[Just to clarify some things before you read. My publishing schedule is Monday to Friday. Once semester break ends, i might transition to M/W/F. That's all, thank you.]
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"T-Thank you, Mister Magician." Princess Anna cleared her throat and tried to make her voice different by making it as deep as possible.
Unfortunately for her, Henry has already seen through her pathetic attempt at a disguise.
Just as Anna was about to turn and leave, finally realizing that escaping the castle turns out to be a bad idea, Henry's voice stopped her in her tracks.
"You look a bit familiar, Princess."
Anna instantly froze on the spot, her lips twitching as she tried to pull her hood down and replied, "I-I don't think we have met before, Mister Magician. I-I'm just a normal princ—woman! Strolling around the perfectly normal streets of Arendelle! Haha~"
Chuckling at the Princess's slip of tongue, Henry continued to press on. This is quite literally why he was here. To witness and see the twin sisters for himself.
'I wonder if it's possible to meet Elsa before the coronation.' This was what Henry was asking himself just a few days ago back on the ship, but now with Princess Anna in front of him, that question seemed to finally have its answer.
On the other hand, Anna took Henry's silence as him not believing a word she just said. So she could only reluctantly plead, "C-Can you not tell anyone I was here? Please?"
Henry nodded his head without hesitation, "Of course, Princess…"
Anna frowned and whispered back, "I can sense a 'But' coming."
A smile formed on Henry's face, "Well, it's not every day you get to meet the Princess who has been locked behind her grand castle for years. So yes, I'll keep my mouth quiet about you here but I want something in return."
Distrust immediately appeared in Anna's face as she slightly backed away while covering her body with her arms, "W-What do you mean? "
Henry instantly registered the cause of her reaction and quickly clarified, "No! No! It's not what you think! What I meant to say is that I want to see your sister—oh dammit! I just made it worse."
Slapping his forehead, Henry calmed himself down and explained himself, "Look, what I want to say is that I've heard things…about your sister and I just want to see her for myself."
Henry isn't exactly lying. No matter how delicate the royal family is when it comes to picking servants for the castle who know how to keep their mouths shut, there will always be someone who'll bend for a few coins.
Anna was wide-eyed at his words and she leaned forward, "Y-You know about my sister's illness? Wait, you're a magician, that means you must have a way to cure her!"
Her words confused Henry, "Where did you get the idea that your sister is sick?"
Anna was about to tell him when he stopped her, "Wait. Let me finish my show first. Meet me in that alley later, okay?"
Tracing where Henry was pointing at and seeing an alleyway between two buildings, she nodded her head and agreed.
Meanwhile, Henry went back to the plaza and saw that the final act was done and everyone was clapping their hands, whistles and smiles filling the air.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! The show is done and if you may." With a smooth bow of his head while placing his top hat on the ground, understanding immediately passed through everyone's heads and they started throwing and handing a few coins inside the top hat.
It took almost ten minutes before the top hat was filled to the brim with coins, ranging from bronze and silver to even valued gold coins that obviously belonged to some nobles and financially stable people. At the same time, the crowd disperses since the show was done.
He then grabbed the hat and handed it to Chee-Chee and said to them, "Take the hat and go back to the clinic. I have someone to meet first."
Only Polynesia seemed to understand and took the helm over the group.
Trusting the parrot to take care of things, Henry turned to face the inconspicuous alleyway and made his way over there.
What he didn't expect however, was to see Anna being cornered by two scruffy men with clear drunken faces, "Lady, why hide your face behind the hood? We can smell your obvious fragrance from afar. Only women wear those."
On the other hand, Anna looked like she was about to beat the shit out of the two. Don't underestimate her just because she's a lady. In the film, she actually knows how to throw a punch.
Fortunately for the two drunken men, Henry arrived just in time to save them from the embarrassment of getting their asses beaten up by a girl.
"Gentlemen. Would you like to see magic?" Henry's voice interrupting them no doubt irritated the two drunken men.
"Get your nose out of here, kid. Go back and drink your momma's milk."
"Why? So I could grow and end up disgusting like you? No thanks." Henry snorted, approaching the two while tapping his cane on the ground.
One of the drunken men clicked his tongue, "I'd prefer we do this without spilling blood but you clearly ask for it."
"You mean your blood?" A smile formed on Henry's face as the shaft of the cane found itself being slammed towards the man square on the face.
Bam!
"Gahh!! My nose!" The man quickly backed away, his hands getting themselves busy on his bleeding nose.
The other drunken man quickly woke up from his stupor, as if he had suddenly sobered up, "W-What the hell?!"
Meanwhile, behind him Anna was wide-eyed. Clearly, the woman was not expecting such brutality coming from Henry. When she heard him asking if they wanted to see magic, she was expecting him to literally use magic to take the two men down, not use the cane as a weapon.
"You just hurt my friend!" The remaining man who sobered up, clenched his fists and charged towards Henry, cocking his fist back before throwing it forward straight to Henry's handsome face.
"Too slow. Clearly, you guys are the ones who need your momma's milk."
Bam! Bam!
In just a split of a second, Henry swung the cane two times in a row, striking the man's left and right cheeks, before watching him fall on the ground unconscious.
Thud!
Watching the two men on the ground with the first one still holding his nose, Henry sighed in defeat while making his way up to the last guy, "Now you two just made me look like the bad guy."
Amidst the spurting of blood, the man with a broken nose saw Henry march towards him, "W-Wait! Wait! No! No!"
With a kick on the head, the man quickly drifted to the land of unconsciousness.
"You were quite a bit too hard on them." Anna's lips twitched several times as she slightly kicked one of the unconscious men in more out of frustration rather than vengeance.
"Worry not, Princess. It takes a hard fist to instill a hard lesson on hard-headed people like them." Henry leaned his cane on the wall before grabbing one of the men and dragging him further into the alleyway.
He went back and did the same to the other guy until the two men are now gone from the public eye. Although Henry prefers no trouble on him, it's not exactly counted as trouble when you're protecting the princess of a Kingdom.
"Let's talk." Henry grabbed his cane back and gestured for Anna. She hesitated at first before bringing her hood down, revealing her feminine features and an auburn hair that is tied into double braided twintails that rest upon her shoulders, and there it was, a single streak of hair that is a wide contrast to the overall color of her hair, being platinum rather than auburn.
She breathed heavily first before narrating, "I can't remember the last time we saw each other. I just woke up in bed and all of a sudden, mom and dad banned me from approaching Elsa. At first, I thought it was just temporary but years have passed, she's still stuck in her room and my parents don't want to tell me what's wrong!"
At this point, her breathing starts to turn erratic as her eyes turn red, she continued to tell him about her suspicions and attempts to see her sister for the last time.
Meanwhile, Henry was trying his best to avoid sighing. His mouth was twitching several times at the thought of how he suddenly turned from a magician to a psychologist.
By the time she was done, Henry took out a handkerchief and gave it to her. Anna looked up to him for a brief moment as if asking for his permission and when she saw him nod, she eagerly blew her nose on it.
Henry tried his best to ignore the sound of wet snot and squelch coming out of it.
And when she attempted to give it back to him, "No you can keep it." She can only embarrassingly place the handkerchief in her pocket.
She then asked, "So what now?"
"…Do you really think Princess Elsa caught an illness that made your parents go on a voyage and die trying?" Hearing him ask this question made Anna fall into deep contemplation.
Without waiting for her response, Henry continued, "Nevertheless, we won't know until we see it for ourselves."
Actually, Henry was kind of nervous. Elsa obviously lacks control over her powers and if something goes wrong, he might find himself turned into a popsicle.
Then there's the situation about Anna. Although he's not exactly sure how the curse works but he does know that removing her memories about Elsa's ice powers prevented a tragedy. So if somehow she gets exposed to her powers and the curse randomly had a reaction, Henry doesn't want to risk everything just because he knows some things from a film he watched as a kid.
If this case is something that even his Master and a Troll as old as the earth itself cannot solve, then don't even mention him.
"So you really plan to visit the castle?" Anna fidgeted a bit, this is her first time being outside the castle in years and now she's about to head back with someone she just met.
For some reason, that gave her some sort of thrill in the blood.
"O-Okay!" Without even waiting for his reply, Anna meekly agreed, causing Henry to stare at her in disbelief.
'Woman, you just answered your own damn question!'
But still, he was just about to say yes. So her reaction is a win for him.
"Uhm…how though? The castle isn't exactly something that you can enter at will and we've been on a lockdown since the day they refused to let me see my sister."
Of course, Henry had already thought of this. Did you think the magical performance was just for helping the animals and gathering coins? The whole purpose behind it is to catch the attention of the Princesses and possibly, the man in charge, and someone who probably knows about Elsa's unique case.
Kai, the trusted Steward of the Royal Castle.
Even though it wasn't shown in the film, there's a high chance that some staffs and servants especially those with high positions knows about Elsa's situation.
Basically, he's gambling here whether Kai is aware of it or not and he's hoping for the former.
It's just that he wasn't expecting to meet Princess Anna all of a sudden. But that doesn't mean it's bad news. It actually hastened his plans whereas he'll initially have to wait and hope that they notice him.
Hearing Anna's question, Henry crossed his arms and replied with a confident grin, "Simple. You're a princess and just tell them you're bored and heard about the mysterious and powerful magician that has been performing in the plaza for the past few days!"
Anna stared at him monotonously, "Are you serious?"
Henry nodded his head, still maintaining the previous confidence.
Princess Anna hesitated for a moment, thinking whether the plan was going to work or not. Don't even mind the fact that she's casually helping someone infiltrate her castle that contains the entire Kingdom's biggest secrets and treasury worth millions of gold.
In her mind, nothing else matters but the sake of her sister, Elsa.
"Alright. I'll help you. Give me a few days, while you earn your reputation, I'll give Kai hints about you."