Sorry for the delay. Me and my beta reader were both very busy with stuff.

Anyway, in this chapter, Rapunzel has to deal with some of the lulzy of the elderly while she's concerned on how to break the witch's spell.

Tales of Old Coots & Property
The day had come at last as the nobles and dignitaries entered Castle Corona for The Summit. Our heroine, Rapunzel, and her love, Eugene, were greeting the upper-class foreigners into their home. With the exception of Elsa and Anna, who arrived earlier, the couple could barely tolerate the presence of the nobility. If they were not obsessing over their fortunes, they were trying to make slightly obvious passes towards Rapunzel. The noblemen, especially the ones old enough to be her grandfather, were flirty and some of them could barely keep the excitement in their pants as Rapunzel sadly noticed. Eugene was struggling to not let loose and knock the teeth out of these snobs and his wife was barely holding it together thanks to fear that lashing out, no matter how justified, would make her closer to becoming Gothel.

But there was one little, chicken looking man who almost made Rapunzel lose her mind and not because he was horny. In actuality, Rapunzel wished he was a pervert. She never recalled his name but she knew that he was a Duke from this place called Weselton. (Or Weasaltown as her cousins like to call it) The Duke gave Rapunzel a dignified bow and Rapunzel had to keep herself from laughing too loudly when she noticed that he was wearing a toupee.

"Milady, it is an honor to meet you again," he complimented.

"The feeling is mutual," Rapunzel lied. It was not that she hated them that time, but they did not talk to each other a lot during Elsa's coronation other than him trying to goad her into a dance.

"So how about that coronation in Arendelle?" Rapunzel asked since this she thought this was going to be the only way she can get rid of him nicely.

"Oh….that," the Duke sneered. "Honestly, it was nothing personal and…."

"Which was why you called her a monster?" Rapunzel smugly interrupted.

"I did what I had to do," the Duke seemed to have ignored her response but Rapunzel noticed the look of irritation in his eyes. "Anyway, my dear. I was told you also have a bit of magic within you."

"Yes I do. When I sing a specific song, my tears and hair and heal the injured."

"I see. That is rather…. Fascinating."

"Yeah, I mean who ever heard of a monster that can heal," Rapunzel added as the Duke grumbled. "So either you're a hateful, little man or you need to study more on your monster biology."

The Duke's anger could have made his face be mistaken for a tomato. After all, what right did this ditzy, little girl have to smart mouth him? And he could not insult the host kingdom's princess, with all these witnesses no less. The scandal would ruin him. Meanwhile, Rapunzel giggled like an innocent school child, thinking she had done nothing wrong.

"Well I have to say," the Duke calmly said. "I suppose my knowledge on the mystical could require a refresher course. After all, who am I to question the intellect of a lowbrow princess that married a lowbrow man?"

Now Rapunzel's face was crimson as she fell into silence. Who was this tiny man that he felt he had a reason to judge anyone?

Some people's noses are so high up in the air, they would drown if it ever rained, Rapunzel snarked to herself.

Noticing that the princess was silent, the Duke thought he was the clear victor in this game of passive-aggressiveness. If there was anyone petty enough to have a cat fight with teenage girl it was him. He was going to see himself on top no matter the subject.

His ego repaired, the Duke bowed again towards the princess. Though Rapunzel could tell that this bow was supposed to be in mocking since the noblemen of her kingdom bow the same way to her.

"Well I really must be going, your highness," the Duke said. "I must head to the conference to do something more… intellectually stimulating."

Once again, the Duke tried to reaffirm his superiority to Rapunzel since the concept of humility would forever elude him. Normally, Rapunzel would let this slide because the Duke was not the first person to question her intelligence or her romantic choices. After all, her adopted mother chided her about those things plenty of times. But now, Gothel's hidden influences infected her foster daughter.

Thinking quickly, Rapunzel walked behind him and the pretended to stumble.

"EEK!" Rapunzel shouted and flailing her arms in an exaggerated motion.

Make it look like an accident!

The princess thrashed her hands towards the top of the Duke's head…

And 'accidentally' tore off his toupee.

No matter how poorly it was applied, the toupee was still glued to the Duke's head. So the intensity of the pain was unbearable on the Duke's scalp. Of course, nothing to could compare to the humiliation of EVERYONE knowing that the Duke was, in fact, bald. Then again, most of them already knew he lacked hair and had just kept their mouths shut so that trade deals or treaties wouldn't fall through.

"Oh my gosh! Oh dearie me!" Rapunzel stammered in that faux concerned voice again as she held the toupee.

Wait? Is this toupee made of horse mane? He was ripped off.

"I'm so, SO sorry," she lied. "Here let me put this back on and no one would be the wiser."

Naturally… or since Gothel's dark impact still had an effect on Rapunzel, unnaturally…. the princess placed the toupee back on the Duke's head backwards. Not that it mattered either way, because everyone saw the incident and was laughing hysterically. The joy of mob rule, the Duke could not deny trade to anyone laughing at him if everyone was making fun of him at once.

"You… you… YOOOU?" the apple colored Duke stammered. "AAAAGH!"

The Duke quickly walked away huffing and puffing. Rapunzel snickered to herself. Maybe there was a good thing to becoming more like Gothel after all. For starters, this newfound high Rapunzel was having was profound to her.

I am never going back to my old self! And for once, I don't feel bad about it! Woohoo!

In reality, rush and adrenaline eventually dissipated when Rapunzel found herself in her bedroom. Once again, she let anger get the better of her. Once again, she lashed out at someone who was really doing no harm, though he was very annoying. And it was not like Rapunzel thought he did not actually deserve what happened to him. Her pet chameleon, Pascal, was doing his best to comfort her.

"Can you believe it, Pascal? Mother, Father, Hiccup, Eugene, those giant monkeys, and now this Weasaltown guy!

"But I can't help it for some reason," Rapunzel admitted. "Lately, I've been finding myself…. thinking that I am better than other people. Like I should just enjoy my own solitude and just not give a Danish tart about the outside world."

Pascal looked at his best friend with eyes much wider than they normally are.

"Should I be worried?"

Pascal nodded yes and Rapunzel sighed. Even her reptile was starting to notice her strange behavior. And if her best friend noticed, what's to stop everyone else catching on?

Rapunzel buried her face in her pillow, grunting in frustration.

Maybe if I just lie here, the curse is never going to affect me. Yes that's it.

It was then that Eugene quickly opened the door which disturbed Rapunzel from her thoughts.

"Woo," Eugene sighed. "If I had to brandish my lady killing smile to some old fart one more time, I don't know what I would have done."

"Oh… hey," Rapunzel sadly said.

"Hey now. What's my number one wife doing with frown on her pretty face?"

"Oh it's... nothing."

"Rapunzel? You can't outlie a retired liar."

"It's just that…. I don't know what's going on with me."

"Start from the beginning."

Unfortunately, Rapunzel took his statement a bit too literally.

"Well, I was a born on clear night and my mother was dying from child birth," she began.

After an hour of her life story (let's face it, most of her days consisted of painting, cooking, and reading over and over again) she told Eugene about her situation about Gothel being an undead bear. And she felt even worse. Not because Eugene now knew, but the fact that she was too embarrassed to tell her husband her problems.

But if Eugene was bothered by that, he did not show it. "Well, all we have to do is find that bear loving, kooky witch. And she can remove the spell. And bada bing bada boom, you'll have no more curse."

"That could work," Rapunzel brightened.

"It WILL work!" Eugene reassured. Silently he added, "And then we can go back to roleplaying dungeon and prisoner…"

"What?" Rapunzel wondered.

"What?"

Rapunzel thought to ask why Eugene was acting weird but decided to redirect the topic. "But you're right. Maybe the witch knows how to cure me. Eugene, you're a genius."

"I know I am," he gloated.

"I don't care what our friends think. You're definitely smarter than you look."

"Thanks," Eugene smiled, only to catch on the hidden meaning of Rapunzel's comment. "Wait…"

The couple ditched the castle full of stuffy nobility and went out to the carnival, where the commoners were having fun. This was their element, the lively streets during a festival. People dancing to folk music, children hollering and running around, patrons filling the booths and games. Rapunzel flashed the first sincere smile in a while when one her subjects started talking to her like a person. Eventually, the duo entered the witch's tent booth. Surprising no one, it was full of bear carvings.

"Why hello again, dearie," the witch greeted Rapunzel. And then elder saw Eugene and smirked, "I see you have excellent taste in my men."

"Even I would build a nest with him," the crow added.

Eugene slowly backed away. Zombie bears was one thing, but having a crow hit on you was unfathomably weird.

"Ma'am, I need your help," Rapunzel said. "Can you get the curse this off me? Please?"

"Curse?" the witch asked, dumbfounded.

Rapunzel groaned, "Yes the curse. Where you turned my mother into a zombie bear? And I think I'm becoming my mother."

"Oh THAT!" the witch recalled. "That's not a curse. It's a valuable life lesson spell."

"What… huh… come now?" Eugene stammered. "Oh come on! How is that valuable?"

"That's easy to explain. Young missy here must find her mother and tell her how she really feels about her."

"How I really FEEL about her?" Rapunzel snipped. "Mad! Upset! Feel like dropping a chandelier on her!"

Eugene backed slightly even more. If there was one thing he learned in life is to never be in a mile radius of a kindhearted person who is currently enraged.

"Now, now dearie. You mustn't let your emotions get the better of you," the witch explained. "I haven't met your mother but I assume you're having fits of moment where you act like her?"

Rapunzel nodded sadly.

"Well to uplift the curse, it's not just enough to admit your true feelings to your mother. First, you must also admit your true feelings about yourself as well."

"That's easy. I feel better about myself no thanks to my mother."

"You must say that in front of the bear, dearie," the witch corrected. "Also, to uplift the spell, you must have a personal belonging of both you and your mother."

"That's another easy one," Rapunzel said as she dragged Eugene back towards conversation. "He's my husband, which means he's technically personal belonging."

"Hey! I belong to the world!" Eugene snarked.

"It's preferable to use an inanimate object. Unless you want to risk the chance of your husband blowing up."

"His innards would look good over there," the crow remarked.

"Yeah… let's not do that," Eugene agreed.

"Well, I guess I could use my paintbrushes for the spell," Rapunzel offered. "Mother gave them to me out of the goodness of her heart."

Or she probably did it just to shut me up about going outside, She thought.

"Thank you for clearing up the spell…"

"Valuable life lesson spell," the witch corrected.

"Right, right. Eugene, let's go. There is one more place I like to visit."

Suddenly, there was cracking sound coming from behind. The women looked to see that Eugene accidentally broke a wooden, bear figurine.

"Oops," he admitted before seeing the annoyed look his wife's face. "It's like I didn't mean to break it."

"How do you break WOOD?" the crow squawked.

"Don't worry, we'll pay for it," Rapunzel suggested.

The lovers quickly left the tent (but because the Witch was handsy enough to pinch Eugene's butt cheek which caused him to yelp)

The booth Rapunzel wanted to find was very important to her. She did not think about it until recently, but she feared she would become its owner.

It was during the set up for the carnival when Rapunzel remembered this woman from Sweden. She was stocky, with graying brunette hair, and wore a dull, red dress. Her name was Gia and from what Rapunzel heard, she was a talented seamstress. Rumor was that her dresses could make an angel weep.

But even if that was true, the angels more likely wept for her bad attitude. Gia was rather sour, misanthropic, and had the social skills of a drunken, angry monkey.

"So this is where you will set up shop," Rapunzel explained. "Don't worry, I don't think you will have a problem selling your dresses."

"Well whoop de do," Gia grumbled. "I hate customers. Always wanting things."

Rapunzel would had asked why she volunteered to be part of the festivities but realized that she did not want to get an earful from this woman.

"I tell you, young lady," Gia added. "No one appreciates a good dress anymore. If it isn't a woman buying a dress to make herself prettier than her friends, it's a man buying a dress so he could take it off his wife at night."

"Oh well…. Umm" Rapunzel looked around to find someone more pleasant to be around. Like say…. Anyone else on Earth.

"Well little girl," Gia said. "I'll set up here. Err, thank you, I guess."

Rapunzel really did not to want to see this crabby lady again, but she told Eugene she had too. Just as a more of a warning on what Rapunzel could become if her situation was not nipped in the bud.

They made it to the booth and they saw Gia with a frown scary enough to scare away the Boogeyman. So of course, no one was lining up in front of her booth either.

"Oh it's you," Gia sullenly said to the princess. "Well hurry up and find something, you weirdoes. I'm a busy lady."

"Clearly you are," Eugene smirked. "We had to squeeze and fight our way through the long line of customers you have waiting to wear your clothes.

"Everyone's a comedian in this country, it seems. Buy something or go."

Rapunzel would have left but a particular dress caught her eye. Not because she wanted to wear it, but the dress looked familiar. It was a dark red dress, that hug curves in the right places.

It can't be. Can it?

"Excuse me?" Rapunzel asked. "Where did you get that dress?"

"Oh that. It's the weirdest thing, I've found that dress near some tower not far from here."

"Why were you out wondering the forest?" Eugene asked.

"Because there are no people there," Gia snipped. "Now as I was saying, it looked fairly worn out and covered in dust for some reason. So I said to myself 'Gia, you old bag, you can fix this dress.'"

"I think this is my mother's dress!" Rapunzel squeaked.

"It is?" Eugene asked.

"We'll take it!"

"We will?"

"Yeah yeah, here's the dress." Gia flatly replied. And after the exchange of goods of services, Gia said. "Err, I guess I can wish you to have a nice day, I guess."

"I knew she would say that," Rapunzel whispered.

"Me too," Eugene whispered back.

Not hearing them, Gia said, "Better work on a few more dresses because I don't have that many."

"Yeah and with that glowing face of yours, you have to be ready for the impending rush!" Eugene said which made Rapunzel snickered.

"You cheeky little…" Gia said as she threw pincushion at our heroes.

Rapunzel and Eugene head back towards the castle.

"This is great!" Rapunzel squealed. "Now I have everything I need to get rid of the bear. Something I have, something my mother had, and I now know what to truly say to her."

"You'll beat this, love. I know you can," Eugene complimented.

"Well what do you want to do now?"

Eugene flashed his famous smile. "Happy time?"

"WHAT?" Rapunzel said, flabbergasted. "In the middle of the day? Where there are currently a lot of people in the castle?"

"Yeah."

Rapunzel was not exactly surprise that Eugene was a rather…. intimate man.

Then again, it's not like Rapunzel did not learn that she was not an intimate woman who wanted her needs fulfilled.

So she giggled and answered, "Sure, let's do it."