Eugene was leading the entire kingdom's guards through the forest. When they got near the location of Rapunzel's old tower, he decided it was worth the time to check it out. There might be a clue there. He led the guards to Rapunzel's tower. The King came up behind Eugene and was in awe.
"This whole time she was right here hiding behind some secret entrance in the forest," said the King.
"It's not that easy to find," started Eugene.
"But I should have found her. I'm her father and I failed."
"Well let's not fail this time then. Come on everyone there are stairs in the back."
Eugene led everyone to the back of the tower where the stairs used to be hidden by a big pile of rocks, but Gothel has removed them to climb up the tower when Rapunzel was gone. Eugene went in first in case there were any traps in the tower. The stairs led them to the trap door in the floor by the staircase. The mirror was still lying on the floor from being smashed, but the glass was gone. Someone had definitely been here.
"Ok someone has been here so just be on the lookout for traps or anything that could hurt you."
Eugene went up to Rapunzel's old room and saw that her bed was there, but her sheets were gone. He left for the kitchen and noticed that the oven was gone as well. Gothel must have been here and only took the essentials. So Rapunzel must be in a small space underground with only the essentials.
"Alright men. Rapunzel must be twice as deep into the forest from this location. They are most likely in a small space underground. Once we get out far enough in the forest we will start looking at the ground for clues. Let's move out!"
The men started to climb back down the tower. He saw the King still in Rapunzel's room just standing there. Eugene went up to him.
"Well at least she had a room to grow up in…" started the King.
"Well you know besides not being able to leave the tower and having her hair used for evil, she was pretty free to do whatever she wanted. Painting seemed to fit."
"Do you see what she painted over and over again?"
"She has a ton of paintings here what are you talking about?"
"The symbol…the sun… Corona's symbol," replied the King as he pointed to the multiple sun outlines in the room.
Eugene looked around the room and finally saw what the King was talking about. There were little outlines of suns all around her pictures. She must have done it without even knowing. Maybe that's how she knew she was the lost princess. Eugene remembered her telling him that after she had finished crying. He didn't put two and two together until she took him to the mural again and pointed at the baby. It looked just like Rapunzel with her blonde hair and green eyes. So he took her up to the palace and that's when they knocked on the door and she was reunited with her family. The King broke the silence.
"Deep down she always knew where she came from, she just didn't know how." This fact seemed to relieve the King of some guilt he was still bearing.
"Your Highness I think we should get going as far as we can before nightfall."
"You're absolutely right Eugene. Let's go."
They walked back down the stairs and continued to travel deeper into the forest.
