Even though he had something to keep himself distracted after Lena had dropped him off at the estate. Samuel was still feeling a touch frustrated about being kept out of the loop on what was going on even in situations such as this. The problem came back to the fact that he didn't understand why he couldn't learn about anything now since he had already made it plenty clear that he had no intentions of stepping away from the family and had all the intentions of going through with the engagement and getting married.

This feeling increased when he realized how quiet it felt in the house. Had almost everyone else been requested to attend this meeting aside from him? What about the younger children in the family, were they allowed to go as well? He sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he thought about this.

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The frustration wasn't going to do him any good, but there was no one that he could really talk about the matter with. Lena couldn't do anything about and Zane refused to shift the rule even after he had been told his intentions to go through with everything. He wouldn't risk talking with his family or Roger about it out of concern that it might put them in danger or something since he wasn't sure what was going on. Though, he did owe his parents a call which he probably had the time to do tonight since he wouldn't be with Lena that evening. For the time being, he was just going to change clothes and focus on making the cake. It would be a distraction at least.

Ryan was more than happy to help him get everything that he needed in order and support him while he worked on the cake. Tiramisu was one of the few things that Samuel didn't have much experience with since the ingredients tended to be a bit more pricy than what his mother wanted to spend on making sweets.

"You know if you keep on having such a sour face about whatever is going through your mind, you'll end up affecting your cake." He commented as he stood leaning against the counter while watching Samuel whip eggs in a bowl. Samuel glanced over at him while keeping his attention on the eggs in the bowl. He had to be careful if he didn't want to overmix them.

"I'm just feeling a little bothered tonight by the fact that even though I'm engaged to become part of this family that there are a lot of things that I am still not privy to even though I don't personally feel that it makes sense not to tell me in considering my relationship with Lena."

"So you're mopping because you think that you're the only one who doesn't really know what's going on around here?" Ryan surmised causing the other to nod his head as he stopped the mixer to check the eggs.

"You'd probably be surprised to know then that there is a lot that goes on that I'm not that much in the loop as well. Considering I'm just the hired cook around here, most of that stuff isn't relevant to me thus no one bothers to tell me." What the cook said caused him to turn around and look at him.

"Really? I had assumed that all the staff here were told what as going on since in some ways it would impact them even if they weren't directly involved in events."

"Nope." Ryan replied as he stepped away from the counter so that he could see what Samuel was doing and offer him some help.

"I'm just here to make sure that everyone is feed and I keep the variety of meals I can make in good order. Same with the rest of the cooks and many of the other servants here. The only exception to that is those who directly linked to the family though not related by blood and those who work as bodyguards or protection detail." He explained.

"Sometimes though if I can bribe the princess with something especially sweet she has let me in on a few of things that are going on, but it has to be done carefully otherwise her father wouldn't be thrilled to find out that unnecessary people are getting involved in things that they don't need."

"Do you think that this would be enough to bribe her?" Samuel jokingly asked as he continued to work on assembling the cake. Ryan laughed at his question.

"I doubt it. I don't think though that she'll be very open to let me in on anything any time soon either. I offended her the other day by limiting her caffeine in take for her own health." Samuel laughed when he heard this.

"Does she actually react in such childish ways to such things?" he asked. Ryan thought about it for a second before he replied.

"I'm not sure that I would say her response to certain events is childish, but rather she has learned the things to say and do in order to get her what she wants." He clarified.

"Sometimes yes, she will threaten with certain things if she thinks it's the right way to correct a response that she doesn't like. Though I haven't known her to ever go through with any of the threats she has put forward unless it's for a really serious infraction. Otherwise she just says it to get people to listen to her." He continued to speak as he helped Samuel line up the lady finger cookies in as neat a fashion as possible with in the pan.

"Our relationship is a bit different too though because I've known her since she was younger and back when she wanted to spend a lot more time in the kitchen. I guess you could say that even though I work here, it's more like we're friends as well."

"Are you close with the rest of the family as well?" Samuel then asked to which Ryan shook his head.

"Not really. I get along with Zane, but that is simply because he was the one who hired me when I was younger because he thought I would be a good fit. I get along well with the kids, but mostly because I'm known as the person who cooks good things and generally won't say no to a request if it's acceptable. The rest of the family I don't know that well." He answered.

"What about Lena's mother? I'm not sure that it is something that I should be asking about, but I saw a picture in her officer that looked like it had been taken when she and her brother were much younger and there was a woman standing behind them, I was wondering it was her mother?" Ryan made a hmm noise as he thought about this while continue to put things in order for the cake. He tasted the coffee to make sure that it would be rich enough for the cake.

"I honestly don't know anything about her mother or who that might be in the picture. Those are things I don't butt into because when I came here it was just Zane, Lena, and Leo. Whatever happened with her mother is something that you would have to ask her about or perhaps Zane." Ryan recommended. He didn't mind being noisy about current events that were going, but when it came to matters of the past, he preferred to let them rest as he didn't want to dig up anything that wasn't any of his business knowing or that could potential be a memory that one didn't want to relive through.

"While we're here though, I think what we should really be talking about is your and the princess's engagement party. Since it'll be up to me and my team to provide the food which I imagine will be a lot, I would kind of like a heads up if you have gotten any ideas about what you might like or think would fit with any decided upon themes?" Ryan inquired, watching as Samuel poured the coffee over the cookies. He did partly wonder if Lena would be more forgiving towards him if he added extra coffee to the cake.

"We haven't really decided upon a theme." He answered honestly once he was done pouring the coffee.

"All we have decided on is that Lena's dress will be rose gold and I will be wearing a emerald suit. Other than that, neither one of us really have any idea about what we want."

"That's a start at least. Rose gold and emerald is a combination that I can work with. I might have to order a few things in terms of glassware, silverware, decorations and such. I can figure out the best kinds of food that would go with that color theme, of course you and the princess will have final say though I don't think she'll care about as long as there are sweets." Ryan had turned around to get the small notebook he kept in one of the kitchen draws for moments like these when he had things he wanted to write down right away before he forget them. Rose gold and Emerald wouldn't be a bad theme to work with.