POV Rhaegar Targaryen
Rhaegar Targaryen, is a happy man, Rhae thought amusedly in third person. Why shouldn't I be? I am going to inherit a kingdom, an Empire even, which is stable than it has ever been in history, my father trusts me implicitly, I have the love of commons and nobility alike, my family situation could be better but it just as easily could have been so, so much worse. I am betrothed to someone I respect, could easily come to love with proximity and shared responsibility, I have remarkable and capable friends, I sleep like a babe and most importantly, the faceless and nameless dread that has been hounding me since I was a child of seven finally has a face and a name, while his friends might caution him against coming to premature conclusions, Rhaegar knows with bone deep conviction that they are coming. My worry of Targaryen madness is mitigated, not completely dissipated, but when you spend more than half your life fearing something it isn't so easy to get rid of such fear. I am rediscovering my heritage and did greater service to his House in last two years than most of my ancestors did in lifetimes. Rhaegar has rediscovered magics and secrets buried deep already, he found a clutch of dragon eggs,when even a single one is essentially priceless and he was on the verge of discovering a secret so great it will shift the balance of world on its axis, the art of forging of Valyrian Steel. All because one man decided to extend a hand in friendship and I wasn't fool enough to refuse.
Rhaegar knew many men and women would feel resentful of acknowledging that what they have is because of another's work or that all they have is another's gift, perhaps it would be a natural human reaction, why my own father resented Lord Tywin for being more competent than him, for people saying that Lord Tywin is the true king of Westeros. But Rhaeger never could think like that, before Royal Entitlement could truly sink into his bones, I have hounded by nightmares and oncoming dread night and day. He could reach out to no one for the fear of being branded a madman, Rhaegar was a smart child and he knew he was always watched even before he left his mother's teat, when he was five and naive, he didn't know why, but the story of his birth cured that ignorance. And it didn't take long after that to realise his true situation, Targaryen dynasty was hanging by the thread, he was sole heir to a dynasty of dragonlords with no dragons, while his birth might have heralded a new hope for a mostly dead dynasty, his mother's 'failure' to produce more heirs and his father's eccentricities were noted and they were watching Rhaegar to decide whether House Targaryen is truly sunk ship. Once he understood that, Rhaegar knew, one word of his nightmares, a single rumour of potential madness, House Targaryen would be six feet under and lost to the dust of history books. So, he played the perfect heir and charmed everyone he ever met, but trusted no one.
But that changed with Arthur, Rhaegar knew he would be grateful for Arthur to his dying day. For a boy who only knew backstabbers and lickspittles his whole life, Arthur was a breath of fresh air, since Rhaegar lived in Kingslanding his whole life, he knew the true value of fresh air better than anyone. Even Arthur didn't earn his trust easily, but that was the thing, Arthur didn't try. Arthur wants to be greatest knight their ever was and that's who decided to be, every second of every day, after understanding that Rhaegar knew he couldn't ask for better friend, so Rhaegar stuck to Arthur like a burr and he wouldn't ever let go.
Back to the point, Rhaegar knew the only way House Targaryen ever survived the first days of his father's ascension to throne was thanks to unquestioned support of Tywin Lannister and Steffon Baratheon and on paper House Tyrell, but Rhaeger had serious doubts about the last one, ofcourse House Tyrell needs House Targaryen for legitimacy, but Targaryen power has waned and Tyrells are ever grasping. Essentially it was Lords Tywin and Steffon who proped up a dying dynasty, and what does my father do, humiliate and belittle Lord Tywin out of petty jealousy. If Lord Tywin hadn't died, Rhaegar shudders at the possibility, what price he would have extracted to settle that particular debt. But, Lord Tywin is dead, Rhaegar has some niggling suspicions about that, then again as the old saying why look in the mouth of a gift horse, why indeed.
So, Rhaegar refuses to be the same ingrateful cretin of man his father has been in this situation, and it is entirely silly indeed for being resentful for owing others his prosperity, when the entire institutes of Kingship and Lordship function at the forbearance and complicity of smallfolk and everyone else below them in the hierarchy.
So, Rhaegar is grateful for what he was given and will strive to be worthy of said gift. And if he proved himself worthy of said gift, then such a thing is an achievement glorious enough to satisfy any man's ego.
And all that ruminations were brought about because where he is now, at the edges of a dancefloor walking towards a pair of men, during celebration of Elia Martells wedding, walking towards the man who undoubtedly brought about my prosperity, Rhaegar knew many will claim the credit for what has come about and what will come after and history itself may attribute said prosperity and stability to Rhaegar himself or his father or someone else, but Rhaegar knows in his heart, that there is only one man who is Architect of This Age and that is Eddard Stark.