A hussar rode up to the coalition camp. He shouted as loud as he could.

"Baron Radford, Count Ilemus, and Count Hemming, come out! Lady Eris and Lord Armand wish to offer you terms of surrender!"

There was a moment's pause. After that, a voice came from the camp.

"If they want to offer terms, they can come in and offer them!"

The hussar scoffed.

"Lady Eris is no fool. She and her fiance have every advantage here," he said. "If they wanted to, they could bombard your camp with cannon shells until every single one of you is dead. And believe me, Lady Eris is fully capable of ordering this."

There was another moment of hesitation. Then, three men exited the camp on horseback. They were clad head-to-toe in full armor. However, they had no guns on them, just swords. One of them, who had the longest mustache of the group under his helmet, rode ahead of the others.

"Alright, mercenary, take us to your masters. Be quick about it. If we're to die, we might as well go to Hell quickly," he stated.

The hussar nodded.

"Follow me, my lords," he said.

They were led to an area between the two camps. A table had been placed there, several platters of food and bottles of wine on top of it. Armand and Eris sat at the table. Both of them were wearing armor with swords on their hips. However, the table was surrounded by arquebusiers.

"Welcome," Armand stood up as the lords came close. "Come on, take a seat. Have some food."

Baron Radford, Count Ilemus, and Count Hemming dismounted. They took seats at the table. But none of them tasted any food or wine. Armand sat down. He kept a smile on his mouth but not his eyes. Eris had a similar expression. However, she had her hands crossed with their fingers entwined.

"I hope you will forgive our caution," one of the nobles said. "But we do not know if you poisoned any of the food."

"Well, I can prove that we haven't poisoned the wine," Armand replied.

He poured himself a cup before drinking it. After that, the lords took their helmets off. They started drinking themselves.

And this was what Eris was waiting for.

When each of the lords poured a cup, she flicked a finger in a way that they would not see. This sent a drop of poison into the wine. As the nobles drank, they did not know they just were condemned to die. Nor would they ever realize they were poisoned. Dysentery is a common death of warriors, after all.

"If you are hungry, feel free to eat," Armand said.

"No thank you," the longest mustached lord spoke up. "We had best just get this over with."

Armand nodded.

"Of course, Count Hemming."

Eris then pulled out several pieces of paper.

"These are the terms of surrender," she stated.

"One thing first," another lord spoke up. "Where is Sir Karl?"

The third grimaced.

"This again, Radford? You refuse to commit your cavalry because you think this is a trap, we lose the battle, Sir Karl is nowhere to be found, and you still suspect him of treachery?"

"Yes, Count Ilemus!" the baron replied. "That letter was..."

Eris interrupted him. Frustration started welling up in her.

"A deception. A trick to take advantage of your distrust of each other," she said.

"Then...you..." Radford's face turned red with rage.

Count Hemming shook his head.

"Never mind that," he said. "Let me see those terms, Lady Eris."

The Hapsburg girl handed him the papers. Hemming looked through them for a moment before letting out a sigh.

"We'll have to give up a lot of our lands," he stated. "A quarter to Armand and a quarter to Eris. Which, given their marriage, means we're giving half of our lands to them both."

Count Ilmenus' eyes twitched. Baron Radford felt a fury pulse through him.

"That much? This is an outrage!" the baron declared.

"Is it worth more than your lives?" Eris asked.

"No, but...surely, you could show some restraint in asking for so much!"

Armand took a deep breath. He let his smile fade. A cold anger flowed out of his body.

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"Asking for so much? My lords, you do not realize that we are not asking anything. We are demanding," Armand said, his voice like breaking ice. "Furthermore, you come into my lands, attack my soldiers, attempt to slaughter my family, and say I'm asking much? My brother and sisters would be dead if you won this battle."

The Concord boy stood up, anger flowing through him. Eris' eyes widened in shock.

"Armand's only ever looked at me like that before, and when he did...oh, gods, no! They haven't given us the land yet!" she thought.

"If I were to torture you all to death right now, there would be nothing anyone would do to stop me. In fact, I probably should flay you alive, cut off your heads, and put your severed heads and flayed skins on pikes on County Concord's border! If people saw that, no one would dare try to kill my family!" Armand's voice rose in volume as he spoke.

And in front of him, the coalition lords were pale with fear as the arquebusiers drew tanning knives. Eris looked between the now furious Armand and the terrified nobles. She seized on this situation with incredible swiftness.

"So, as you can see, we are being very merciful," Eris smiled.

The Hapsburg girl pointed to the paper she gave the lords.

"Sign these, and you will be allowed to leave with your men. After all, are half your lands really worth more than your lives? Especially when my fiance is considering making your deaths incredibly painful," she questioned.

With that, the coalition lords scrambled to sign the paper. They did so with such swiftness that even Eris felt impressed, albeit only slightly. Then, the lords handed the paper back to her. The Hapsburg girl examined it before nodding.

"You may leave now. Take your men and never return," Eris ordered.

The nobles did not hesitate. They remounted their horses and rode back to their camp. Eris then turned to Armand while keeping an eye on the enemies. Her fiance's face was coated with rage that almost made her cringe back.

"Let's go back to our camp now," Eris suggested. "My hussars will trail the enemy to make sure they leave your family's lands."

"No. Not yet. I want to see them leave with my

own eyes," Armand replied.

So, the two of them sat there. They watched their enemies leave their camp and begin marching off. Soon, they disappeared into the distance with Eris' hussars in pursuit. A good portion of the mercenaries that stayed started looting the abandoned camp for all it was worth.

"Now, can we go, Armand?" Eris asked.

"Yes, we can," he answered.

The two of them returned to their own camp. Around them, the various mercenaries were celebrating their victory. Cheers could be heard. Smells of alcohol filled the air. Still, the mercenaries on the edge of the camp stayed sober. They remained on guard, just in case.

Armand and Eris entered the tent they shared. There, they looked over the papers one last time. Everything was in place. Eris grinned before grimacing.

"It is a shame that Sir Karl escaped from this battle," she said. "Worse still is that he ran after his side lost. Few people will blame him for fleeing."

"Yes," Armand replied, rage still pulsing over his body.

Eris turned to him, concern on her face.

"I thought I'd seen Armand this mad before, but I haven't. He's truly furious," the girl thought before speaking. "We should stay positive! We're land-holding lords now! We might as well be counts again! In fact, with the lands we hold, we could easily get His Majesty to give us that title!"

Armand sighed.

"Eris, how can I stay positive? My family could have been killed. Even you should understand what that feels like," he said.

The Hapsburg took a deep breath. Her expression turned even more serious.

"Yes, I understand. But we protected them, for now. This battle wasn't exactly a close call. That should be a reason to celebrate, shouldn't it?" Eris asked.

"Sir Karl is still out there. He will try again with more allies," Armand replied.

He clenched his fists so hard they turned white.

"I hope you can reconcile with him, Eris, and he can be made to see sense. But even if he can, I will never forgive Sir Karl for what he did," the Concord boy said.

Eris nodded.

"Neither can I, Armand. I will make sure Karl dies. Even if he is my family, and you want me to forgive him, I can't," she thought before speaking. "You'll make a great father someday, Armand. Our children will be safe in your hands."

Armand looked down. Anger started to leave his face, being replaced with sadness.

"Will they be? We live in Foldzar, one of the most dangerous kingdoms in the known world for nobles. Our politics are so literally cutthroat that I've seen the ambassadors from Feldland and Anglat wear suits of armor to His Majesty's parties. And no one in Foldzar cares enough about foreigners to bother assassinating ambassadors. None of us are truly safe here. We'd be better off fleeing this place to somewhere far away," he said.

"Maybe we would be," Eris shrugged. "But we both know that won't happen. You won't abandon your family and your people. And I won't abandon you."

The girl placed a hand on Armand's cheek. Eris gently turned Amrand's head so he faced her. She gave him a soft smile.

"Please cheer up, Armand. I'm the one who should be sad, angry, and filled with hate, not you. You don't deserve to feel bad. I do," Eris thought.

Then, she stroked Armand's hair with her other hand.

"You have me by your side. You know, from personal experience, how formidable I can be. And I know how formidable you are. As long as we're working together, we're the safest nobles in all of Foldzar. Things won't be easy, but we can make it through them together," the Hapsburg said.

Armand nodded slowly.

"I suppose you're right, Eris. Thank you," he spoke before thinking. "Eris, are you on the road to redemption? Or is this another trick? Or are you just acting like this because you love me?"

"So, you don't have to frown or feel sad, Armand. I'm sure we'll accomplish wonders together. Especially since, with our new lands, we'll catapult into political relevance," Eris said.

She then paused a moment before speaking.

"Well, you were already there. But you'll be more than just Marshal Staufer's adjutant now. And when we're married, we'll have over four times the lands we've had before," the Hapsburg continued.

"Greedy for power as ever," Armand smirked.

Eris shrugged.

"Why wouldn't I be? You could stand to be more greedy too, Armand. Not too much, just a little bit. After all, if you want to abolish serfdom again, we'll need a lot of power," she said.

Armand noticed her wording.

"You do not want serfdom abolished, but you'll still back me up. As expected. Still, it's good to hear," he thought before speaking. "Yes, we will. But for now, we can't let our guard down. Celebrating victory too soon would be a mistake."

The boy sat on a chair. He let himself relax. Though, wariness still filled him.

"Still, we can at least take a moment's respite before we get back to work," Armand said.

Eris sat on his lap.

"Then, allow me to join you, Armand," she replied.

The Concord didn't stop her. Instead, he nodded.

"Just make sure you can jump off me quickly if we're attacked," Armand stated.

"I can," Eris said. "I assure you of that."

And with those words, the two allowed themselves a moment of relaxation after a dangerous battle.