"Wooah!" As expected, Ariel's eyes instantly turned into glitter the moment she laid her eyes upon the huge castle in front of them.
On the other hand, Henry noticed that, unlike the royal castle in Lioncrest, the one in front of him was a bit smaller and literally littered with vines, flowers, and other greenery, making it look as if the castle were abandoned.
Henry guessed that the kidnapping of Rapunzel was still taking a toll on their minds, making them unable to focus on mundane matters like this.
Once they were let in through the front gates, Henry's eyes swept over the two figures standing in front of the wooden doors. One was a tall man with a crown atop his head, an average build, and a thick beard with a few white spots.
Beside the man was someone whom Henry instantly saw as someone familiar, 'She must be Rapunzel's mother. She looks exactly like her, minus the extremely long golden hair. I wonder what their reaction must've been when she gave birth to a golden-haired baby despite none of them possessing golden hair.'
Thankfully, Henry asked Ariel to take out the tiara that she was wearing earlier. It would put a shock on the two and Henry doesn't plan to bring it back yet.
"It's finally nice to meet you this time, Crown Prince Henry." King Frederick stepped forward, greeting him with a proper amount of respect.
His vague words sow confusion in Henry, "I'm sorry but…have we met before?" If he did, he might or might not have instantly known that he was in a Disney-based universe instead of discovering it by stumbling upon Arendelle through an early-stage continental map.
King Frederick smiled and instead of answering his question, he gestured for the doors behind him, "How about we talk a bit inside?"
Henry saw no reason to refuse and agreed. Following behind him was Ariel, Ser Liam, Dolittle, and his soon-to-be wife. The rest of the retinue was left behind. Surprisingly, the Kingdom of Corona didn't seem to be fazed by Polynesia and the animal gang's appearance, so they were safely booked into the largest inn on a tavern.
"Let's talk in my study." King Frederick followed up, promptly gesturing to Henry with his eyes.
Understanding this, he gave a nod of his head and Queen Arianna led the rest of his companions away, probably to the garden or somewhere else. Meanwhile, Henry continued to follow King Frederick and they arrived in his study.
If he were to describe it, the room would be extremely messy. Papers strewn all over the place, crumpled papers filling up a corner, and books were stacked against one another, some were open while the rest were closed.
"Sorry for the mess." King Frederick embarrassingly swept the table off the mess, putting them on the back of his table.
Once he's done, he gestured for the chair in front of him, "Come, take a seat."
When he sat, Henry asked, "Can I ask now what this is all about?"
King Frederick grabbed a fancy bottle of whiskey from his cabinet and poured two glasses before pushing the other one towards Henry, "I'm not sure if your father informed you of me but he and I go way way back. Before you were born…"
Henry glanced at the glass of whiskey. During this time and age, there are no age restrictions when it comes to consuming alcohol and his 18th birthday would occur a few weeks from now. That didn't stop him from grabbing the glass and chugging it in one go.
As soon as the glass was raised over his mouth, Henry's stiff shoulders relaxed and there was a mix of pleasure and pain on his face. The moment the liquid crawled down his throat, he felt a slight burning sensation followed by the heat on his chest.
"Aahh~ I didn't know my father had a friend." Henry grinned and joked soon after.
"Hah." King Frederick snorted in delight as he took the turn to drink, "…It was years ago, during the Great War." His face turned nostalgic.
"If it wasn't for Max, I wouldn't be sitting behind this table, nor would I be talking to you right now. He took an arrow to the chest for me."
As Henry listened to the man blubber about his days with his father, he thought to himself, 'What an unexpected dad lore. Didn't know father was hiding this from me. I do remember he once told me that he participated in the Great War to gather valor and reputation. Speaking of valor, if another great war occurs, do I have to participate too to get fame and support?'
After almost an hour of recounting the tales of his past with Maximus, King Frederick's last words suddenly took Henry by surprise, "…If my daughter weren't kidnapped years ago, perhaps your father and I could've arranged the marriage between you two by now."
Henry blinked several times at the words that were said at first before cleaning his ear with his pinky and asked, "I'm sorry what's that?"
"Hmm? I'm guessing your father didn't tell you. The day he saved me was the same day I swore in my name that I'll marry my first child to his first, which is you. You can call it a way to kill two birds with one stone. I pay him back for saving my life while tying our two Kingdoms deeply at the same time. Is there a problem?" Seeing the look of shock on Henry's face, King Frederick found his reaction a bit weird.
Sure it's shocking to find out that you're already arranged to marry someone but he wouldn't see it that shocking.
Look at his wife Arianna, the previous King has a strained relationship with the Duke and in order to secure the Duke's entire support, he married his own son off to the Duke's daughter, Arianna. The latter was simply used as a resource to forge political support between the two parties.
It was grueling and their relationship used to be stiff at first especially Arianna's case who believes in true love and despises her arranged marriage with him but as time goes on, they slowly got to know each other until love eventually bloomed.
'Ah, those were the days alright.'
While King Frederick was reminiscing about his youthful life, Henry was deeply contemplating. He didn't expect that he was already married off to someone. This just made it hard for him to decide.
If ever he saves Rapunzel and reunites her with her family, she would be forced to marry him, a stranger that she hasn't met in her entire life.
Not to mention, he already promised his love for Elsa. It would be an insult to her to be arranged to marry someone else long before they met.
'But it doesn't sit well with me to leave her at that place. Without ever knowing what freedom tastes like and who her real parents are.' He mentally clicked his tongue.
'Fuck it. Let it be the problem of Future Me. As of now, I'll focus on saving her.' Henry raised his head and briefly glanced at the King in front of him, 'If I tell him about her now, he would definitely send people out and may or may not force Rapunzel to come back home while detaining Mother Gothel.'
'It would be a good outcome of course but not a good ending for Rapunzel. As of now, she's still deeply tied to Mother Gothel, both in mind and heart. If she's taken away right in front of her or the situation comes to a point where she'll grow to hate her real parents, it might be irreversible.'
He stared at King Frederick for a good few seconds before sighing in defeat. He hates lying but it's the only way to have things go through without a hitch.
"If you don't mind me asking, King Frederick." Once he noticed that he got his attention, Henry continued, "Do you have a Court Magician in your Kingdom?"
The man raised a brow and shook his head, "Our Kingdom is not as rich as a Great Kingdom, Henry. We cannot afford a Court Magician and even if we do, they're hard to find, much harder if they can be trusted."
Henry nodded his head in understanding. He expected as much. If the Corona Kingdom have their own Court Magician, their daughter wouldn't have taken that long to be found after getting kidnapped.
"Have you ever thought of hiring one to find your daughter?" Henry's words caught the man by surprise.
"…I'm not sure where you're getting at by asking these questions but I'll answer you because I trust you. Yes, we have indeed thought about that, coins wouldn't be an issue. But we encountered a problem. Of all the magicians we hired, not a single one of them was able to find a clue about my daughter. They said they needed her hair to locate her but as soon as I handed them a single strip of her golden hair, they lost consciousness."
Rubbing his head in exhaustion, he continued, "When they woke up, they didn't even bother to take the payment and simply ran away without looking back. This became a similar case to the rest of the magicians we hired, all except one. Master Elias, your father lent him to us to help."
"When he received a strand of her hair, we expected him to pass out. But he didn't. He simply told us soon after that Rapunzel's case is unique or rather, her hair is. And I think we have a clue of what he meant by that. When we told him, that's the point where he got the end of the stick."
'Of course, the flower that was used. I'm surprised Master doesn't actually know about it. Is it really that rare or is there only one of its kind and it's already been used?'
Though from the looks of it, the answer should be the latter. After all, if it's the former, then why else would Mother Gothel go through so much trouble in earning the ire of an entire Kingdom just to kidnap an infant and even go as far as taking care of her needs?
She wouldn't do all those things if there were other similar flowers in someplace else.
After a brief moment of contemplation and reassuring himself that what he's about to do is for the greater good, he spoke, "…I hope this won't come out to you as a shock but I think your daughter is alive and well."
Instead of surprise, the man simply gave him a look of curiosity, "And why pray tell, do you think she's alive?"
"I'm not sure if the news has already reached you but I'm a student of Master Elias," Before the shock could settle on King Frederick's face, he continued, "I'm also the sole student of Master Pabbie, an ancient rock troll that is as old as the very earth you're stepping on."
With a deep breath, Henry repeated, "And I think I may have a clue on how to rescue your daughter."
"…" Watching the man go silent, Henry remained still, silently observing the man's expression. King Frederick's face kept shifting in various visible emotions.
Surprise, disbelief, doubt, and finally relief.
The old King parted his lips and asked, "Why should I trust you?"
'Alright. It's time for the lie.' Henry took a deep breath and hoped that whatever he was about to say would stay within this room.
"Do you know how strict Master Elias is when it comes to choosing his students? Out of his hundreds of years of living, I'm his seventh student. Not to mention, an ancient rock troll also took me in as his first student. Their decision came not because of my talent. But because of what I can do…"
"I have foresight. An extremely rare ability that lets me foresee whatever is about to happen in the future, a future that is always intertwined with mine. It happens during my sleep and it only pops up randomly, so it's something I cannot control."
"And in one of those visions, I saw a golden-haired girl, her hair is extremely long, almost encompassing the entire length of your Kingdom's bridge. She was held captive inside some sort of tower."
Seeing the look of confusion and eagerness in King Frederick's face, Henry continued, "At first, I thought nothing of it but when I saw your wife who looks the exact same as the golden-haired girl that I foresaw, heard the story of your missing daughter, and finally, when I saw the portrait of you, your wife, and an infant with a golden hair in the hallways earlier, I knew what I saw that night wasn't a coincidence."
At this point, there's no longer confusion on Frederick's face. Instead, his expression was a mix of happiness, relief, and desperation. Three different emotions and a distinct negative one were fused into the King's face that it's almost appalling.
"In my name as the Crown Prince of Lioncrest, I can help you get your daughter back. What I just need for you to do is to put your trust in me please." When Henry finished, his lips were already dry and his throat was begging for water.
Now all that's left is King Frederick's decision. If Henry wants to rescue Rapunzel without causing deep repercussions to her mental health, he needs to do it alone, especially without the involvement of her real parents, whose emotions might put everything at risk just for the sake of getting their daughter back.
It may hurt them to say it but Henry doesn't trust them to handle the delicate situation better than him.
Finally, after almost a minute of contemplation, whereas the King went through several more emotions and thoughts, the King of Corona Kingdom nodded his head, "Alright, I trust you, Henry. But not because you're Max's son or the Crown Prince. But because I can see it in your eyes that you're genuine."
The man gave his eyes a deep stare, "You're a good kid, Henry. A rare thing to see in people with your kind of status."
And then to his shock, the King stood up and bowed his head deeply, his bent upper body reaching past his waist line and his forehead almost hitting the table, "Please save my daughter. Do everything you can to safely bring her back to us."
"I beg you not as a King but as a father."