"Must you really leave now without me, Prince Henry?" Facing Ser Liam whose face looks like a puppy that got kicked, Henry rubbed his forehead for the umpteenth time.
After preparing everything for the upcoming short journey, such as stocking some food supplies, waking a recently groomed Boy, and convincing Ariel, who wanted to join him, to stay.
The woman practically begged him on her knees, and if it wasn't for Henry telling her he needed her to stay to protect his little sister in his place, he might actually be forced to take her along.
And besides, when he first found her earlier this morning, she was playing with Aqua, the Scylla. So he also added Aqua to the list of whom she should take care of while he was gone.
Thankfully, Henry was smooth in the ways of the tongue and he knew his way around words, so she reluctantly stayed behind.
"I'll be fine this time, Ser Liam. And besides, I'll be taking a shortcut instead of the usual road. So there'll be no bandit encounters this time." Henry reassured the Grand Master Knight.
Though he omitted some details, such as the shortcut being steeper and known as a serpentine road, he'll manage just fine. There's no need to worry them about such tiny details.
He then turned his attention to the others. His father gave him a firm nod, enough to tell Henry everything the King wanted to tell him, while his mother seemed reluctant to see him leave again, especially since his birthday is just a few weeks away.
As for the rest, his brother Timothy insisted on being locked up inside his room—of course, Olivia made sure he would not be able to make any form of contact with other people outside his room.
As for Samantha, she was at the academy. Royalty or not, children of her age still needed to get their education. As for Lily, she was still asleep in her room. Better not wake her up lest she might delay his departure by throwing a tantrum about how he's leaving her again or something like that.
Aside from them, the three concubines were nowhere to be seen. Probably somewhere around the castle plotting against Henry. Not that Henry cares about them, he's grown tired of their consistent attempts against his life to the point that no matter what they throw at him, Henry will always find a way to survive.
By the time he comes back from this trip, not only will he finally settle things with them once and for all, but another Kingdom ally will join their Federation.
"Let's go, Boy." Henry snapped the reins on the horse and the two of them set off.
———
"Should we…cross through here? I've been seeing mother trudging this path every time she leaves…" Rapunzel stares at the wide but dark gorge covered in various vines in front of her.
On her shoulder, Pascal gave her a signal to go inside, his face was literally screaming for her not to hesitate and just go in.
Fortunately for the little chameleon, Rapunzel might not exactly be someone who can directly talk to animals but after years of being with Pascal and only having him as a companion aside from her mother, Rapunzel has grown to understand the little guy for all the various gestures and expressions he throws around.
"Hoo~ alright, just walk through this path and…I'll finally be able to see the outside world." At first, there was a smile on her face but as she continued, her expression started to change, "The outside world that is tainted by bad men. Bad men who wanted to hurt me. Killers, rapists, and thieves…"
By the end of her speech, her face had turned pale and that brief moment of hesitation made her step back.
Thankfully, the chameleon friend has long prepared himself for this scenario. So he slapped some sense into her but literally slapping her with his elongated tongue.
Pak!
"Ah! Ow! Pascal!" She blinked her eyes several times before registering the pain and glaring at the little animal on her shoulder.
Pascal simply returned it with a monotone look on his face. As if mocking her for already getting this far and yet still letting her mother's years of indoctrination get the best of her decision-making.
"…Right. Alright, I'm ready!" With a resolute look on her face, she held her breath and closed her arms before stretching both her arms forward, pushing the dangling vines away from her as she marched forward.
At first, both her hands up to her arms were slick in a wet substance due to the vines but the more she pushes forward, she starts to feel a strong wind smashing against her face.
Eventually, she felt something warm bathing her starting from her hand and then spreading to her whole body.
When she opened her eyes, she was shocked to see the canopy of trees in front of her, thick grasses on the ground reaching past her ankles, a bed of flowers resting to the far left side of her vision, and last but not least, there were signs of life around the place.
On the ground, there was a burnt patch of what seemed to be burst sticks and woods.
"Woah…" Her eyes gleamed in amazement. She crouched and touched the burnt wood, curious as to what it was, she mistakenly brought her finger to her lips and licked.
"Eugh!" Her face instantly turned sour as she spat and tried to clean her tongue with the sleeve of her dress.
Meanwhile, Pascal couldn't help but facepalm himself. He might start to regret helping her sneak out of her tower. But still, it's a fresh breath of air to see her like this, curious about things that she probably used to only read about in books.
So without further ado, Pascal took it upon himself to correct her. He nudged her hair and when he got her attention, he shook his head on her while pointing at the burnt sticks.
"Yeah, I know, Pascal. I shouldn't have done that." Rapunzel replied and nodded her head in understanding, not shying away from admitting her own mistake.
From this moment on, the two formed some sort of parent-child relationship. Whenever Rapunzel gets curious about things, she would first ask the chameleon for approval and if he shakes his head, she would throw it away without any hesitation.
But when he nods his head, Rapunzel would take her time to analyze them, play with them, and even give them a taste.
By the time an hour had passed, Rapunzel suddenly found herself getting lost. For some reason, she's now standing in front of a shabby-looking structure with a crude drawing of a yellow duck attached to a wooden plaque near the wooden building.
"What's this?" Rapunzel turned to Pascal for his opinion however, the little chameleon shook his head and shrugged her shoulders, indicating his lack of knowledge about the building.
"It looks like a house…should we go inside? But what if we disturb someone inside? Or what if they're the bad men that wanted to hurt me?" Once again, the long golden-haired girl starts to be ruled by her fear.
Even Pascal himself was silent. Truth be told, he himself had a fair share of experience with bad people but similarly, he also encountered some good ones who would sometimes offer him food or save him when a predator started chasing him.
But this time, he's not sure whether it's a good idea to enter someone else's establishment without exactly knowing who lives inside.
Pascal was about to nudge Rapunzel's hair again, to get her to turn back and find someplace else to explore and play. However before he could do so, the door to the building was pulled open and a scary-looking man wearing a huge helmet with two white horns that covered his entire face stepped out.
Both Rapunzel and the man found themselves staring at each other. Even with his face covered, one could tell that the man was flabbergasted to see Rapunzel standing just outside the door.
"Uhm…Hi?" Rapunzel greeted with a nervous smile.
On the other hand, Pascal was already prepared to throw hands with the man in case something happened. It seems like the first day of Rapunzel's taste of freedom wouldn't end well.
———
"Huff! Huff! What the hell is wrong with you today? Are you trying to kill me!?" Henry looked at the panting Boy with a guilt-ridden face.
"You just made me run non-stop for three hours! Hours! It wouldn't mean that much to me if it weren't for the fact that the road we just took was steep and filled with spikes and jagged corners! I almost tripped two times!"
Facing Boy's accusations, Henry remained shamelessly silent. Simply looking around the area, especially at the entrance of the gorge covered in vines.
"Are you even listening to me? I'm expressing my emotions here! I'm being vulnerable in front of yo—" Before Boy could finish his words, Henry stopped him with a hand gesture and a single sentence.
"When we get back, I'll hook you up with a good-looking mare, 2 baskets of carrots and apples, and lastly, we'll change your saddle to a master-crafted leather and good-plated horseshoe for all your hooves."
Facing such enticing offers, Boy suddenly found himself salivating, his previous anger was immediately doused, as he huffed, "…Fine. Make it 3 baskets of apples."
"Deal."
With that being said, Boy finally went silent and steady, constantly bowing down to eat some grass on the ground.
Meanwhile, Henry searched around for any signs of life. After seeing no one, it didn't take long for him to find the gorge entrance. However, as he entered and passed through, he noticed something unusual.
The window on the tower was open, the curtains spilling out. A few days ago, when he first got here, the window was closed, indicating that somebody was inside.
Henry frowned as flames immediately burst from his two soles, bringing him up in the air, only taking him two seconds before reaching the same height as the tower.
When Henry peeked inside, that's when he knew it was empty and Rapunzel was nowhere to be seen.
"Shit…" He cursed under his breath. He quickly flew out of the way and landed near the gorge's exit. He rushed outside where he was met by Boy still eating on the same patch of grass from earlier.
When he saw Henry and his expression, his face which was in the middle of munching froze.
"We're going, let's go." Henry urged him as he jumped onto his back.
Boy knew it would be better to do as told rather than ask questions. So as soon as Henry landed on his back, his four hind legs burst forward.
On the other hand, Henry's mind was coming up with various assumptions as to where Rapunzel could have gone.
Without Flynn, she should be alone by now or maybe she's with her chameleon friend.
'Let's see. In the film, the first place she got to was the tavern. Unfortunately, I'm not sure where that tavern is. It would take me long to find it…'
Just as Henry was contemplating whether he should just go and use Flame Burst to fly around the forest, they encountered three knights wearing the familiar insignia of the Corona Kingdom.
Not only that, what truly caught Henry's attention was the familiar horse. It was the iconic white horse from the movie.
"Halt!" Henry's attention was stolen by the knight's dominant callout, "What are you doing around this place? This is Corona Kingdom territory."
While Boy skidded to a halt, Henry raised his hand to stop them, "My name is Henry Charming. Crown Prince of Lioncrest Kingdom. I am here to find the nearest tavern. I don't want any questions asked about it, whoever can point the way can have this." While saying those words, he took out a pouch filled with gold coins.
The three knights' eyes immediately went towards the pouch. They all gulped and pointed their fingers in a certain direction in unison.
"There."