"Finally got it…" Flynn couldn't help but grin, staring at the notebook in his hand. It took him a while to observe and create a replica of the Princess's diary notebook before swapping it with the real one.
That should be enough to buy time before the Princess could notice that her diary was missing. Hopefully, before she does, Prince Henry will find whatever he needs from the diary.
As for how it would buy time, that actually depends on Princess Samantha herself, according to Prince Henry, she only writes in her diary once per week. And based on his keen eye and an open window, she just recently wrote in her diary earlier, so that should give him an entire week before she writes again.
Basically, the entire plan is this—if the diary proved to hold the information Henry was looking for, he wouldn't hesitate to expose himself as having stolen the notebook just to provide it as evidence against his brothers and sister. But if, just if, the diary didn't have it written, Flynn would be able to swap it back without the Prince having to deal with any sort of trouble.
"Now all that's left is Prince Henry himself. He told me to wait for him until tomorrow. For now, I need to hide this."
———
A celebration in Corona Kingdom was on the verge of an explosion. The moment everyone woke up and was about to execute their everyday routines, they were surprised to hear the news that the Kingdom's long-lost princess was finally back, reuniting with her parents the royal King and Queen.
The preparation consisted of spreading the news, mass purchasing of meals, refreshments, and celebratory items from the local merchants. The purpose of this was simple, a massive feast would occur tomorrow, right at the Kingdom's plaza.
Everything would be free—the food, the drinks, and everything. King Frederic even insisted on celebrating amongst the people instead of overlooking from the castle's balcony as they usually do every time the Kingdom launches the lanterns every night of Rapunzel's birth.
Though it's different this time. There's no need to be distant and cold to their own people anymore. It's time to bring back the compassionate and down-to-earth rulers to the Corona citizens.
Henry was of course dragged by them, personally inviting him to stay at the castle and wait until tomorrow to celebrate the party.
Thankfully, his slick tongue enabled him to slip away in exchange for something. He would come back and celebrate with them but he must bring King Maximus and Queen Olivia of Lioncrest Kingdom to join the celebration.
Henry tentatively agreed, not like he wanted to disagree in the first place. He just needed time to finalize a few things back in the Kingdom, such as taking his brother out of the competition, preferably out of the Kingdom where somewhere and someday, he might get into an accident.
"You're leaving already?" Rapunzel grabbed his left sleeve, putting him into a halt.
Henry sighed and turned around, planting his hand above her head and patting her, "Don't worry, I'll be back before the party starts, okay? I'll bring you presents."
Rapunzel was unfazed by the word present. She used to receive many presents from Gothel whenever she went out. Perhaps the greatest gift she had been given today was that she was finally back home to her real parents.
"Okay." But still, she remained kind and grateful. There's no point in refusing and besides, Rapunzel also wanted to gift something to Henry, it's just that she hasn't thought about it yet.
Just as Henry was prepared to leave, he seemed to remember something and abruptly took something out of Boy's saddle bag.
Rapunzel's breath hitched the moment she saw the twinkling tiara on Henry's hand, "I assume this one is yours. I encountered a thief holding this two days ago." He handed it to her.
With shaky hands, Rapunzel took hold of it, tracing its intricate carvings with her fingers before eventually settling it above her head.
The tiara rested snuggly on her hair, as if it had been years for her to wear it.
Without so much an utter of a word, Henry casted a Water Mirror spell, letting Rapunzel's own reflection stare back at her.
For a brief moment, Rapunzel was too stunned to speak. It took her a few breaths before commenting, "I look so pretty." The tone of her voice was not the one that is usually filled with arrogance and conceit when describing oneself as such.
It was pure, honest, and unfiltered. Something that can be expected for someone like her.
"Indeed you are. When I come back tomorrow, I'd like to see you wearing that tiara. Is that okay?"
"Of course! I'll wear this tomorrow!" Rapunzel beamed in happiness. She can't wait until tomorrow.
With the promise set, Rapunzel finally lets him go
———
Before he left, Henry was greeted with several supplies and gifts of gratitude from the people of the Corona Kingdom. They seemed to have recognized him or perhaps word had spread that he was the one who brought their lost princess back.
"Look Boy, we're filled to the brim with food…" Henry wanted to encourage the horse, however Boy simply gave him a monotone-filled look, "…and flowers."
As a kingdom known to be a symbol of sunshine and flowers, most of their gifts were just arts and flowers, especially for the children.
"Come on now, it's not that bad, Boy. It doesn't…diminish your manliness one bit."
"Why do you sound unsure?" The horse squinted his eyes at him with all the suspicion in the world gathered around its eyes.
"Man, the question is. Why do you sound like you don't trust me? Your partner." Henry pressed, accusing the horse with a pointed finger.
"What!?"
Their banter continued as they rode out of the kingdom, the folks of the Kingdom waving their handkerchiefs as their farewell to them.
Among them were Rapunzel and her parents.
"Goodbye, Prince Henry!"
"See you, Prince!"
"Come back again!"
They kept on nonstop until Henry's back had slowly faded away. It was Rapunzel who was the last one to stop.
———
The ride from Corona Kingdom back to Lioncrest was surprisingly smooth. No bandits, no snares on the road, or even some peddlers looking to scam people on their way back home.
It was peaceful and serene, it was as if the heavens had decided to grant him a momentary peace of mind after helping one of its favourite children.
"Hah~ I could live like this forever." He took a deep breath and then sighed just as deeply.
As they passed through the golden gates of Lioncrest Kingdom, greeting a few guards and citizens who were ecstatic to see their idol in person, Henry made his way to the castle, dropping Boy off at the stablemaster for care.
The moment he set foot into the castle grounds, he instantly felt the dirty looks being given to him. When he scanned around, he mentally scoffed after seeing one of his father's concubines, specifically Timothy's mother giving him a glare with crossed arms under her large bosom.
It seemed unfortunately that the only good thing that God had given her was the undeniably large chest, making the rest of the other concubines and even his own mother lacking in terms of it.
'Victoria Goldenshield. Out of all your much better sisters, I think my father only chose you because he was infatuated with big breasts during his teenage years.' He murmured to himself, feeling glad that he's not the kind of guy who chooses women based on their body figures.
Look at Elsa and Ariel. They may not be that great in terms of their figures but their lethal face cards and personality could make even the strongest man bend his knee for their hand.
'And here I am, lucky enough to have them fight for my affection. I'm such a disappointment to those who see me as a pure and good Samaritan.' Mentally sighing, he ignored the royal whore and walked past through the hallways.
He encountered more knights along the way until Flynn came running towards him with a proud smirk on his face.
"I assume you got it?" Without saying a word, Flynn nodded his head and gestured for the prince to follow him.
Once they got to the guest room where Flynn had been staying for the past few days, the former thief removed a certain painting on the wall, where a notebook was taped at the back of the said painting.
"Good spot." Henry praised.
Even though it's a bit unusual, something about making a Crown Prince praising his skills gave rise to Flynn's chest. No doubt this would go down among his lists of bragging rights, or perhaps include it in his dad lore that he would one day recount to his future children.
Flynn gave the diary to Henry before bragging about his meticulous plan of swapping a replica that he had worked on for hours to ensure no suspicion would be placed on Henry just in case the diary didn't contain what he needed.
"I appreciate the caution but I'm a hundred percent sure this notebook has what I need." Right as he said that, Henry flipped the diary open, skimming through the pages until he came across a certain page.
As the person who once taught Samantha how to write her own diary when she was still a child, he made her keep in mind to write the date before starting to write.
"A few days before my voyage. Let's see here…"
{Dear Diary, today I just heard my eldest brother is going somewhere far away. I'm not sure why nor do I care. But it seems to me that the rest of my brothers don't.
Although I'm a bit reluctant, I decided to join in on their plan. Who knows, maybe I'll learn something out of it. I may be the royal princess with the least amount of support and interest for the throne but I've always wanted to make my mother proud. It's what she wanted and I'll try to win the seat while doing the least amount of effort possible.
So they hired someone. An assassin I think. Their plan consists of planting the said assassin on Henry's ship. But here comes the problem, it was my father, the King himself who was arranging everything from sailors down to the supplies. So it would be a bit of a problem for them to plant the assassin.
I'm not sure how they managed to convince her, but the royal knight Isabella the Female Ogre was able to recommend the assassin as an experienced sailor who is a friend of hers, which made the King take Isabella's status as a royal knight for granted and list the assassin as part of the crew without looking too deeply into his background.
Did my brothers pay her? Or was it something else? They didn't want to tell me so I guess I'll have to leave it at that.}
At this point, Henry can no longer hold his smile back. Turns out there is more to the diary than he thought. He had heard of Isabella the Female Ogre of course. She's one of the Kingdom's finest knights, often overpowering even the experienced knights with her herculean strength.
Not to mention, he also heard she had a scuffle with Flynn when he first got here.
"Flynn…Good job on stealing this diary." Having expressed his gratitude, before Flynn could accept it, Henry gave an offer.
"Now that you've proven your skills to steal an object. How well do you think you'll fare stealing the truth out of someone's mouth?" Henry leaned on his desk and crossed his arms, looking straight into Flynn's eyes without a blink.
At first, Flynn was surprised but when his words sank in, the man fell into a deep contemplation.
Just when Henry thought he would refuse, Flynn surprisingly nodded his head, "Just tell me where the nearest tavern is and I'll steal it before you could get a wink of sleep."
"Good. I'll need it before noon."