113Chapter One: Prince Dandy
The young man sitting in front of a large elaborately framed mirror has a list of things-to-do ever since he was six when he saw his mother turned to madness and withdrew into one of the castle's towers. He still keeps the list and is repeating the items in his mind as he puts on an elaborate silvery wig onto his dark brown hair, just to keep his sanity intact as he goes through the maddening ritual.
Item Number One: Not get assassinated by his Stepfather/ Uncle/ King Galodius.
Item Number Two: Find the Lost Princess of Corona, his betrothed-since-infancy future bride.
Item Number Three: Take his mother the Queen away from Castle Elinsore and live on an island far away from royal politics and intrigue.
He is twenty-four years old now and he doesn't feel as heroic as he used to be when he was six. A lot of things have changed including the list.
Item Number One remains and that is the very reason why he is having the damn ridiculous wig on his head now and the fact that he is applying eyeliner onto his already heavily powdered eyelids. There is also a fake mole made of toad's wart to be glued to his cheek. He hates every second of this bizarre preening but he has no choice. Not if he wants to remain prince of Elinsore and stay alive.
Item Number Three remains but to do so he has to do extra-curricular activities. He has been doing the never mentioned activities for a few years now and still has not reached the objective he had set for himself. It takes a lot of money to buy an island, not to mention to finance the travel there. As well as the amount needed to finance the kind of intelligence needed to kidnap his own mother the Queen right from under his uncle's nose. Worse, he has found a new calling as Prince of Elinsore. He didn't believe it himself when it happened. But then, his momma told him once, a true prince will always be a prince no matter how he disguises himself not to be a prince. Be it a dandy or a master thief, a true prince will always be a prince. His momma said that he has a 'good core' no matter how he tries to hide it, whatever that means, now that she is too messed up to ever explain anything to him. His momma said that he will always be her hero. And he really doesn't know what to say about that, because right at this moment when he slips his feet into the two-inched heeled shoes, he doesn't know who he really is.
And his heroic notion is surely fading like his memory of his dead father, the real King. He can no longer remember his father's face. That brings him back to the Item Number Two on his list: Find the Lost Prince of Corona, his betrothed. Not even the best intelligence Corona possesses has been able to trace the Lost Princess. When he was six and had received news about his fiancé's kidnapping, he was thrilled to no end with the hope of finding and bringing her back to her parents. But seventeen years have passed and so many things have happened in his life. He is no longer the hero he hoped he would be. Item Number Two is cancelled from the list. That should make things simpler. For all that mattered, the Princess could already be long dead. In the hands of the vengeful and the callous, she could be ravaged by diseases and malnutrition within months of her kidnapping and died.
And today, the King and Queen of Corona are visiting Elinsore, a few days before the Princess' birthday. The grieving royal couple are returning the engagement present brought by his parents to Corona when the Princess was born. The Engagement Crown. The King and Queen of Corona's hope has dwindled to nothing that even the sight of the crown would only bring sorrow to their hearts. Then as a token of sorrow shared, the Kingdom of Elinsore will host the lanterns' release into the night sky before her royal neighbours return to their bleak days in Corona.
He studies himself in the mirror. The mole is already in place. He smiles crookedly because he doesn't feel like smiling. His long coat is made from gold thread and white lace. The ruffles on his neck blooms perfectly. His pants are too tight but he needs the effect. His shoes too tall. His hair too big. He needs one finishing touch. He takes a fan from a drawer under the dresser. The fan's blade is made from ivory and it has mirrors on both ends. A gift from the emperor of a kingdom in the Far East. He flips the fan open and with deft hands, twirls the fan as if it is a sword. He kicks in his bizarre shoes and dances a step or two.
"Let's get this show on the road," he mutters.
The chamberlains knock and he shouts like the spoiled, brainless royalty that he is supposed to be. They open the door and he steps out, like a peacock of the strangest kind, feminine in gesture but at the same time his male aura brimming and gleaming beneath all the layers of powder, perfume and the costume.
The door to the guest's hall opens. A chamberlain announces.
"His Royal Highness Prince Eugene Fitzherbert of Elinsore."
Author's Note: Guess what? It's mid-year exam and I'm dawdling in the teacher's lounge waiting for papers to grade but they won't come till the very last day of the exam. The Principal kinda hates the English teachers and pushed the paper till the very end so we'll suffer. But I'm not suffering because this is a perfect excuse for writing another creepy Tangled fic. Ha ha ha (Laughing like a maniac).