Walking to his parents' room, Daneel took a deep breath before knocking and waiting.
This was the one room in the Palace where a smile would always light up his face involuntarily due to the sight of his mother or father feeling happy that he had e to visit.
This time, as his father opened the door, he saw that both of them were there, and they seemed to have been discussing about something, as was evident from the two wine glasses on the table.
No matter what his parents had gone through, the love they shared had never been affected. This only increased the fear in Daneel that he might miss something as special as this if he rejected Eloise.
These days, his mother had been spending her time touring the inner and outer cities and helping people in whatever way she could. He had sanctioned her a certain amount before to donate in order to build goodwill in the people, and she had been using this money very productively.
Her efforts had also definitely gone a long way in increasing public satisfaction, but she was, after all, just one person. Hence, the number of people that she had been able to reach wasn't very high.
Thinking on this, Daneel got an idea to magnify the effects of his mother's actions, but he shelved it for now as he had something more important to discuss.
Seeing the grave expression on Daneel's face, it seemed that Maria and Robert had also understood that something was wrong.
"Daneel, is everything all right?"
As he heard the question from Maria, Daneel first took a seat on the single sofa adjacent to the one on which his parents were sitting.
Before speaking, he first levitated a glass from the cupboard to the table before filling it with wine from the bottle nearby and drinking it in one go.
Robert only sat back and didn't say anything, but Maria now had a worried expression on her face.
After a few seconds, Daneel finally broke his silence.
"Mom, Dad, can you guys tell me how you fell in love?"
Hearing the sudden question, Daneel's parents looked at each other with confusion.
Instead of choosing to ask the questions on their mind, Robert and Maria first decided to answer, as they knew that their son would mostly answer them when the time came.
They had reached this decision mutually, but no words had had to be spoken between them.
Even Daneel managed to notice this due to the clarity that had e in both of their eyes at almost the same time.
Next, they smiled at each other briefly before Maria turned to Daneel and started to answer his question.
"You already know that your father's family approached mine for marriage after he fell in love with me at first sight in a family gathering, right?"
Knowing this part of their story, Daneel nodded.
"I was only 18 at the time, and your father was already a grizzled army man with a rough voice and a rough face. When my family came and told me that he had fallen in love, I was shocked. I had no idea what he saw, but I certainly hadn't seen anything in him to make me want to agree instantly."
At this moment, a slight blush came on Maria's face.
"This next part, even your deceased grandparents didn't know. I said that I needed some time, and I used a friend's friend, who was a part of your father's squad in the army to send a message to him that I wanted to meet. We met outside the Capital City, in front of a small lake around 10 Km east of-"
"15 km."
"15 Km east of the western gate. I told my parents that I was sleeping in a friend's house, and I had used the opportunity to get there. Naturally, I was a bit scared about being found out."
"She was jittery and actually almost attacked me when I spoke behind her.
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