"I don't want to get married. You see, I'm just finally free, so I don't want to give that up…" Rapunzel started.

"Wow, did you hear that, Flynn?" Stalyan interrupted. "She basically just said that being married to you feels like a prison to her!"

"What?" Flynn shouted in disbelief. He looked very hurt and horrified.

"I never said that! I just…" Rapunzel tried to say but Stalyan cut her off.

"She doesn't want to marry you! She doesn't want to give up her freedom again! Because that's what she sees in you: Someone who wants to take away her freedom! And a life with you is also a prison for her! Because she obviously doesn't really love you!"

"That's not true! I…"

"If it were true love, honey, then you wouldn't see living with him as a prison! You would see it as heaven! And you would want to get married as soon as possible!" Stalyan said. Flynn breathed heavily as he stared at Rapunzel and shook his head.

"I don't see a life with him as a prison! I only see staying in the castle forever as a prison!" Rapunzel said.

"Oh, and you think I want to lock you up there, Rapunzel?" Flynn said. He was really hurt now.

"I didn't say…" She started.

"I know exactly what you said! Rapunzel, I can't believe it! What do you think of me? I'm not asking you to become a stay-at-home mother, I just want to marry you! I want to be your partner in everything and spend the rest of my life with you wherever you want to be! I don't want us to be separated ever again! And you think…"

"I didn't mean it like that! It's just…all these problems, the rocks, my hair…"

"And you think we couldn't find a way to fix all that while we're married? Marriage doesn't mean you have to give up your adventures! Marriage is just a celebration of our love, a union of us and a promise that we'll stay together forever and love only each other! Which is what you would want if you truly loved me! But apparently, you don't love me as much as I love you!"

"No! I do love you! I just think it's not the right time to …"

"And when exactly will be the right time? It always feels like I'm waiting for something! There is always something more important than our relationship and I'm supposed to just stand by and be ok with it? Rapunzel, look I love you, with all that I am, but I can't do this anymore! I want a wife; I want to share my life with you; to be able to live with you and kiss and cuddle you without everyone shaking their heads and the guards and your parents looking like they want to arrest me for it! I can't do this anymore! I am filled with longing every time I'm away from you and filled with frustration when I am allowed to be with you! I want this relationship to be my everything, and you might just want this to be one of your things!"

"No! That's not true, I…"

"Then why exactly wouldn't you want to marry me? Rapunzel, that's the only way we will ever be able to truly be together and where exactly is our relationship supposed to go otherwise? And you know, I've read a lot of books, so I know that when a person sees marriage as a trap, they are subconsciously thinking about breaking up or cheating!"

"What? No!"

"Why do you think Flynn Rider never got married in any of the books?"

"Because he is a player…" She gasped. "Oh, no! No! I don't…"

"You may not realize it, but you are subconsciously doubting our relationship! And there is no point in staying together anymore!"

"What? No!"

"I'm sorry, Rapunzel, but I can't do this anymore! This isn't fair to either one of us! Not fair for you, because it apparently isn't true love for you and not fair for me because I would have to spend years waiting for you while knowing that you are probably subconsciously thinking about breaking up with me! And I'm tired of waiting! You know, I have already died once, and I could very well die again any day! Something terrible could happen at any time! Especially if you want to keep adventuring forever! I could have an accident or get seriously sick or be murdered again! I mean, there are still enough people who dislike me, so that could very well happen! And not just to me, it could happen to you too! And before you know it, one of us is dead and we never really truly got together! Life is so short! And if you keep putting something off all the time, you end up not doing it at all! And why exactly do you even need so much more time? Because you're not sure if I'm the right one for you? Rapunzel, I already knew you were the one and only for me when I had only known you for three days and you can't even tell me the same thing after we've been together for a whole year? Are you serious? Then I guess I'm not the one for you! And you know what? If even the thought of just being engaged to me seems so horrible to you, then why are you even still with me? What do you even want from me? Why should we still be together if you can't even promise me that we will stay together? And if you can't give me that promise now, how do I know that you will ever give it to me? What would be the purpose of staying together if I know it will not lead to marriage? I'm sorry, Rapunzel! But I can't do this anymore! We need to break up!"

"No, Eugene! I didn't mean it like that!"

"You may not have said it directly, but indirectly! If you don't want to get married because you feel like it would mean giving up your freedom, then a life with me seems like a prison to you! so there is just one thing for me to do: let you go! You're free! Goodbye!"

With these words, he began to cry and ran off. Rapunzel called after him, but he didn't turn around. He went back to Corona, packed his stuff and left for good. He didn't want to leave, but he knew he couldn't stay there, near her without being able to have her or kiss her and he couldn't continue their relationship knowing that she didn't want to marry him. Knowing that she subconsciously thought of living with him as a prison which could only mean that she also subconsciously doubted their relationship and thought about breaking up. That wasn't fair to either of them. She was subconsciously doubting them, and he couldn't have a love affair with a girl who didn't want to marry him. Because otherwise, she would either be his mistress (and he loved her far too much to put her in that position) or just a friend with benefits like occasional kisses while everyone else shook their heads. This just hurt him too much. He wanted to marry her because he really did love her more than anything else even more than life itself and also because it was the right thing to do and the next step. And he just couldn't understand why she wouldn't want to, except that she subconsciously didn't love him. She was basically refusing to share her life with him, and he just couldn't understand why. At one point she was willing to sacrifice everything just to save him but then couldn't even give him a promise to stay with him and love him only, because that seemed like giving up her freedom? He just couldn't understand that! When he sacrificed his life for her back then, he knew that she was the one and only that he would ever love, his sunshine, his everything, his new dream and he knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her no matter where she wanted to be. And he thought she felt the same way about him. But if she really felt the same way, then she wouldn't have imagined that her life afterwards would be so horrible, and she wouldn't have felt like she had to give up her freedom. It also didn't make any logical sense that agreeing to get married was too important a life decision but sacrificing herself for him wasn't! The only reasonable explanation was that she didn't really truly love him. Another thing he noticed that convinced him of this was that she always let Cassandra insult, kept secrets from him just because Cassandra said so and even drew his face on a punching bag just for Cassandra. You don't do that to someone you really love. He knew that because he would never do that to her, and he knew that he loved her, but it was obvious that she didn't feel the same way. She probably just tried to sacrifice herself for him because she is selfless and would do that for anyone. There was nothing special about him for her. It pained him so much to think about it.

He decided it would be too painful to stay in her kingdom, so he moved to Italy where he already knew the language. To distract himself from his pain, he began to write. He found that he loved writing as much as he had loved reading as a child. He began to write poetry and then fairy tales under the pseudonym Giambattista Basile. He didn't want to use his real name, Eugene Fitzherbert, because it reminded him of his life with her and not his alias Flynn Rider either because he didn't want to be like that book character anymore. So, he made up a new name, wrote a collection of fairy tales and even based one of them on his story with Rapunzel but of course changed the names. He turned Rapunzel into Petrosinella and himself into a nameless prince because he thought no one would want to read a story with a thief as the hero. Of course, he also changed many details of the story, most notably how they escaped the witch. In the fairy tale they now used magic to get rid of her and she was eaten by a wolf. Flynn really liked that part and wished that it had happened in real life, but her turning into a pile of dust was also great. And finally, he changed the ending so that they got married after their adventure. Basically, he gave him the happy ending that he couldn't have in real life in fantasy instead. He restored order with imagination. It helped him deal with his pain, but of course it never really went away. He knew he would always love her, and he did. He never married another woman because no one was better than her and eventually died alone in Italy at the age of 66.

Rapunzel really regretted the way she had behaved. She just took him for granted. The loss of her Eugene really hurt her, but she also knew that it just couldn't work out anymore. She blew it and she didn't deserve him. They both just wanted different things and she also came to the realization that if marriage was a prison for her, then she maybe shouldn't be in a relationship at all. She knew she was not a normal person with a normal life and maybe her trauma made her incapable of ever really committing to a relationship. So, she continued to be free and single and became a strong and independent queen. She never married and never had any children, so she died alone and without an heir to the throne.