"Oh Lephia, it's beautiful!" Rapunzel said, looking at Lephia's engagement ring. It was an emerald tear shaped gem with a small diamond on either side. Privately Rapunzel wished that the next time Eugene proposed to her he'd have a ring like that. She was still upset at him over his proposal a few days before. She'd barely talked to him at all. Frankly the silence putting a strain on both of them, but she felt too abused over the whole ordeal to go apologize to him for being so silent the past five days.

"I know, Frederick finally got around to getting me a proper ring," Lephia said, smiling warmly. She tucked a bit of her dirty blonde hair behind ear. It kept falling in her eyes, but she wasn't frustrated enough to fix the (now messy) bun she'd been putting her hair in when Rapunzel came in.

"Are you excited?" Rapunzel asked. "Do you both have a date for the wedding?" She asked, all happy. She felt comfortable around Lephia. Lephia was just… smart and kind. She didn't look down on her for her limited knowledge. She'd also forgiven Rapunzel for the incident at the ball before Rapunzel had forgiven herself for it.

"I'm excited… and terrified," she admitted. "There's a big difference between helping to run our small lands to running Frederick's. His land holding is so much larger it's rather… well, again, terrifying," she admitted with a weak smile. "And depending on what position he's in here I may be the main person running his estates…" She sighed.

Rapunzel smiled weakly. Outside of the kingdom her family also had their own estates. Her father was having her practice ruling a kingdom by having her be more hands on in ruling their estates. It was, as Lephia said, terrifying. She was suddenly in charge of these people's lives, people she hadn't even met. She'd been getting a lot of advice on the mater. Her last meeting with Frederick was solely about governing an estate, as had been her last meeting with her father... and really with just about everyone. Even all the advice she was given didn't take away the fact that she would be the one making the decisions that would affect people's lives. "What about the wedding?"

"Oh, yeah… sorry, I get distracted with the particle. Frederick's going to take me in a few weeks to visit in his estates… and his mother's coming to meet me," she winced. "I kind of get the idea from Frederick that she's not very happy about all this."

"You mean you getting married?" Rapunzel asked.

Lephia suddenly looked really uncomfortable. "Mmmmm,eeehhh…. Kind of, but that's not all of it," she said, looking very hesitant to tell Rapunzel the truth.

"Well, what's the all of it?" Rapunzel asked, clearly not understanding.

"Well, of course there is me… while my family's holding isn't very big, or really great with resources, it's an important place for military strategy, especially with it being so near out mountain border… It means that I'm very well versed with certain things that Frederick finds appealing, like medical knowledge, military tactics, a certain amount of fighting, and book keeping. With my father dead, and my brother off in the army, and my little brother barely out of diapers I've been running my estate a lot… but we don't have much… and I don't spend that much time in the courts here… Frederick thinks his mother's not going to like me because she'll see me as backwards," she said.

"Oh… I wonder what she'd think of me…?" Rapunzel wondered. She thought Lephia was brilliant and fairly well together. If Lephia would be considered backwards, then how backwards was she?

"Well…" Lephia hesitated. She liked Rapunzel, she felt bad for her really. She probably would have made a great ruler if circumstances were better… and she was a wonderful person… but it seemed unlikely that she'd be a great ruler like she needed to be. "You're part of the all of it," Lephia said.

"What do you mean by that?" Rapunzel asked, feeling like she should be offended, but not knowing why.

Lephia reached out and took Rapunzel's hand suddenly, squeezing it tightly. "Rapunzel, you have to understand… consider it a warning of things you'll have to deal with… Frederick loves you and loves this kingdom very much, and he'll want to do right by Corona more than anything. But for other people… You were a wonderful symbol… a sign of the people, and you still are, but nobles aren't like the people… they're more vicious. Eventually their mentality might seep down to their vassals," she said, trying to make Rapunzel understand.

"What are you saying?" Rapunzel asked clearly, wanting Lephia to get to the point. She could feel Lephia shaking a little like she was scared to tell her. That was what betrayed the noble woman's nerves alone because her face was perfectly blank.

"Rapunzel, Frederick was supposed to be King after your father died. He's been raised for it nearly since birth. He was the heir before you. He was trained and raised for this. There is the Divine Right of Kings, which is why you will rule once King William dies… but it was supposed to be Frederick. Your father is still young enough, but not as young as he used to be," she said. "There are people who will resent you for coming back… people like Frederick's mother who think that he would make a better ruler. Whether they're right or wrong that's how they'll feel… and whenever you do anything wrong they will compare you and Frederick… always," she said softly.

"Oh," Rapunzel said, pulling her hand away and rubbing it as if to make the pain in her soul she was feeling. "Like what happened at the winter ball…" she said trailing off.

"Rapunzel!" Lephia said exasperated. "You have to stop bringing that up. In the long run it's a wrinkle on your blouse. It's so much better that you did it now rather than later… and you were very braze about all of it… and besides… if it weren't for what you did to me… I'm not sure Frederick would have ever stopped long enough to see me like he does now," she admitted with a smile and a pleased blush.

Rapunzel smiled, though not as much as Lephia, but she smiled. Lephia knew how to cheer her up. "So why not tell me about your wedding?"

Lephia looked at her suspiciously after the sudden change of topic. "I'm sorry that I told you Rapunzel… are you okay?" she asked, not one hundred percent sure she was being honest. If it helped Frederick get closer to what he needed, then she wouldn't feel so bad… but it felt bad hurting someone as sweet as Rapunzel.

"I need to think about what you said… but no, don't be sorry… I wish someone had told me sooner… will you apologize to Frederick for me… for me coming back as taking the throne from him?" she asked.

Lephia looked surprised, and then nodded slowly. "I'm fairly certain that he'll tell you that you don't need to apologize for that… but yes, I will tell him."

"Thank you, now tell me about your wedding," she ordered with a smile, making the other woman laugh.

"Well, it will be two weeks after the Spring Equinox, give people time to calm down from one celebration before starting another. Frederick and Queen Catherine keep putting their heads together and making it bigger somehow… it's dizzying," she said.

"How so?" Rapunzel asked, clearly fascinated and happy to have a different topic to keep her mind off the new information she'd been given earlier.

"Well, for one thing the wedding dress," Lephia said, starting to sound every bit as flustered over her wedding as she was feeling. "You know how expensive a nice dress can be… so I've always wanted a spring green. It's not too expensive and will look nice, but Frederick is insisting on white. He said something like 'white for purity for you is best'," she said, blushing and exasperated. By their normal standards she was hardly pure anymore… though she had been before the Winter Ball. "So I tried to insist on green. He finally came up with a compromise, though it's hardly a compromise," Lephia said, shaking her head.

"How so?" Rapunzel prompted again, wanting to hear about the dress.

"He said that we'll add a sheer white sheath over the dress and have someone embroider green around the hem and maybe the cuffs… but that's even more expensive. Real pure white is very hard to make, and he doesn't want off white he'd insisting on snow white… and sheer fabric, especially for the quality expected of a Prince's bride will be terribly expensive… I thought he was so sensible about spending, but now I'm starting to worry if I'm not going to have to help keep him from going into debt," she said, sounding seriously troubled which made Rapunzel laugh.

"I think pure white will look good on you… Cousin Frederick just doesn't want anyone to see you as less. If, on your first appearance as a princess, you're dressed up with beautiful, fine, expensive clothes no one will be able to question the legitimacy of you being a princess… it's because he loves you… Cousin Frederick hates spending money," she assured her.

Lephia grinned. "Thank you Rapunzel… that makes me feel ever so much better," she said.

Lephia walked in to Frederick's study and kissed his cheek, making him look up from his work instantly and pull her into a deeper kiss. "Have a good day love?" he asked her. It really amused her how much like a puppy he could be sometimes.

"Yeah… I spent a few hours with Rapunzel… she told me something nice about you," she said with a dreamy sort of smile. She sat down on the arm of his chair and he rested his hand on the small of her back.

"What did she say?" he asked, sounding curious.

"She said that you obviously loved me," she said.

"Well I thought you knew that already," he said with a sudden mischievous grin. He pulled Lephia into his lap, making her squawk and laugh.

"I did… but it's nice when someone else notices it as well," she said and kissed his cheek. "You need to shave," she teased, rubbing his stubbly face. In all the times she'd seen him he'd either had a very small and well groomed beard on his chin and lower lip, or been completely clean shaven. He'd shaved all his facial hair off recently, but now he'd clearly missed a day of shaving, which really wasn't like him.

"Touché," he said a bit dully, but with a slight smile, rubbing his scraggly face as well. "I've been busy and haven't gotten much sleep yet," he admitted.

"Then you should go to bed," Lephia said, moving to get up and drag him to bed, but his arms kept her from removing herself from his lap. "What gives?"

"Aren't you going to ask me what I've been busy with?" he asked with a little smirk-ish-smile that she liked when it wasn't aimed at her because it reminded her far too much of a cat with a mouse under his paw and she did not like being the mouse.

"Fine…" she said with exasperation, knowing she'd have to play along or she could never get up, which she suddenly wanted to do very badly because he wasn't letting her. "Frederick, what has been keeping you so busy?" she asked, kicking her voice up and octave to sound overly girly to tease and annoy him.

"Well, besides sending numerous letters to mother trying to get her to like you a little bit before she arrives," he said, causing Lephai to wince. "I've been working on our little plan," he said.

"Oh… how's it going?" she asked.

"No sooner than late summer… but that seems like an opportune time, don't you think?" he asked her with a little cat-with-mouse-smirk-smile, but this time it wasn't specifically aimed at her.

"Yes… Freddie," she said, watching him wince but not correct her, which made her grin. "I talk to Rapunzel today… told her how people would feel about her being heir over you… she told me to apologize for taking the throne from you."

For a moment Frederick's expression was nearly unreadable, but Lephia understood. Frederick did love Rapunzel, and he had a good idea that she probably wouldn't be alive by the end of summer… and while it would be better for the kingdom it hurt him because he did love her… he just love his people more. "Why should she apologize? She did nothing wrong, this is the law after all, and by all rights she is the proper heir… just what are you smiling about?" he asked, seeing Lephia smile.

"Oh nothing, just you," Lephia said, resting her head on his chest, relaxing now that she was no longer being held against her will. "I told her you'd say that… and you know what?"

"What?" he asked.

"I love you," she said with a happy smile.

Frederick smiled too, a warm smile. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "I love you too Leffie," he said. "How about you take me to bed now so I can get a few hours of sleep before y next meeting?"