Rapunzel, DON’T Let Down Your Hair!

“Don’t tell me that’s why you suddenly decided to have your portrait painted? Are you planning to send it to princesses or something?”

Instead of wasting your time on nonsense, why don’t you go to class?

Erin shook her head.

“Dear sister. You may be smart, but you really lack imagination.”

William let out a scoffing “Pfft.” Maybe that was how one normally married an ordinary princess, but he made it clear that wasn’t for him.

“If I’m special, then my wife has to be special too. She needs to have a story.”

“What kind of story?”

“For goodness’ sake, Erin. What do you think? A terribly pitiful story that makes her worth rescuing!”

Of course, she also had to possess beauty worthy of becoming legendary. William emphasized that both were equally important.

Rescuing a woman imprisoned in a tower, like the queen of the neighboring kingdom, was of course an extremely honorable deed. Anyone who accomplished such a feat was held in very high regard.

But hearing words like ‘worth rescuing’ come out of William’s mouth tarnished any sense of heroism. In truth, he was only thinking of using her, and he didn’t seem to have any intention of hiding it.

In short, he was being obnoxious. Erin glanced over and saw that the painter seemed to be thinking much the same thing, judging by the utterly disgusted look on her face.

“Rapunzel is perfect. I’ll take her as my wife.”

William alone failed to notice the mood around him as he made his declaration. As his older sister, Erin pointed out one very important fact.

“You seem to be misunderstanding something, so I’ll tell you. Rapunzel lived a very long time ago. She’s been dead for ages.”

Surely he didn’t mean he was going to rescue and marry someone who was already dead. Was he planning to go to Grauden Castle and rob her grave or something? Even William wouldn’t think of something that insane… probably…

Even as Erin reasoned that out, her expression turned ambiguous at the possibility.

“I know the legend is some dusty old story from the past. The Rapunzel I’m going to take as my wife is the recent one.”

“The recent one?”

“By coincidence, another maiden named Rapunzel has been imprisoned in that tower.”

“She’s been imprisoned there again? Why?”

“How should I know? Well, evil witches never disappear from the world, do they?”

Maybe the witch was fattening her up to eat her. Or maybe she wanted to monopolize the hair that supposedly controlled the weather.

William shrugged as though it had nothing to do with him. The witch’s motive wasn’t particularly important to him.

According to the rumor, the woman imprisoned in the tower was a breathtakingly beautiful blonde. That was what mattered most.

And as if by fate, her name was Rapunzel too. He didn’t know what connection she had to the legendary queen, but either way, she was certainly someone whose rescue would draw attention.

“The name ‘William’ will spread far and wide as the great king who rescued Rapunzel.”

That made her the perfect woman to mark the beginning of his legend. William clenched his fist and declared that he would make that woman his no matter what.

His imagination moved quickly. In his mind, he had apparently already rescued Rapunzel in magnificent fashion and even married her. The sight of him suddenly grinning from ear to ear was ridiculous.

“Who did you hear that rumor from?”

Erin asked because she couldn’t trust his information in the first place.

“A special friend.”

William acted secretive, saying he couldn’t reveal the person’s name.

Even so, Erin had a rough idea of where the rumor had come from. The people William associated with were obvious. They were the crowd he met whenever he went down to the town beneath the castle.

They were a disreputable bunch who drank, gambled, and even seemed to steal. William apparently thought of them as friends, but in reality, they treated him like their source of money. Could information from people like that really be trusted? Erin had serious doubts.

“Anyway, my Rapunzel…”

“’My’ Rapunzel? She’s already your Rapunzel?”

“They say my Rapunzel has a voice as clear and lovely as glass beads rolling.”

No matter what his sister said, he sank into his fantasy with an enraptured expression. Perhaps he was kissing the lips that produced that beautiful voice in his imagination, because he unconsciously puckered his lips forward.

Erin recoiled with an “Ugh,” and stopped William.

“You’re not seriously planning to go rescue Rapunzel just because you believe what those swindlers told you, are you?”