Varian had a small smile on his face as he was reading his letter, someone had remembered his birthday! However, it disappeared when he remembered he was in a jail cell and it was because of them. Varian hurriedly replaced it into its envelope and shoved it under his pillow, he huffed at Rudiger. "Don't look at me like that! You know if she cared she would've found a way to set me free instead of guilting me and trying to make me think I'm wrong! Corona abandoned us!" he exclaimed to the frightened raccoon.

Rudiger whimpered and brushed himself against his master. "Come on, buddy. Let's think. I'm sure there's a way to get dad out of the rocks other than using Rapunzel. Maybe that mysterious acid we found?" Varian continued to speculate and talk to the raccoon until the sun went down and his tasteless supper was delivered.

He gave half of it to Rudiger and ate the rest wordlessly. He lay down on his cot and sighed. Rudiger lay down beside him after licking his paws. He closed his eyes and fell into his usual fitful slumber.

Meanwhile in the castle of Corona... "I really shouldn't have peaked at that letter...but it was quite worth it," Arianna confessed.

"What are you going on about, dear?" King Frederic asked.

"Well, Rapunzel has a plan on how to bring Varian back to the right path..." the Queen trailed off.

"What?! Why would you two even bother about him? He kidnapped you and endangered all of Corona!" he roared.

"Frederic! He's Quirin's son!" Arianna scolded.

"Fine. How do you plan on fixing him then?" her husband grumbled.

She explained, "Since you say that giving a child therapy while he's in jail wouldn't be possible, Rapunzel thought of another way. When they were all still friends, Rapunzel and Eugene noticed that Varian looked up to Cassandra, you know, the Captain's daughter? I believe Rapunzel's exact words were, I guess he always thought of her as a big sister-"

The King interrupted, "Where exactly is this going?"

"Yes, yes, I'll get there. So Rapunzel thought he must be feeling alone right now and even abandoned. It would be much easier for him to get rid of his hatred for Corona if he knew that somebody here cared about him. Why not have Cassandra send him letters? It would cheer him up or at least take his mind off how to destroy us for a while," his wife continued.

"Hmmm, I'll allow it, since it won't put either of you in danger," Frederic decided.

She scoffed, "As if our daughter would care if you didn't. Even if you sent a royal decree forbidding her or Cassandra from doing so, she would throw it in their campfire and pretend she didn't receive it. She would do anything if she believed that it was for the good of Corona."

"And how exactly would this benefit anyone other than Varian?" he sceptically asked.

"For one thing, one less enemy. I also believe that this boy has potential to be someone great. His alchemy may be dangerous but it would prove useful. Maybe he can become a royal alchemist one day," she replied.

"Do we even have a royal alchemist?" the King of Corona asked, not knowing his own staff.

"I don't know, but we're the rulers, we can make it a thing if it isn't already," she answered nonchalantly.

"Fine, I don't promise anything, though," he warned.

"I for one think our daughter's plan will work. She's often right. She just got one thing wrong though," Arianna declared.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Varian doesn't think of Cassandra as a big sister, he thinks of her as far more than that. It's too bad that she thinks of him as a kid," Arianna revealed.

"Could they end up together?" Frederic wondered, shocking himself with the fact that he was actually curious about the whole thing.

"She'll come around. They're only four years apart. Look at Rapunzel and Eugene, their age gap is twice as those two's and it doesn't bother them. Trust me, the Queen knows all," she reasoned.

"Yes, well it's time to stop gossiping and time for us to sleep, dear," he said with a yawn.

A/N
Hi I know I haven't updated in a while, I'm sorry, but I made this chapter a bit longer!