Ch. 45 - Rapunzel's true parents

"Rapunzel! What are you doing in this kingdom, out of your tower?!"

Hearing and seeing her fake mother, Gothel, Rapunzel was shocked.

"Mot- Gothel...what are you doing here?" Just as Rapunzel was about to slip, she quickly realized it and corrected herself.

"You?! How dare you disrespect me, your mother!? After everything I've done for you!?" Gothel glared at Rapunzel, trying to play as the victim.

This little commotion has caused quite a crowd, surrounding them from all sides.

"You mean how you kept me in a tower away from my real parents! I should be the one hiding from you!" Rapunzel snapped at her.

Even Gothel was shocked at seeing their new side of Rapunzel, never once did she see Rapunzel getting angry at anything, especially to her.

That's when she saw Tigress and Jin standing behind her, glaring at her as if they would pounce at her any moment now. As her eyes revealed a look of realization.

"Ah, I see. You're growing up and decided to be immature! These two must've influenced you! Come back to mommy, you know mommy knows best!" Gothel came back to her calm self and soft approach, trying her best to use Rapunzel's feelings of being her mother to poach her back.

Unfortunately for her, Rapunzel wasn't innocent and naive anymore. Gothel's betrayal and lying has made her grow and realize the bad side of the world.

"No." Rapunzel said one simple word. However to Gothel, Rapunzel's answer meant a lot of her. Her dream of staying young forever is slowly vanishing from her mind.

"I see. So I'm the bad guy now? Then so be it!" With a look of determination, she unsheathed a dagger from her behind under the shocked eyes of the onlookers.

Luckily, the guards were on their way to handle the situation.

"What is going on here?" Suddenly, everyone including Gothel heard a majestic voice from their side.

Almost everyone's eyes turned to look at their King and Queen looking at the situation with confused eyes.

"It's the King and Queen!" Seeing them, the citizens immediately kneeled on the ground while Rapunzel just stared at them in shock and a sense of familiarity. As if she had known them long ago. Suddenly, a blurry memory flashed in her mind, in that memory she saw herself in a cradle, being watched by two figures that slowly unblurred, revealing them to be the King and the Queen.

"Father, Mother?" Rapunzel unconsciously uttered, which was heard by King Frederic and Queen Ariana.

They both looked at Rapunzel and also felt a sense of familiarity with her.

That's when King Frederic saw the painting behind Rapunzel, the painting of their lost daughter that overlaps on Rapunzel's face.

A look of realization and shock appeared on King Frederic's face while Queen Arianna also widened her eyes in surprise.

"You are....my daughter!" King Frederic's saddened and depressed face immediately disappeared and was replaced by happiness and excitement.

He immediately ran towards Rapunzel while Queen Arianna also did som

Tears welled up on Rapunzel's eyes as she also ran towards King Frederic and they both engulfed in a deep hug.

"Father! Mother!" After hugging Frederic, Arianna also followed and hugged them both.

Just in time, the royal guards have finally arrived, and one of the Royal guards has a very familiar horse.

'That's Maximus, right?' Jin looked at the white horse, he always saw that Maximus is more than just a normal horse. After all, in the movie, Maximus was actually smarter than just a horse! It's like a human reincarnated as a horse.

Seeing that his guards had arrived, King Frederic stood up and looked at Gothel, and saw that she was running away, pushing all the citizens away from her path.

"Quickly! Arrest that woman!" King Frederic ordered and pointed at the running Gothel.

"Maximus go!" The Royal Guard captain quickly gave an order.

*Huff!*

Blowing air from his nose, Maximus's eyes squinted at Gothel's figure before running at full speed. Determined to take down Gothel.

Under the watchful eyes of Rapunzel and everyone, Maximus's full speed collided with Gothel's figure that tried to beg.

"Wait! Please no-!" However, it was already too late as Maximus bumped his head on Gothel's body, throwing her far away before she fell on the ground, knocked out by Maximus himself.

*Huff!*

*Neighh!*

Standing proudly, Maximus smiled, showing his clear white teeth.

"That horse is good." King Frederic complimented Maximus after seeing that Maximus was faster than the other horses.

Meanwhile, Jin and Tigress just stared at this with contentment. Their job here is done. Unfortunately, there weren't that many enemies here unlike in Jin's previous world, the Kung Fu Panda world. There are no Tai Lung or Shen or Kai in here. Aside from Rapunzel, everyone is a normal human being, making their presence a bit unknown as their purpose in life is to use their might to help the innocent and weak. Which is the reason why they helped Rapunzel in the first place. Just because they're not from the Kung Fu Panda world doesn't mean they would stop what they were doing.

'Maybe I could spread and teach Kung Fu here? Though where would I get my first students?' Just as Jin wondered about this, his eyes suddenly widened as he knows a group that exactly fits what he wants.

'Those groups of thugs in the pub! I could build my own Jade Palace as our home and have them as our students!' Thinking of this, Jin grew excitedly and was about to tell Tigress about his plan when King Frederic suddenly approached them.

"I heard about you both from my daughter, Great Warriors of a Distant Land. I owe you for saving my daughter!" Suddenly, under the surprised and shocked eyes of everyone, King Frederic bowed his head in front of them.

Even Tigress was shocked. She knows the status of a King, it's a bit similar to Lord Shen in Gongmen City, which means they must have the pride and dignity as a ruler and for King Frederic to bow to them in front of many of his people, clearly says how much he values his daughter and how thankful he is to his daughter's benefactors.

"Please raise your head, King Frederic. There's no need for you to bow. We were merely helping a maltreated person as we usually do back in our lands." Jin said while helping King Frederic to raise his head.

"You are truly kind like what she says. Please, allow me to fulfill any of your requests as long as it is within my capability." King Frederic said, making everyone who heard him gasp.

Having the King himself fulfill your request is very valuable!

'If I refuse that would be a bit disrespectful, so I'll just request something simple yet what I just needed in my upcoming goal in this world.' Jin said to himself before stating his request.

"I hope you could help us get a large land from your kingdom or outside of it, it would be much better if it was on top of a mountain." After hearing his request, King Frederic nodded his head, he thought Jin's request would be a bit troublesome for him but it turns out, it is just something so simple.

"Consider it done!" King Frederic quickly said.

"You guys are staying, right!" Suddenly, Rapunzel ran towards them and asked with excitement.

"....Yeah, we would."

"That's great! I hope you both could join us back in our castle! We would be happy to serve you dinner!" Queen Arianna smoothly said, inviting them to their humble abode.

"Well, if you insist." Jin said while scratching the back of his head. He's actually very hungry right now after all, after meeting Rapunzel, they haven't eaten anything except for berries and plants that they found during their journey in the forest.

"That's great!" Queen Arianna softly clapped her hands as a large and beautiful looking carriage that has a golden sun carved in every part of this body.

As they went in and started riding back to the castle, Gothel was finally brought into prison. For someone like her and what she did, it would be considered mercy for her if the King decided to execute her tomorrow. After all, if it was any other, they would definitely kill her on the spot!

***

In the castle, Jin and the rest finally arrived. Rapunzel and Tigress were the most impressed by the sight of the large castle.

'I would be living here from now on, right? It would be better than that tower! At least in this place, I would be close with my real parents!' Rapunzel said to herself as she decided to explore the castle.

Tigress and Jin also decided to follow her, after all, they were also curious about the castle.

"She's already grown up." Arianna said to her husband, as they both look at Rapunzel's back with warm love in their eyes.

King Frederic, whose face had been sad and depressed for the past 18 years, finally smiled for the first time, something that Arianna was very thankful for. Ever since Rapunzel was kidnapped, King Frederic has never smiled again until today.

After a few minutes, it was finally dinner time as Jin and Tigress were invited to the table.

"First of all, before we start this dinner, I would like to express my gratitude to Jin and Tigress for bringing my daughter back, alive and safe. And because of that, please allow me to fulfill your request now." King Frederic announced before handing a majestic looking parchment to a female servant who then walked towards Jin and handed him the parchment.

Without even reading its contents, Jin already knows what was written inside as it is probably King Frederic's signature on giving him the land that he requested.

"And last but not the least, tomorrow morning I hope everyone can attend the execution area, where we will finally end the cause of Rapunzel's disappearance. Rapunzel, you don't have to come if you don't want to." After King Frederic announced and expressed his worries to Rapunzel, she replied.

"It's fine father but...I think I have a better idea of a punishment for her. It is much better than just executing her." Rapunzel raised her hand like some kind of student and stated her opinion.

"What is it, dear?" Her mother, Arianna asked her.

"I think it would be better if...."

|-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_|

[Hmm? I wonder what kind of punishment she has decided on Gothel? Is there anything better than simply executing her? Find out on our next episode in Drago-]

.

.

.

[Next Chapter: Ch. 46 - Bathroom Incident] 

You can visit my p@treon to read 15 advance chapters and if you want to support me. (www.p@treon.com/SlimeSage) don't forget to change @ to a.