heartbroken at being apart from him for a few years. She then went into her family's solar. Eris grabbed some ink, a quill, and some paper before sitting down on a desk.

"I might be too young to make any political moves, but I can still at least try some subtle maneuvers. I promised Armand that I wouldn't kill Viscount Salm's son, so I'm not doing that."

Eris pondered a moment.

"What's the next big event aside from the Orlock Plague? The kingdom was pretty much ground to a halt by that plague. All our efforts were on halting it. So, not much happened."

Then, a flicker of memory flashed through her.

"Oh, that's right. The Ulugs tried to take advantage of the plague by invading our Eastern border. I'd have thought that Armand would want to stop it, but I guess he was too focused on the plague. Or maybe he forgot too? I can't blame him. The Ulugs didn't even make it past the first castle."

Eris pressed the feather of the quill to her chin.

"I remember reading about the Ulugs in a history book. It said that they were once the most powerful force on the planet. Their horse archers were unbeatable in battle. My ancestors survived their attacks by hiding in castles until they left. Some people even say that the Ulugs formed the largest empire the world had ever seen. And now, their invasion was so pathetic it wasn't worth remembering. Their horse archers are no match for our pike and shot. The only noble who was even hurt in their invasion was..."

A smirk crossed Eris' face.

"Sir Jean Baske, the future Primate Jean. If I remember right, he got hit in the leg with a cannonball. His military career ended, and he became a priest. I could alter the course of history if I act now. I'll probably still carry out the Capital Massacre. I won't be able to assassinate Primate Jean just yet, but I could get him away from the capital. Then, someone more understanding of the rights of nobles might become the Primate of Orfluss."

Eris stood up. She looked through her family's bookshelves before pulling out several maps. The girl laid the various charts on the table. While the general shape of the world on them was somewhat similar, they heavily varied aside from that. Some depicted continents as being incredibly large while others made them much smaller. And that was just their part of the world.

Three maps depicted mostly unexplored lands. One showed them as a series of islands, another made them look like two continents, and a third showed a single continent.

"Few people in Foldzar care about what's going on overseas. We're a landlocked kingdom, so there isn't much we can do there anyway. But maybe I could find some way to convince Primate Jean to care? It'd get him as far away from me as he could possibly be," Eris thought.

Then, she hesitated.

"Primate Jean will become a very important person a few years from now. He'll be involved in a number of important events. If he goes across the ocean, it will massively change events. I might not even be able to figure out all the changes it would make. My biggest advantage is that I know the future, but what if the future changes because of my actions? I'd lose the advantage I have. I need to think carefully before I act."

Eris sighed.

"Primate Jean was a thorn in my side, but he wasn't a big one and it's years before we'll be enemies. Getting rid of him now isn't worth potentially losing my knowledge of the future."

She leaned back in her chair, gazing at the ceiling. The girl tapped her quill against the paper.

"I'll need to be more careful in the future. Armand's going to try to make things better for everyone, so he'll really only care about keeping me from doing evil and stopping the disasters. I'll need to keep him from changing things too much," she thought. "As long as I get the crown prince and oldest princess' favor again, I'll be fine. They were key to my rise to power the last time around. With them and Armand at my side, nothing will stop me."

Then, Eris smiled.

"And that will be easy. I just have to show them that I'll be useful to them again. All they have to know is that I have no morals and will do anything for power."