Rapunzel, DON’T Let Down Your Hair!

That was surely a very old story. Unable to believe that something like this could be here now, Erin touched it and became certain.

This belonged to a person. Human hair, and hair belonging to someone with extremely, extremely beautiful hair at that.

“Rapunzel, pull me up!”

Erin wrapped the hair around her arm and shouted. There didn’t seem to be any response, so she gave it a slight tug, but there was no answer from above. She tried several more times after that, but still got nothing. The tower seemed too tall for Rapunzel to hear her. Or perhaps those suspicious storm clouds really were getting in the way.

If so, there was no helping it. She would just have to climb up through the clouds herself. Erin grabbed the end of the hair, wrapped and tied it around her waist, then began climbing the wall.

As she climbed one step at a time, sweating profusely, she quickly grew short of breath. Whenever she paused to catch her breath and happened to glance down, the dizzying height sent a chill down her spine. If she fell from here, a broken right leg would be the least of her worries.

One wrong move and she would die.

Erin was frightened, but at the same time, her heart pounded at the fact that she was risking her life. The thought that every little detail like this would someday be sung as part of King Erin’s heroic exploits filled her with exhilaration.

“That William couldn’t do something like this.”

Erin let out a long breath and slowly began climbing again.

It was when the top finally started to come into view. She spotted a window in the tower. It was a large window, big enough for a person to fit through, and a human silhouette flickered within it.

“Rapunzel!”

At this distance, she should be able to hear. Erin shouted at the top of her lungs. Then someone really did stick their head out of the window.

It was definitely Rapunzel. The hair Erin had been clinging to like a lifeline was connected to her, and above all, she was unbelievably beautiful, just as the rumors had said. For a moment, Erin nearly forgot how to breathe.

Good thing she had wound the hair tightly around her arm. She had nearly stared in a daze and fallen straight down. After coming all this way, nothing could have been more idiotic.

Erin could feel her heart beating so fast that even her head felt hot. She believed that all she had left to do now was rescue that beautiful woman, return to her kingdom, and proudly become king.

“Hello! Are you Rapunzel?”

She shouted with a bright smile on her face.

Rapunzel flinched, then widened her eyes. As if unable to believe that someone had come to rescue her, she seemed unable to hide her confusion.

“I know I look a little strange right now, but don’t worry, I’m not a thief or anything. I came from the castle. From far, far away—”

“Did the witch send you?”

Rapunzel spoke for the first time. Erin was shocked once by the absurd misunderstanding, and then shocked a second time by the unbelievably deep voice that came from his mouth.

“You found out I was trying to escape, so you’re here to kill me before I can. Aren’t you?”

The voice sounded as though it belonged echoing through the depths of some vast cave, and it clashed so sharply with that beautiful face that Erin’s mind couldn’t reconcile the two.

She’d heard Rapunzel was a woman. Could Rapunzel actually have been a man? Now that she looked again, his features did seem a little more angular…

Her head was so muddled that she went blank before finally realizing that obvious fact.

But before she could even ask if he was a man, Rapunzel reached to the side. With a gleam of light, what she, no, what he held in his hand was a large pair of scissors.

That suspicious man apparently named Rapunzel held the scissors in one hand and grabbed the hair in front of him with the other.

“Things aren’t going to go the way you want.”

“Wait. What are you doing? Don’t tell me…!”

Erin went deathly pale and couldn’t even finish what she was saying. They were at a dizzying height above the ground. If that hair was cut, she would obviously plummet straight down and die.

Rapunzel knew that, and he was doing it anyway. He was trying to kill her!

“The witch? You’ve got it wrong!”

Erin desperately tried to stop him. But all she got in return was a scoff from the terrifyingly beautiful man.

“If you somehow survive, go back and tell them this. I’m coming soon, so they should bare their necks and wait for me.”

“No! Wait, please!”

She had gone through hell to make it all the way here. So why had things turned out like this? Was it because rescuing people was supposed to be the prince’s role, but a princess had tried to do it instead?

Erin screamed.

This isn’t fair!!