"Why're you wearing that hood?"
True to her words, Henry was indeed wearing a hood to cover his face, serving to hide his identity.
"Nothing. Just feel like wearing it, I just bought it and I feel bad not to use it." Henry shrugged his shoulders and lied with a straight face.
Obviously, the real reason is because they're now heading to Corona Kingdom and if a guard managed to recognize him and report to the King, Rapunzel's father would immediately figure things out and immediately assume that his companion, Rapunzel is his missing daughter.
Until Henry is a hundred percent sure that all of her attachments to Mother Gothel are gone, he wouldn't reveal her true identity yet.
Meanwhile, Rapunzel slightly pouted but didn't complain further. She wanted to say that the hood is masking Henry's charm but she was too shy to admit it.
After a moment of silence between them aside from Boy's hooves marching on the ground. Rapunzel finally spoke, "So, can you do something else aside from making flames?"
Henry chuckled, "Would you believe me if I told you that I can make a giant made of fire that looks like a god that descended from heaven?"
Facing Henry's confident expression, Rapunzel stared at him with pure disbelief.
"You're lying." She pointed at him.
"Maybe, though I can't show it to you now. I don't want to attract too much attention on us. But maybe if someday the time comes when I'll need to use it, you'll be one of the first ones to witness it."
Henry then changed the topic, "So how about you? Aside from healing wounds, what else can your magical hair do?" Honestly, Henry was curious whether he should tell her that she's not only capable of healing wounds and reversing someone's age but also bringing them back to life.
Rapunzel appeared to be deep in thought, "Since mother always asks me to use my powers on her even though she's not wounded, I think I can also maintain her youthfulness. I mean, I've never seen her appearance change despite living with her for years."
"Maintain youthfulness, huh?" Henry murmured to himself, wondering whether there would be an opportunity where he would also be able to maintain his own and freeze his ageing.
And so, the rest of their journey was spent in small chats from time to time while mostly, Rapunzel would hum with her beautiful voice.
———
"Is this Corona Kingdom?" Rapunzel gasped in surprise while staring at the long bridge encompassing an entire river, as several people were crossing in either on their horses, carriages, or simply on foot.
Some eyes hovered over them as they also tried to cross, taking interest in Rapunzel's enormous bundle of golden hair sitting on her lap.
While some were curious about them, the others minded their own business.
Thankfully, they managed to pass through the gates just fine. Normally, there would be some knight guards who would stop everyone to check them, but today is a very special day, and countless people are entering the Kingdom, making it an enormous task for the knights and a hassle for most visitors. So they tend to just let everyone in and instead, increase the knight patrols inside to stop and check people with unusual behaviors.
As soon as they got inside, Henry jumped off the saddle and assisted Rapunzel in doing the same. Though she was inexperienced, she accidentally jumped onto his arms instead, with Henry having to encircle his arms around her waist to better support her.
"Whoops, sorry." She apologized with a slight blush on her cheeks, letting go of Henry and landing on the ground while patting her dress off.
On the other hand, Henry prayed in his heart that by the time Elsa hears about what he's been doing with Ariel and now Rapunzel, she wouldn't turn him into a popsicle.
'I promise I'll make it up to you the next time we meet again, Elsa.' He silently said in his heart.
———
As soon as Henry escorted Boy to the local stables and paying the most expensive service fee which consisted of bathing Boy, cleaning his hooves, polishing his armor, and lastly trimming his mane, fur, and tail.
The stable owner was too eager to start servicing Boy as soon as he saw the glint of gold coins that Henry handed him.
As for the horse, Boy simply took everything with a smug interest, acting as if he deserved only the best treatment available. In which Henry honestly couldn't fault him, the guy probably lived most of his life in a poor condition especially after his previous Master ditched him for a better horse.
Though Boy seemed unaware of it and still insisted that his previous owner loved him and would someday, come back for him.
Now that their ride is being well taken care of, it's time to enjoy the rest of the day until the night.
Just like what happened in the film, Rapunzel's charming smile and appearance instantly hooked everyone around her. She didn't need to do much before the local people of Corona Kingdom started to see her as part of their community.
She even encountered the same three children who braided her 70 feet long golden hair into something that barely reached the ground.
The cultural dancing also ensued and of course, Rapunzel dragged Henry into it. Everything feels like the same as with Ariel all over again.
Are Disney Princesses really that easy to trust or are the people of Corona Kingdom just a gullible bunch?
Though from the looks of it, it leans more on the former.
It was a few hours before the dancing finally ended, leaving everyone including Rapunzel breathless and exhausted. As for Henry, the Sunlight's Nourishment blessing served him with nigh-limitless stamina, if he wanted to, he could've danced every single one in the Kingdom for the entire day and not break a sweat.
"Huff! Huff! That was…Huff! Fun!" Rapunzel's face was full of smiles as she rested near a fountain.
Meanwhile, Henry simply gave her a smile.
"Hm?" Rapunzel's attention then went towards a certain crowd surrounding several children making art on the ground.
Some were paintings of flowers while others were simply doodles. The exhaustion disappeared from her face as she excitedly pointed at them while looking at Henry, "Henry! Henry! I want to do that!"
He traced where she was pointing at and when he saw the ground being turned into art, his lips curved into a smile, "Alright, I'll buy you some colored pastels. Just wait here."
Sticking to his words, she indeed waited for him as he bought the pastels from the nearest stand. He bought almost more than five different color pastels.
When he came back, she didn't even bother to thank him as her bubbling excitement made her snatch it away from his hands and join the children in making Land Arts.
Henry could only sigh in defeat before finding a bench to sit on while watching Rapunzel draw her own artwork on the ground.
Almost an hour had passed before everyone was finished. All except one—Rapunzel. Out of every single artwork on the ground, hers covers the largest.
Made up mostly of purple as a background, the middle one shows the familiar symbol of the blazing sun.
A crowd has formed around her, pointing their fingers at her in amazement.
"Look, mama! That looks so pretty!"
"Hah~ youth nowadays, they're very talented."
"Her hair looks stunning!"
When she was finally finished, the people clapped their hands in unison, applauding her sheer artistic talent.
"Magnificent! Such magnificent artwork! The royal family should hire her as their personal painter!"
Rapunzel wanted to wipe off the sweat from her forehead but when she realized that her hand up to her forearm was smudged with the pastel.
"Here let me wipe them off for you." Only for Henry to save the day, holding a handkerchief and wiping off her sweat himself.
Rapunzel's cheeks turned beet red but she stayed still to let him do his thing. There were some whistles from the crowd around them, prompting Henry to finish what he came to do.
'Sigh, you can't be too kind without facing an issue in this world.' Henry mentally sighed.
Rapunzel dragged her exhausted feet to the same bench near the fountain from earlier. This time, Henry bought an ice-cold drink for her.
As she drank, her eyes lingered towards the stands selling what appeared to be cube-shaped items. She noticed that aside from her, almost everyone had their own.
"Henry, what are those?" She tugged on his shirt and asked while pointing at the stands.
Instead of answering, he gave her a mysterious smile. Gesturing for her to wait for him as he went ahead and bought one for them.
When he got back, curiosity was all over her eyes as she scanned the cube-shaped item in Henry's hand.
"Come with me. It's already dusk." Henry offered his hand for her to take, which she did without a moment of hesitation.
At this point, she has already deemed Henry as someone different from the stories of bad men from her mother. Not only did he promise to help her realize her dream, but he's also a gentleman to her.
Henry then brought her to the seaport where several people were on small boats, holding the same cube-shaped object.
Henry paid for one of the boats and together with Rapunzel, he rowed the boat further from the land.
At first, Rapunzel was confused hence she asked, "Henry, what are we doing here?"
"Didn't you say that your dream was to see the lanterns?" With that reply, Henry snapped his finger, lighting up his finger in deep blue flame.
Realization dawned on Rapunzel as she stared at Henry with a gaping mouth.
He neared his finger underneath the lantern, instantly bringing the previously lifeless lantern to life.
At the same time, several more lanterns were lit behind them, some were already floating while the rest were still held like theirs. Unlike the others, their lantern was entirely different, being blue in color instead of orange—which made their lantern stand out from the rest.
Henry looked into her eyes and offered the lantern to her, "Care to do the honors, Princess?"
Hearing his words, Rapunzel barely even registered what he just referred to her as. Instead, she focused on the fact that her dream was about to be realized sooner than she expected.
Her trembling hands grabbed the corner end of the lantern, it was weightless, almost as if she was holding air. She watched what the others did to their lanterns and imitated their actions.
Soon enough, her lantern flew in the air, being entirely different from the others, which attracted everyone's eyes to it.
"Mine looks beautiful…" Rapunzel murmured to herself, still in disbelief that she's not only seeing her life-long dream lanterns up close, but she even contributed one herself—especially one that stands out.
"That's right." Henry nodded his head in agreement. Though he wasn't looking at the lantern, instead he was staring at Rapunzel's side profile.
He was wondering whether he should just straight up tell her the truth about Mother Gothel. That she was kidnapped and that her real parenrs are the King and Queen of Corona Kingdom.
'But does she even trust me now more than she trusts Mother Gothel? Do I have to pretend to get stabbed and die just to make her believe that she's not the person who she thinks she is?' Henry gulped his saliva hard, faced with a dilemma that should've been answered long ago.
"Rapunzel…" He called out to her slowly.
She turned her attention from the lantern to his eyes, "Hm? What is it?"
Looking straight into her eyes, Henry finally dropped the question, "Do you…still want to go back to the tower? Locking yourself up away from the beautiful outside world forever?"
Before she could answer, Henry extended his hand to her, "Or do you want to know the truth that will change your life forever but for the better?"