A/N: Okay, so, this is the last chapter. I just thought I would let you guys know before you start reading it. And yeah, it is longer than most of my chapters, so yay!
After finishing her lessons one day, Rapunzel was greeted with the surprise of two of her servants waiting for her inside of her room. She recognized them as seamstresses, though she did encounter either of them enough to know either of their names. Apparently it wasn't common for royalty to memorize the names of all their servants, but Rapunzel felt guilty when she didn't know.
"Oh, Princess!" said the brunette girl with the plaited hair. She wasn't too much older than Rapunzel, and as such, was very cheery. "Your dress for the ball has already been designed and made, and we're here now to make the final adjustments."
"Oh…" Rapunzel hadn't been aware that the dress was already made. She missed the days when she was allowed to make her own dresses, but she couldn't complain. Her despondent mood had something to do with the fact that she wasn't really looking forward to the ball, and it was hurriedly approaching. "Well, let's see it, then." Rapunzel tried to smile and looked at the dress that was laid out neatly atop of her bed.
It was gorgeous. Maroon fabric with a full skirt and a laced bodice. So, this was the dress she would be wearing when Eugene proposed to her…
The next fifteen minutes passed with the two ladies poking and prodding at her dress with needles and making little notes on their piece of parchment while Rapunzel modeled. "May I ask you two something…?" Rapunzel asked, getting dreadfully bored of standing there without talking at all.
"I suppose so, your Majesty," the younger one answered, as the slightly older lady instructed Rapunzel to hold out her right arm.
"What do you guys think of…Mr. Fitzherbert?"
The brunette girl blushed, and the other women, a blonde, said, "Well, I hardly think we should share our personal opinions on the matter. But he seems…very nice. A good match for you."
"He's very dashing," the brunette put in, and then closed her mouth immediately, obviously feeling chagrined for saying such a thing about the Princess' love interest.
Rapunzel nodded thoughtfully. She was interested to hear what other people thought of him. She didn't often speak to people about him, so she wanted to know if perhaps she was seeing him differently than everyone else. Then again, no one else saw how he treated her when they were alone. "What about the fact that he's not royal?"
"Well…" said the blonde, delicately choosing her words, "I'm sure that, if need be, he can learn how to run a country. He might not be the most qualified choice in a leader, but he definitely seems determined, especially if he puts his mind to something."
Well, you've got that right. Especially if that something is compelling his girlfriend to marry him so he can take over the kingdom someday.
Rapunzel was very glad she had learned how to keep her thoughts to herself. Instead she simply nodded.
The fitting was soon over and Rapunzel was allowed to change back into her previous dress. She politely said goodbye to the servants and was glad to be alone with her just her thoughts.
It seemed to be that Rapunzel was just searching for something to make Eugene drop in her estimation, so she could get out of marrying him. She would never admit it to herself, of course, but she knew that it was basically what she was doing.
She paused, taking a deep breath. Give it some time, she thought, and I'm sure you'll want to want to marry him. It would take months to plan the wedding, especially because he wanted an extravagant one. Surely, if she just thought about it longer, she would realize it was the right choice.
After all, she couldn't imagine marrying anyone besides Eugene. He was the only man she had ever loved.
She didn't really have a choice.
She should just stop being so indecisive and go along with his plan.
And yet here she was, outside of the Drop of Sun pub, practically spying on him. She didn't like to think of it as spying, just…checking up on him. It was perfectly within her rights as a girlfriend.
As she walked in, she didn't see him. She went up to the bartender and asked, "Have you seen Eugene around here?"
The bartender, who was busy cleaning a mug, replied, "Sure. I think he's in the back with some girl." As the bartender turned, he finally faced who he was talking to. Upon recognizing the princess, he had a plain look of humiliation on his face.
Rapunzel's eyebrows raised slightly, her curiosity sparked. "Oh…does that happen a lot?" There was obvious hurt in her voice.
"I don't really keep track," he said cautiously.
"Alright…thank you," she said politely, before walking towards the back of the bar. She understood why she couldn't see back here when she first came in – the room curved and extended beyond the bar counter, almost like the whole place was shaped like the letter L.
Eugene was, in fact, with "some girl." By the looks of it, a very pretty girl, not much older than Rapunzel. Rapunzel hid near the wall and watched, entranced, as Eugene leaned forward and kissed the girl tenderly on the lips.
A mixture of anger and sadness came over Rapunzel, but she wasn't exactly surprised. Wearily, she made her way back out onto the street, catching the bartender's apologetic expression out of the corner of her eye on the way out. She sighed and glanced back at the pub. What was the point of getting angry with him? Shouldn't she have known all along? The way he was treating her made more sense now. If she confronted him, she knew that the whole thing would be a mess.
She would deal with it later, after giving the situation some thought. Surely, she couldn't marry someone who was cheating on her?
As Rapunzel walked back home, she felt numb, but she didn't exactly feel sad.
Knowing what was going on made Rapunzel even more unsure how to act in Eugene's presence. She really didn't want him to be upset with her – even though she knew she had a right to be upset with him. She should have listened to the thugs, after all. Eugene really was as bad as they had warned her about. Why did she ever believe he had changed? The whole thing must have just been a lie.
Honestly, Rapunzel didn't know who she should be more upset with. Eugene, for being a cheater and a liar; or herself, for staying with him for so long.
She tried to avoid him as much as possible, seeing as she was still deciding what to do. One day, whoever, he caught her off guard in the hallway, wrapping his arms around her waist. She cringed, but didn't try to pull away.
"Hey," he said softly, "we should do something together."
"No thanks." Oh no, she thought, was that too blunt? She didn't know what he had in mind, but there were a few obvious things.
"But I'm bored."
"Well I'm sure you can find something to do," she said, whispering to him in an irritated voice. She sighed. "Sorry, I, um – don't feel well right now," she lied. "I'll see you later." She attempted to smile before disappearing.
Finally, the day of the ball arrived, much more suddenly than Rapunzel would have liked. She had barely had any time to think about the Eugene situation! Earlier today, he had told her that he bought a ring and that he had the whole thing planned out, which made her very nervous. She could decline his offer of marriage, of course, but that would make her look bad. Perhaps if she accepted, she could talk with him and her parents afterwards, and find a way to break it off.
Or perhaps she could marry him, and after a while, he would turn back into the Eugene that she had fallen in love with.
Rapunzel knew now that that was a dream, at most. She couldn't see Eugene as a good person anymore – in fact, she wondered if he ever really was. It was heartbreaking to think about, but maybe she had been blind in her love. Maybe he never really was all that great.
She knew she needed some advice from someone who would understand, but there was simply no time. The ball began in less than an hour, and nearly everyone in the castle was busy preparing the ballroom so that it would look perfect when the guests started to arrive. She had spent so much time by herself, moping over her own stupidity, that she hadn't even thought about a solution yet.
Rapunzel changed into her dress and did her makeup, and she was finally ready to go to the party. She met her parents near the ballroom. "Mom, Dad – I need to talk to you about something. Don't worry, I can do it later – after the ball, but…"
"Are you sure, dear?" her mother asked, concerned.
Rapunzel nodded, not wanting them to fret. At least she was taking a step in the right direction by bringing it up.
Finally, it was time for them to enter the ballroom. All the guests had already arrived, and they all stopped to watch the royals enter, some of them bowing. Rapunzel blushed, not so fond of fancy occasions like this.
Mostly, the evening consisted of mingling and dancing. And mingling while dancing. Rapunzel was asked by many different young men to dance, but even that could not clear her mind from her worries.
She found Eugene waiting for her near a corner. She found it hard to act normal around him, but she managed.
"Hey, gorgeous," he said, smiling at her. Eugene looked pretty attractive himself, all dressed up like he was.
"Hey," she said shyly.
"Alright, so…later in the night," he said, his voice dropping so that no one else could overhear them, "I'll take you to the middle of the room. I'll get down on one knee, which is sure to get everyone's attention, and then I have this whole speech planned out."
"Okay. I already know the plan. I don't understand why you keep telling me." It wasn't like Eugene to share his plans with Rapunzel. "Honestly, I don't even understand why you didn't just wait until now to propose anyway…"
"I already told you, Rapunzel, but I guess you weren't listening." Oh right, she was the bad listener in his eyes. "Because you seemed so shaky about the marriage thing, I wanted to make sure you were okay with it before I did anything stupid."
"And what if I wasn't okay with it? What would happen then?"
He shot her a look that told her to be quiet, and walked off to go talk to some dukes.
She had been so close to telling him that she wasn't okay with it – so close. But he just wouldn't listen to her. Even if she had told him, she knew what he would say. "You're just nervous. You'll feel fine about it tomorrow." That was unlikely. Rapunzel had never been completely comfortable with the idea of marriage, and she probably wouldn't be for years. She realized that now, and it was stupid of her to believe that she would be able to alleviate her fears so quickly.
Rapunzel wasn't going to do anything she regretted. She watched Eugene try to make a good impression with the visitors, and his words echoed in her mind. "I wanted to make sure you were okay with it before I did anything stupid."
Rapunzel was not going to do anything stupid, especially something that she was not okay with.
As the King and Queen made a short speech welcoming everyone to their castle, Rapunzel took opportunity of this distraction to quietly sneak out of the ballroom. Thankfully, the guards that gave her suspicious looks as she walked through the empty hallways to her quarters did not have the right to question her on why she wasn't at the party. That was one good thing about being a princess.
Rapunzel felt so much better now that she was alone. She wondered where Eugene was – probably frantically looking around the entire ballroom for her. He was probably angry that she left. Maybe she should leave the castle. No…that would just make the whole problem worse.
She was not surprised to hear her door open and slam closed after about thirty minutes of being alone. He didn't even knock, he just came right in. "Rapunzel, what are you doing here?"
She had been lying on her bed, and she sat up straight now. "I felt…uneasy, so I decided I should rest."
"No, seriously, what happened?"
She swallowed. He sounded angry. Despite the fact that she was beginning to get over him, she still didn't like making him upset. She didn't like upsetting anyone.
"Eugene, I – I don't want to marry you."
"What? Then why the hell did you agree to it when I asked you?"
"I was…confused. And you were kind of putting a lot of pressure on me…" she said, glancing up at him, trying to gauge his anger. "I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have agreed if I wasn't certain, but – "
"No, the problem is that you're being too indecisive, just like you always are. It's very irritating, Rapunzel, did you know that? Just grow up already."
Rapunzel looked down quickly, feeling ashamed. "Eugene. I know that I've done some foolish things, but I'm not the only problem here."
"Really? Because I'm not the one complaining about having to get married."
"Can you just shut up and listen to me for once?" Rapunzel demanded. "You never give a damn about anything that I say and I'm not going to take it anymore. I'm sick of you walking all over me!"
He laughed bitterly. "You let me walk all over you. It's not my fault you're so weak. In fact, I was beginning to think that you enjoyed the way I treated you."
"Just…stop it…" Rapunzel muttered, embarrassed. She knew that it was partially her fault, but that was beside the point right now.
"Why should I? You're just as much to blame as I am – "
"Eugene, I saw you with another girl. I know."
Eugene backed away slightly from Rapunzel's gaze, looking dumbstruck. There were a few moments of terribly awkward silence between the pair. "Well, I suppose…that's my own fault for not being more careful."
"What? Eugene, the point is that you're seeing someone else. Not the fact that you didn't hide it well enough!"
He rubbed his hand behind his neck. "Okay, yeah, you're right. But, I can explain!" he said defensively. "I mean, I can try to."
"It's okay," Rapunzel said, surprisingly calm. She didn't really want to know how many girls he had been seeing behind her back. "I'm not surprised. I mean, I was at first, but now that I think about it, you never seemed very loyal to me… I should have known from the start. There is one thing I want to know, though. Were you seeing them because you weren't in love with me?"
After a moment, Eugene shook his head. "No, you were the only one I was ever in love with. I still am in love with you…" he admitted, "though I think this a little beyond fixing, right?"
"I would say so," Rapunzel said sadly. She didn't want to break up with Eugene – he meant so much to her, even now. But he was right; there would be no way for them to move forward from this point. This was a long time coming.
"Commitment is just hard for me, I guess," Eugene said (Rapunzel couldn't help but scoff). "So I slipped back into old habits – that includes my old personality, too, I guess, and…"
"How long have you been seeing other women?"
"Oh, wow. Well, I didn't start doing it regularly until a few months ago."
That was not a very reassuring answer – apparently he had been an ass even when they first got together. "And I assume you were sleeping with them?"
"Well, yeah," he said, laughing a little, like that was obvious.
Rapunzel fought the urge to slap him. "I still don't know why you wanted to marry me – especially if you 'hate commitment' so much."
He rolled his eyes. "You just don't get it, do you? I can't explain it, exactly, but…marrying you would give me what I always wanted and never had. Money, power. It just, seemed like the better option…"
Rapunzel couldn't help but smile a little. It seemed that they were both a bit foolish in their actions. He hadn't thought his plan through as well as she thought. In her opinion, that was a very silly reason to want to marry someone. "So you wouldn't want to marry me if I wasn't the princess?"
He sighed, thinking. "Honestly, if you weren't the princess, I probably would have broken up with you by now. It's just not like me to stay with someone for a long period of time, even I feel a connection between us. But with you, since you came with all these benefits, I didn't feel the need to end it so much…"
Rapunzel nodded. She was proud of herself for not getting emotional, although she felt terrible on the inside. In a way, she was almost thankful that they had been drifting apart recently, or else this would have been much more difficult. "So, what are you going to do now?"
"You're the princess. It's kind of up to you…isn't it?"
"I don't think we should be together anymore."
He shook his head. "Yeah…probably not."
A part of her was saddened that he wasn't even trying to keep her – but then again, she wasn't trying very hard either. "But you won't get to be a king now."
"No, I won't. But I got closer than most people ever will. And it's been fun, right?"
Rapunzel couldn't hold it in anymore – she started crying. This was the most genuine talk she had had with Eugene in ages. She was also surprised by how mature he was being about all of this. It reminded her that there still some bit of good in him, no matter how small. She stood up and hugged him tightly, wrapping her arms around his neck.
Part of her wanted to forgive him for everything, to kiss him until she forget all about what he did, but she knew she couldn't. She wouldn't feel into that trap again. "I love you," she whispered.
"I love you too, Rapunzel. Please don't think that I didn't."
"I won't," she said, and kissed his cheek before pulling away, sighing. "You can go back to the ball, if you like. Last chance to mingle and such. As for me, I'll just stay here."
The following morning, Rapunzel had a talk with her parents. She didn't describe everything that had happened and had been happening between herself and Eugene, but she told them a great deal of it.
"I don't want him to live here anymore, and I'm sure you agree."
They nodded adamantly. Rapunzel was sure that her parents both hated Eugene now, and honestly, she couldn't blame them.
"Also, I've been thinking," said Rapunzel, "that maybe I should get out of town for a while. Try to…clear my head. Move on from him. I think that would be good."
"I think that would be wonderful, honey," the Queen said, reaching across the table and taking her hand in hers.
Rapunzel's last conversation with Eugene was very awkward and more bitter than she would have liked, but she was glad when he was finally gone. It felt strange to say goodbye to him, but it was also a huge relief not to have to worry about their relationship anymore.
Rapunzel tried to learn from this experience, as she tried to learn from all things. Eugene had been right – she was weak. She was naïve. She knew that. She just hoped that those were things she would get over with in time. Overall, she was very proud of herself for ending it with her – that alone proved that she was heading in the right direction.
Some months after their parting, after Rapunzel returned to Corona, she received a letter from Eugene. He was living in the next kingdom over, with – Rapunzel's heart dropped – his girlfriend. Why did he have a girlfriend? That poor girl, she was just going to have her heart broken.
"He sure moved on fast," Rapunzel muttered to Pascal. He gave her a look. "No, I am not jealous!" she said, huffing. "I mean, maybe just a little. A tiny, tiny bit."
Pascal gave her a look as if to say "right."
He mentioned in the letter that she should come visit him sometime. She would have to think about it. She really would like to see him again sometime soon, though. Perhaps it was stupid, but she still wanted to remain friends with him. He meant far too much to her for her to stop talking to him completely.
She grabbed a piece of parchment and started composing her reply.
This time, she told herself, she would be strong enough not to become his victim again.
A/N: I ended with a bit of ambiguity, see. Anyway, thank you all very much for reading this and for leaving nice reviews. It was a lot of fun to write. I am sad to say that this is the end, though. I hope you enjoyed it, and I commend you guys for sticking with a story where the characters are so very unlikable. Not to mention the fact that the whole thing is sort of depressing. Thank you again!