As it turned out, Ichigo wasn't able to go back to her bedroom to look for a suitable outfit at all because Conrad had decided to betray her (while smiling innocently at her no less- the scoundrel) and help Gwendal drag her off to eat breakfast with their family.

Which wasn't terrible. After all, their mother was very nice.

And she was sure that as long as there was a lion tamer on standby then Wolfram could be...moderately pleasant company himself.

But for the moment she hadn't wanted to risk becoming the focus of the boy's ire. Again. And nor was she willing to allow the family to suffer even more just because she existed either.

However, once the two men dragged her into the dining room, the choice was no longer in her hands.

She would like to say that she bore Wolfram's hostility- once she noticed him directing murderous glares at her- with every ounce of grace that she possessed.

But that would be a lie since as far as she knew she had no grace whatsoever. In fact, she had often been likened to having the same amount of grace of an elephant loose in a China shop.

So, once she was seated at the table, she simply waited for the inevitable blow up while she made small talk with Ceilie since the woman was practically vibrating in place with a waiting apology on her tongue for standing her up last evening.

And when the blow up finally came it was when Wolfram suddenly decided to be 'nice' and offered to make her some of their country's finest tea to drink in place of one of the maids.

The kid's mom and both of his brothers were understandably startled by his offer. But they were also unsuspecting of any ill intention as well.

Ichigo wasn't though. Especially given his hostility towards humans, she was well aware of what was going to happen.

She kept her eyes on him as he lingered just a bit too long over her drink and rolled her eyes at the boy's lack of originality. He intends to poison me. She thought as she tapped her index finger on the clothed table's surface.

Usually, she would be incredibly upset about something like that.

After all, the fact that someone was trying to kill her was typically upsetting no matter who it was. But since she was already immune to a lot of poisons...she didn't really feel any real need for alarm right then. Especially since both her world, the current world that she was in, and Soul Society all had similar plants for medicines and things.

So, she was hoping that whatever ill-fated poison that Wolfram had decided to use on her was at least something recognizable enough for her to already be immune to. And even if it wasn't there were still ways to flush toxins out of her system before it really took any serious effect.

"Here." Wolfram said with a smug smirk on his lips. Almost as if he were daring her to drink the tea that he had just prepared for her.

"Thank you." She said politely as she looked him in the eye and winked at him.

Wolfram looked at her as if she had just slapped him, and his smirk vanished, and he glared at her. She picked up the tea to take a sip while he quickly scurried back to his seat. And almost automatically a hand covered the top of her cup.

She jumped a little bit because she hadn't seen anyone at the table move. But once she followed the limb attached to the hand with her eyes, she huffed at a smiling Conrad as he stole her tea from her grasp and then switched it out with Wolframs and handed her the boy's untouched drink.

It all happened so quickly that Ichigo almost thought that she imagined it until the new cup was slipped into her hands, causing her fingers to close around it reflexively as her spiked tea was set where Wolfram's own cup had been before mere seconds ago.

It was done with an expert ease that practically screamed of many hours spent practicing switching things out in front of others. And it was all done underneath Wolfram's nose. It was done underneath Ceilie and Gwendal's noses too given the fact that the two had been conversing for the past couple of minutes and hadn't reacted at all to Conrad's sneakiness.

Mentally shaking her head once her shadow winked at her, she went ahead and began to drink her new tea. Uncaring about the chaos that was going to take place in a short while.

"Is the tea good, your majesty?" Conrad asked her.

"Yeah, it is." She replied with a smile of her own.

"I'm glad that you like it. Our kingdom has some of the best teas locally made. Everything is grown and dried and then mixed into the tea that you're drinking now."

He sounded so proud of his country, Ichigo mused as she sipped her tea and listened to him talk some more. Not that she could blame him any. He had every right to be. The tea really was delicious. But more than that- she just really enjoyed seeing and hearing Conrad's love of his country and its people.

When she heard him speak like that, she couldn't help but wonder if she would one day love the kingdom and its people just as much as he did.

Would she love this world as much as she loved Soul Society and her world? She wondered, unaware that he'd stopped talking and was just sitting in his seat staring at her oddly.

"Uh...your majesty?" Conrad finally asked worriedly. She blinked at him and made an unintelligible 'huh' sound. So, he elaborated. "You've been staring out into space for the past three minutes without blinking. Is something wrong?"

Oh. She had really checked out that time, huh?

Ichigo cleared her throat delicately before replying, "Of course not. I was just thinking."

"I see," Conrad said with a relieved smile before asking her. "Were you thinking about anything in particular?"

"I was just thinking about how much you love the demon kingdom and are so very proud of it. It's a beautiful thing to see. I was just wondering if there would be a day where I would love the kingdom and it's people just as much as you do."

Conrad looked surprised by her thoughts. And from the abrupt way that his mother and Gwendal both went totally quiet, they must have been startled by her musings as well.

"Your highness," Ceilie said in a sage tone that caught Ichigo off guard. "I'm absolutely certain that you will come to love the demon kingdom and it's people just as much as we do, if not more so. And I'm sure that that day will come very soon. Until then, all we can hope for is that you learn to like us just as much as we learn to like you."

"That's true," Ichigo said with a nod of her head before saying. "But until then we can simply rely on my possessiveness to kick in."

"Your possessiveness, majesty?" Gwendal said in a questioning tone as Ichigo laughed nervously. She already knew that she had said too much and wasn't about to be prodded into explaining how her possessiveness worked to them.

They might not like her so much if she did.

After all, how did one explain that the demon dwelling in her soul tended to eat people skin people alive and eat others sometimes if something that she dubbed hers was either taken from her or harmed.

That's how wars started!

Come to think of it...that's why she had gone to save Rukia back when they had first met and become friends. She'd had a really pissed voice nagging at her in the back of her head screaming that Rukia had been taken from her. Was she going to let that shit stand?

The answer had of course been an utterly enraged, fuck no.

Rukia was hers and she'd be damned if she didn't do everything within her power to stop her from dying. Even if it meant waging a war against the Soul Reapers to do it.

But she digressed.

"Are you terribly possessive? Do you get angry? Violent maybe? Or do you simply whisk the object of your possessiveness away from others so that you can have them to yourself?" Ceilie asked her, her interest piqued by the very idea of Ichigo being possessive of them in any capacity.

All of the above and then some. Ichigo thought dryly as the maid's finally arrived with their food. Effectively cutting off any further line of questioning.

Conrad watched his Queen avoid answering his mother's questions by stuffing her mouth the second that she had food in front of her, and inwardly chuckled as he thought, Possessive, huh? I wonder if she's anything like the rest of the Demon Tribe are.

If she was then all of them were for some very interesting times ahead. Very interesting times indeed.

After that breakfast progressed rather smoothly. And all of them were able to eat a fair amount of food before a man in armor came tearing into the room shouting in a panicky voice.

"Your highness! Your highness! We have an issue!" The soldier dropped to kneel next to Ceilie and quickly explained what the issue was. "We have an early arrival for the party this evening, Lord Stuffel von Spetzweg has arrived and is demanding an audience with you."

Ceilie didn't move a muscle for about ten seconds before squealing in delight and then jumping up from her chair and taking off running for the door without an explanation.

Ichigo blinked at her empty chair for a second and then shrugged her shoulders and took another sip of her tea as Gwendal cleared his throat and then told the guy in armor that his mother was no longer the Demon Queen. She had stepped down so that the new Queen could take her place.

The poor guy in the armor paled and began stuttering out apologies as he looked at Ichigo. The poor guy looked terrified that she was going to smite him for freaking out and making a mistake.

Instead, she just smiled at him and thanked him for relaying the message about their guests to her and sent him on his way before setting her tea down with a sigh.

"I suppose that I should go and greet the lord."

"Actually, your highness- it would be best if you let mother take care of greeting him and his entourage." Gwendal said firmly as he laid a wadded-up napkin on the table. "If there is something that you need to do now that the paperwork is done, then you should do it. But try not to forget to rest at some point. We can't afford to have you take ill because you're trying to do too much when you shouldn't."

"Oh. Okay then." Ichigo said awkwardly. Not really knowing what else to say as Gwendal stood up and then bowed to her briefly and then excused himself to leave.

Conrad was the next to rise from his seat. But only to walk around the table and collect her from her chair. After that they left the dining room. So, she had no idea that when Wolfram started to stand up, he finally began to feel the effects of the poison that he had spiked her former tea with.

He wound up dizzy and collapsing before he began to vomit almost uncontrollably, scaring the maids trying to clean off the table.

Ichigo couldn't help but notice that Conrad was walking unusually close to her as they walked down the winding hallways of the castle. She noticed this almost immediately because up until now he usually walked two steps behind her. But now, he was crowding her. Almost as if he were trying to shield her from some unknown threat to her wellbeing.

She didn't like it.

"Conrad, is something wrong?" She asked curiously, unsure if he would even tell her what was bothering him. Aside from Wolfram attempting to poison her at breakfast, that is.

"Of course not, your majesty." He said automatically as he moved even closer to her and nearly caused her to run into the wall. She squeaked in alarm, and he took a second to wrap an arm around her and tuck her up against his side where he settled his arm across her shoulders so that he could keep her in place there while he deftly maneuvered them both down the hall, and around the various pieces of furniture until they reached Gwendal's office.

Then he left her side for a moment so that he could open the door and then he none too gently pushed her into the room and then stepped in behind her and then closed and locked the door behind him.

Ichigo was looking at him with a wary expression as he allowed himself to finally breathe a bit and ran his fingers through his chocolate brown hair in frustration.

"Forgive me highness, it isn't my intention to startle or scare you with my actions." He said after a heartbeat or so before assuring her. "I will explain, but some privacy is necessary. Please, sit down." He motioned to one of the couches and waited until she was seated before finally moving further into the room and seating himself on the couch across from her.

"First off, I apologize for Wolfram's misconduct towards you at breakfast." He said as he bowed his head in shame. "That never should have happened, and he will be dealt with."

"It's alright Conrad. I was actually expecting something like that to happen. It's why I wanted to avoid eating with everyone today." Ichigo said calmly.

Conrad lifted his head to look at her with a pained expression but then nodded curtly in understanding before continuing, "The reason that I'm...uh-"

"Tense? Aggravated? Upset?" Ichigo supplied helpfully.

"Yes, all of those things," He said slowly before explaining. "The reason that I feel all of those things- is because of Lord Stuffel and his presence in the castle." Ichigo remained silent so that he could speak his mind. "To be honest, your majesty. He is not a good man and his demand to meet with you troubles me greatly for a number of reasons and I do not want you to be alone with him at any time during his stay here."

To Ichigo, he almost sounded like he was laying down the law. And that was troubling to her since it didn't seem like something that Conrad would do without a damned good reason to.

"Do you think he'll hurt me?" Ichigo asked him curiously.

Conrad opened his mouth to reply but then seemed to think twice about his reply to her question and snapped his mouth shut and looked away from her.

Ichigo didn't need him to clarify what he was thinking after that. She could tell that he wasn't really sure if Stuffel would hurt her or not. But he still felt the need to warn her anyway. Just in case the man did try something.

"I understand," She said, wanting to put him more at ease. "Then I'll need someone to stay with me at all times." He turned his warm brown eyes back to her as she leaned forward and asked him in a conspiratory manner, "Any ideas on who it should be?"

She watched as his eyes suddenly lit up as he adopted a thoughtful expression before slowly saying, "As a matter of fact, I do have a few ideas about that."

She smiled at him. And he grinned back a little bit ferally.

Which spelled nothing but trouble for this Stuffel guy as far as Ichigo was concerned. Especially since Conrad was obviously going to become her second shadow for a while. Well, even more so than he already was anyway.

But she was at least happy to see that the tension that had been present in him before was gone now and he seemed to be back to his usual self again. At least for the moment. Still...for him to be worried about her being alone with one of the other nobles of the Demon Tribe was concerning to her given her lack of strength and abilities at the moment. And without those...all she really had to fall back on was certain knowledge and skills. Maybe even some battle honed instinct.

But that was it.

So, it was probably a very good thing that Conrad was going to be her shadow.

"Do you feel better now?" She finally asked him, and got a slightly startled look from him as it dawned on him that she had been trying to make him feel better.

"I do, actually. Thank you."

"Good. I'm glad. This castle gets kinda weird when you aren't smiling like usual." She said as she stood up. Conrad followed her to his feet and the two of them left Gwendal's office after that to see about trying to get something done.

Ichigo for one wanted to be as productive as possible before Conrad or someone else made her sit down or take a nap against her will.

Stuffel Von Spetzweg was a man on a mission as he walked with his younger sister Celie through the castle halls. His sharp eyes searching out anyone that didn't belong at Covenant Castle. Since that just might be the only way that he would get to find the new Queen.

Especially since Gwendal and Von Christ hadn't been particularly helpful about their new Queen's whereabouts when he had demanded to see her. Instead, he had been chastised by the two arrogant bastards about not going through the proper channels to set up an appointment to see her highness like everyone else did.

He had been in a foul mood ever since. Not that his sister seemed to notice any. As usual she was occupied with other things and had been chattering his ears off about the party that would be occurring that evening.

Stuffel supposed that if all else failed then he could attempt to approach the new Queen there. At least no one would be able to hide her away from him then.

He was thinking of the various ways that he could find/approach the new Queen about becoming her regent when a window up ahead swung open and he spied Conrad with a screaming young woman in his arms, jumped out of it and then set the woman down.

She thumped the brown-haired man on the chest with one of her small fists once and then turned away from the man with her cheeks puffed out in annoyance.

He could easily say that he was curious about what sort of woman his nephew was attempting to court now when his sister slipped her arm from his own and jogged ahead of him by a few feet and then called out, "Your majesty! Come and meet my brother!"

The woman that was with Conrad froze up and looked like a deer caught in a hunter's crosshairs. Conrad however, slipped an arm around her slender shoulders in a protective/possessive/comforting manner and pointedly ignored his mother's attempt to get the young woman over there to meet him by steering her away from them and practically herding her away from them.

"Oh, that boy!" Ceilie huffed in annoyance at her son's blatant attempt to avoid letting her brother meeting Ichigo. "I can't believe that he would drag her away like that." She huffed again as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Stuffel wasn't surprised by Conrad's actions though. The two men hated each other.

They had hated each other ever since he had been regent during his sister's rule as Demon Queen and sent his nephew to die on a suicide mission against the human's twenty years ago.

"That was her highness?" He asked once he was close to his sister again. Ceilie's face lit up automatically at the question.

"Yes, that was her." His sister said with a fond smile. "She's such a sweet girl. But I worry about her being taken advantage of. Especially right now."

Ceilie's definition of sweet typically translated to gullible and naïve to him. Which was perfect given the fact that he was there to take control of the kingdom from her and become regent again. But the way that she said, 'right now' caught his attention.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked curiously. His sister looked at him, her emerald green eyes shimmering slightly with unshed tears.

"Her majesty's health is poor. In fact, I heard that when she first arrived here, she was barely clinging to life and was injured quite badly. If not for the Great One intervening and healing her- she might not have survived at all. As it is, she's supposed to rest for the next few weeks or so to regain her health."

Ah, that explains a lot. He thought with a slight smile.

It even explained some of Conrad's behavior when Ceilie had called out to them before. It wasn't necessarily that Stuffel was there- nor that they absolutely hated each other- it had more to do with the fact that the man had already failed once as the Queen's guard.

And what good was a guard that failed?

A devious plan took root in his mind. One where he easily convinced the gullible woman that Conrad and his brothers were going to try and kill her to take the throne for themselves. And the only safe place for her was under his protection.

He was sure that the girl would be beside herself with fear and not know what to do. And if he played his cards right, he could easily take her under his wing and convince her that he would protect her from his nephews. He was sure that she would be more than happy to make him regent after that.

Taking a deep breath, he fixed his eyes on the distant flower garden where Conrad had herded the new Queen and silently debated with himself on whether or not he should go there and corner the woman. But he didn't want to come across as overly pushy since it might frighten the woman into letting his nephews influence her even more.

The romp in the garden hadn't exactly been a fun one, in Ichigo's opinion. Not at first anyway.

The flowers had been gorgeous, and the company had been pleasant enough. Even when she had begun to pluck blooming flowers from their stems subtly and eventually used them as ammo to throw at Conrad in a totally childish and playful attempt to get him to destress again.

Especially after his mother had called out to them earlier about her meeting Stuffel.

Ichigo had been able to tell just how furious Conrad was with the other man's presence being so close to them. Even though it had been a fair distance away. It was why he had slipped his arm around her shoulders and practically dragged her off like he had.

But despite the fact that they were far away from Stuffel and any threat that he could pose to her- he'd been tense ever since and had been remaining close by. He had also closed himself off to her. Emotionally. It was as if a switch had been flipped in his head, and he was shutting his emotions down so that he could focus only on the mission. Protecting her.

Which was just slightly...maddening. But only slightly.

It wasn't that she minded this exactly. In fact, she understood better than he imagined from her own time as a soldier. It was just...that Conrad wasn't himself unless he was smiling or laughing.

And she liked him best when he was himself. It was like having herself a little rainbow or sun meandering around behind her. His happiness balanced out her darkness.

So, to say that he was thrown off his guard a bit by having flowers thrown at him was an understatement. Thankfully, he hadn't gotten angry with her or been annoyed with her random attack.

And at first, he didn't react to her efforts to coax him back to normal at all. But eventually he had relented and grabbed a few blooms from the ground and threw them back at her while proclaiming that throwing flowers at him was an act of war.

So, they had both had a flower war. And while neither side really won, she could tell by the crinkles at the corners of his eyes- even without his usual smile- that he was more at ease for the moment.

She just wished that he would stay that way.

But by the time they had left the garden to go back inside, he had shut down again. Or at least it seemed that way to her.

And because of that she had been left to come up with something of a plan to help him relax a bit all on her own. The first of it was to continue avoiding Stuffel for as long as she could. If only to avoid being alone with the man for any reason.

This meant secluding herself in her room once they were back inside and not leaving it for any reason short of a fire or possible life-threatening situation.

And honestly, she could work with that.