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However, because they were newcomers, and because they did not have enough power to be able to stand in the frontlines, they had been someone in the back, but even then, their eyes which were shining with pride could be seen from across the Hall.

The one whose eyes had shone the brightest was Eloise, and she had branded each and every image that she had seen into her mind. That was the Daneel who had captivated her heart all those years ago - a man who did not have a limit for his imagination, and who had the special ability of somehow spotting the best thing he could do in a situation, even if it looked like there was no way that it could be salvaged.

Before those events had happened, Eloise had also taken a look at everyone present, and had realized the conundrum that the king was in - she had started to think about how she could help him to find a solution, and she had even gotten a few ideas, but they were nothing compared to what the had eventually done.

It was that image - of him with his hands behind his back, with a gracious expression on his face, looking at the new Cain with eyes filled with kindness that had given her the idea. If this wasn’t what a god would be like if they existed, then what else could they be?

Even though the idea had filled her mind and made her feel excited, she had the habit of first calming down and looking at something from all directions before deciding whether it was worthy enough to be brought to the attention of the king.

’Not the king- Daneel, you dummy.’

As she always did whenever she thought of him, she called him ’king’ in her mind, which made her admonish herself that she should not do so, and that she should use his name, as he had asked her to do, in a gesture that was still one of the most personal that they had shared over all the time that they had known each other.

She managed to call him by his name when they were speaking, but in her mind, she always defaulted to his honorific, almost as if there was still a barrier stopping her from completely accepting that she was close enough to him to do so wholeheartedly.

After thinking for a bit, she had realized that it really was the best way to go forward for many reasons, with the first that came to mind being something that had been taught to her by the teacher who had been employed to educate her about the world.

The biggest threat to any individual who was in a leading position was that they would be targeted by those who wanted to take their place, and hence, he had said that the first responsibility of any ruler was to establish a force that would work day and night to protect them and make sure that no foe would be able to even come near. Of course, it was best if they were powerful, too, so that they would not be easily assassinated, but even if they were, they would not be able to be on guard 24/7. Hence, her teacher always expounded that most of the resources after taking control of any place should go to setting up this force as quickly as possible.

Even the Emperor was supposed to have had almost daily assassination threats after he had taken control, when he was still in the process of squashing all the forces that were vying for his position or everything that he had accumulated.

But if the one in question was shown to be so invulnerable that it would be a hopeless idea to even target them, then wouldn’t this threat be non-existent?

It was a far-fetched idea, for sure, but she believed that it was worth a try- she knew that Daneel was going to push to become the leader of the entire continent, next, and when that happened, he would be targeted both by jealous individuals, or those with other motives on the continent, and even possibly those from the Mainland, as she knew that there were many more threats in that place even though the Church was the only one that they were facing right now.

Of course, this defense would not work against the latter, but against the former, wouldn’t it decrease the number of things that they would have to deal with a lot if they managed to instill into the minds of the people that it was the dumbest thing that anyone could do to target him, as he was the closest thing to a God that could exist on Angaria?

She knew that one of the things which no one, including those in the Big Four, knew about was the realm beyond that of Heroes. If the Big Four, itself, was in such a state, then it could be said with certainty that in the Central Continent, there was no chance of anyone even having any idea about what could lay beyond.

The argument could still be made that the king was powerful enough to not have to worry about any threat from the Central Continent, but after what they had just been through, Eloise had decided that they should never, ever take anything for granted for as long as they were alive.

This was the first reason, and of course, it had come to her first because of her role in the Alliance.

Next, though, she thought about the other advantages, and they were aplenty.

First, the number of people who would sign up to go to war would grow to an unprecedented level as the people would no longer be fighting for someone like themselves, but rather, someone greater, and by doing so, they might even hope to gain things that they couldn’t even think about right now.

Rumors could easily be spread regarding this, and ideas had a very strong power of taking ahold of large demographics of people and be rooted in place so firmly that it would take decades to dislodge them.

Case in point was Arafell, where the idea that the Queen was almost like a goddess had already taken root a long time ago, leading to many people following her so zealously that they would be ready to give up their lives if she would just ask.

She knew that this was the main reason that the kingdom of Arafell had never faced any threat to their leadership. Of course, the Queen was an immortal consciousness whose strength was not something that those in the Central Continent could contend with, but even if that was not the case, Eloise knew for a fact that there would have been no trouble at all due to this doctrine that had been implanted in the minds of the citizens for generations.

It would be much harder in their case, though, as they had a much shorter time, but she felt that if they all worked hard, it wouldn’t be impossible. It was only after getting all of these thoughts that Eloise contacted Daneel, and to her surprise, Daneel appeared right in front of her, in her room in the Kingdom of Lanthanor.

She had expected that he might call for a meeting of the sovereigns, where they would discuss it, but she definitely had not thought that he would react in this way.

Still stuck in thinking about even more points that she could use to make her case in case she needed to convince him, she stammered, "K-I mean, D-Daneel, you-"

With that easy chuckle which she had been reminded of so many times in his absence, the King folded his arms in front of him and said, "Sorry for dropping in so quickly, but your idea was so radical that I wanted to discuss it more, together, before continuing the discussion with the rest of the sovereigns. Tell me what made you think of it. Oh, and I’ve called them, too, so we can finish here and then go to them."

The chuckle was the thing which eased her heart and mind - and it also reminded her about how much she had missed it.

And with that... It was as if a dam had burst in her mind.

Without thinking, Eloise rushed forward and hugged Daneel tightly, before starting to cry on his shoulder.

This sudden change shocked the king, and he had to take a few moments before hugging her back, but he still seemed puzzled about why this was happening.

Of course, if she had been in her right senses, she would have noticed that he also had a look of déjà vu, as if the same thing had happened before, but Eloise was too busy being wrung out by the emotions that had built up in her for all these months, and which had still not had the time or the opportunity to be let go even with the return of the King, as both of them had been too busy with dealing with things that they had to handle.

Now, finally, finding herself alone with him, all the bottled up emotions had burst out abruptly, leading to this situation where Eloise couldn’t stop herself.

The feeling of missing something that was such an integral part of oneself without even knowing what it was was such a traumatic thing that it had almost broken her. Day in and day out, she would think about it and go crazy, and if Percy hadn’t come at that time to tell her that she was right, she was sure that she would have gone mad.

Only she knew how much pain she had felt. How much anguish, agony and torment she had gone through every second, and how much relief she had felt when her memories had returned.

After the Head had cast the spell to make that happen, she had cloistered herself in her room for hours and cried while laughing, going through each and every one of them again and again, reliving all of the moments she had spent with him, and rediscovering everything that she had always felt for this man to whom she had given her everything long ago, itself.

But after that, Eloise had bottled it all up, as she had had to get back to her duties. She had a lot of things to do in the Alliance in the aftermath of everything that had happened, and she had thrown herself into them after building a wall around all of these feelings.

Now, finally, that wall was broken, and Eloise was able to let them go.

She cried for a long time, and even then, she wasn’t ready to let go.

After what felt like a lifetime, the King spoke in a tender voice.

"I’m sorry I was such a fool to not come to you until now. I...missed you, Eloise. More than I can put into any words that I know. The sovereigns can wait. Can we talk? I want to know everything you went through when I wasn’t there."

The genuine care she heard made Eloise get a bright smile, but her heart that had thoroughly been battered was still not prepared to let go.

Still, she made her hands leave his neck while she stepped back, but thankfully, he caught them with his and continued to hold them as they both sat side-by-side, facing each other on the couch that he had just conjured.

In his eyes, she saw a sincere wish to know the answer to what he had asked, so she began to tell him everything.

She spoke about the days filled with battles with her mind, which kept trying to convince her that she was wrong, and that there was nothing she had forgotten.

She spoke about bursting out crying randomly, as the pain would become too much, and how she forcefully controlled it to do her duties.

She spoke about stepping so close to breaking apart and losing her sanity, and about how Percy had come at the perfect time.

With each word she said, she saw something continuously change in the eyes of the King, and even though she didn’t know what it was, it felt good, for some reason, as she saw it.

Finally, after telling him about how she had had to bottle it all up to wait for this moment, she asked a question.

"Tell me what happened with Xuan. I know that you held something back then- I saw the hesitation, and the way you looked at me. Tell me."

It was said that women had much stronger powers of observation than men, and Eloise had always been blessed with a special talent in this area.

Hence, she had been able to spot this in their meeting even though the other sovereigns had seen nothing, and as she saw the surprise in the King’s eyes, she smiled as she knew that she was right.

However, the King’s reaction caught her off guard.

He let out a heavy sigh filled with sadness, and said, "It seems that I bring pain to all those I consider close to my heart. Xuan was tortured physically, while you were tortured emotionally, which is just as painful. Both of you...went through so much because of me. After Xuan told me everything, I...kissed her, because, just like now, just like you just did, she firmly made her way inside my heart, which has been closed for so long. But..."

Eloise first felt surprised, but then, a stronger feeling took over her mind.

It was that of desire, and it made her say, "And she gets a kiss, and I don’t?"

In a blur, she moved forward, and her lips firmly planted themselves on the King’s lips.

The king was shocked, at first, and realizing what she was doing, Eloise was about to move back.

However...in a motion that made her heart start to beat faster, the king swept her into his arms and kissed back with an intensity that made her body melt into his.

She lost herself completely in that kiss, wishing, praying that it would not stop, ever, but the sudden sound of something being ripped reacher her ears, making her stop and stare.

In her passion...she had ripped apart Daneel’s robe, and at the same time, her own dress had started to tear at her bosom.

This made her return to her senses, but instead of shyness, she felt elation.

The shyness came too, though, as it was the bane of anyone as new to such things as them, making her say, "The sovereigns are waiting," and teleport away.

Only, at the last moment before she left, Eloise realized something, and it made her so happy that she felt like jumping in the air with joy.

For the first time...in her mind, she had called him ’Daneel’.