The Royal Contract

"I hope that I did not bore you with my stories," Katherine told Dani as they were going through their desserts.

Katherine did enjoy sharing with Dani about their life in the palace, hoping to encourage her that it was not as grim as what her son might have told her.

She had an idea that Alex would rather stay in this place than go home and take his place. But if she could convince Dani that they could also have a future back home, then maybe her son might reconsider his view.

"Not at all. I find it very interesting." She replied with enthusiasm. In truth, hearing Alex's mother talked about his childhood was fascinating.

There were some similarities in the way they grew up, but a few differences too. But not as bad as she always thought the life of royalty would be. It would seem that it was no different from hers at all.

"What about when Alex lost his tooth?" Katherine reminded her husband, appearing to be thrilled to tell the story.

"Oh, please tell me more." Dani encouraged Katherine to continue. Then, she turned to Alex's side and whispered. "This should be entertaining."

Alex could only roll his eyes at the two, knowing that he could not stop his mother from telling every tiny detail of his young life. His mother always found it adorable to share his little adventures with whoever cared to listen.

"He could not wait for the tooth fairy to reward him. Even demanding that the guards not to patrol near his bedroom, afraid that the tooth fairy might be scared away." Katherine could not stop telling her with pride how delightful he found Alex was when he was a young boy.

"That is so cute." She teased Alex, touching his cheeks with both of her fingers, which his mom told her was a bit chubby when he was young.

"We are talking about a very young impressionable boy that was told many lies growing up by his mother." Alex defended himself from the two ladies beside him.

His father could only smile at how the two ladies were making fun of his son. It did look funny when he was not the one at the receiving end of his wife's mischief.

"Oh, don't be such a cry baby. You did look so mature as you commanded the troops." She pointed out what she could remember of that event.

His mom continued with the onslaught of her stories. He did not see any problem with that back then. But. "What about when he was first heartbroken? Do you remember that, Fred?"

"Oh! I would like to hear what happened." Dani could not keep the enthusiasm from showing on her face upon hearing something about Alex's past love life.

"Oh no, we are not talking about that." Alex finally had enough, and he was putting his foot down to end this storytelling at his expense.

"Ok. Fine, we'll talk about this tomorrow when Alex is not around." Katherine whispered to Dani, but Dani was sure that Alex and his father heard all about it.

"Mom, I heard that," Alex said, but what could he do?

Besides talking about Alex's childhood memories, his parents seemed genuinely interested to get to know her as they questioned her about her work and the other things she did with her time.

In summation, it was mostly her work and her pro bono cases since she did not have many other extracurricular activities to boast about in her free time.

Except for Alex, who was taking up most of her spare time, but she believed it was not the topic his father was looking for in a dinner conversation.

"What about you, Alex? Maybe you will like to join us so we can discuss the necessary arrangement for your wedding." Katherine asked, but she seriously doubted that her son would oblige her offer.

"I think I will leave all the planning to the experts' hands. I trust that Dani would know what to do with it." As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he knew that Dani would not like it.

It felt like he had just thrown her to the wolves to fend for herself. But seriously, he had no idea at the moment how to handle the situation. All he could think about was to let the matter played out for now. It was just until he found out more about what he could do with his problem.

Of course, this earned him a slight jabbed on his side when Dani had the chance. It did make him wince a little, but Dani wished she could have hit him harder.

"I guess it would be just us ladies, unless the duke, I meant Dad, would like to join us," Dani said a bit sarcastically, directing her statement to the man at her side.

"Oh, you have to forgive me, my princess, but I could not even pick my tie to match with my clothes," Fred told her with a laugh, also trying to dodge being involved in girly matters.

He would willingly go to a corporate war rather than find himself in a salon or a shop full of clothes. It bored him to death to hear them talked about colors, hairs, fabrics, and the likes.

"Trust me, Daniella. You can never depend on men in situations like this." Katherine placed her hand on hers to assure her that they would manage without them. "I'm sure we can accomplish more with you and Laura."

The dessert was over, and all was left was to say their goodbyes. "I am so glad that we had this dinner. I enjoyed every minute of it." Dani told Katherine and Frederick.

"Yes, it was." His parents finally made their farewells as they prepared to leave.

But something surprised Dani before they could stand from their seats. A man went close to their table and greeted Alex and her.

"Oh, what a pleasant surprise to see the lovely couple? I believe I still owe you a congratulatory greeting." The man said as he greeted Dani.

But when she only gave him a tight smile but never received his hand, he turned to her fiancé and extended his hands to Alex.

"Thanks," But Alex also did not extend his hands to him, which he retracted immediately with a smile.

He was not bothered at all with the cold greetings. He was expecting it from the moment he saw them. But that did not mean that his fun was over. On the other hand, it was just beginning.

Then, he turned to Alex's parents and introduced himself to them. "I am an old friend of the bride, Nickolas Travis." He extended his hand to the couple, which Fred accepted with politeness but curious about his identity. He did notice how Alex had acted around him.

"It was nice to meet you, Nickolas." Katherine extended her hand without hesitation. But she also found the sudden change in Dani's expression a bit strange at this man's presence.

But of course, it was not in their nature to make a scene, especially when they were not in their territory. They did not fear for their lives because they had security all around them.

But they did not want a scandal to attach to the name of their son. An unnecessary scandal caused by an insignificant person was just not worth it, as far as they were concerned.