Sofia the First: Conclusion Catastrophe

The rumor has spread

The next day, before school started, Zooey met up with Princess Kari.

"Hey, Kari, you won't believe what Hildegard said," Zooey whispered. "Prince Hugo is getting emancipated from his parents."

"What?" Kari gasped. "Why?"

"I don't know," Zooey shrugged.

Suddenly, Princess Lakshmi came up. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Did you hear?" Kari asked. "Prince Hugo is getting removed from his parents' guardianship—he's being emancipated."

"Oh, no," Lakshmi gaped.

Lakshmi then told Princess Penelope, who revealed it to Princess Maya. Then Maya told Jun, and the latter told her brother, Prince Jin. Soon enough, every student in Royal Prep heard this piece of information—and then Sofia met up with her older brother, James.

"Sofia, did you hear?" James asked. "Hugo is getting emancipated."

Sofia was shocked—nobody else was supposed to know that. "Who told you that?" she whispered angrily. "Amber? Hildegard?"

"No, Desmond told me," James revealed. "I guess you already knew about it?"

"Ugh, I told Amber and Hildegard not to tell anyone," Sofia growled silently.

Suddenly, Amber and Hildegard came up. "About what?" they asked in unison.

"Didn't I tell you not to tell anyone about Hugo's so-called emancipation?" Sofia growled. "James heard it from Desmond, and who knows whom Desmond heard it from?"

Amber and Hildegard were shocked—now everyone at Royal Prep knows about Hugo's so-called emancipation.

"Oh, well, it can't be that bad, right?" Amber asked.

"Yes, it can, Amber—you refused to let me talk to Hugo in the first place, and now the rumor is spreading all over Royal Prep like a virus," Sofia snarled. "When Hugo finds out that you spread a rumor about him, he'll lose his mind."

"Oh, who's going to tell him?" Hildegard asked. "But if it makes you feel any better, we'll stop the emancipation by destroying his papers. He can't get emancipated without official emancipation papers."

"I doubt that'll be any better," Sofia frowned.

"Trust us, Sofia—we know what we're doing," Amber insisted.

Later, Hugo was in the library, reading something from a book, then writing on a piece of paper. Amber and Hildegard decided to see what he was up to.

"Prince Hugo, how's everything?" Amber asked.

"Just fine," Hugo replied. He continued to write, and Hildegard tried to peak over his shoulder, to his annoyance. "Hildegard, can you please not breathe down my neck like that? I really need to concentrate on this paper, and it's due next week."

"Sorry," Hildegard apologized. She and Amber were rather shocked at that.

All the whole week, everyone at Royal Prep was worried about Hugo getting emancipated, and Hugo didn't know what was bothering his friends. Sofia continued to stay angry with Hildegard and Amber for jumping to this conclusion, not to mention refusing to let her talk to him.

It was now late Sunday afternoon, and Sofia was rather concerned for Hugo, so she decided to go and see him.

"Where are you going, Sofia?" Amber asked.

"I'm just going off to see Hugo," Sofia replied.

"Can I come, too?" Amber asked.

"I don't know," Sofia snapped. "He's already dealing with being the butt of a rumor, and he doesn't even know it."

"Come on, Sofia—I'll be careful," Amber begged.

"Okay, but his family mustn't know that we're aware of this," Sofia said.

"I promise I won't tell," Amber said.

"Okay, let's go," Sofia said.

The sisters got into a coach, and off they flew to Hugo's kingdom. Soon enough, they made it to his palace.

"Princess Sofia, good to see you," Garrick smiled.

"How's everything?" Samira asked.

"Just great, Your Majesties," Sofia smiled. "Where's Hugo?"

"He's out taking care of an important duty," Axel replied.

"It sounds like you're not even worried about Hugo being emancipated," Amber blurted out.

"Amber!" Sofia snapped at her sister.

Garrick, Axel, and Samira were shocked.

"Emancipated?" Axel gasped.

"You mean Hugo is getting emancipated behind your back?" Amber guessed.

"Where did you hear this nonsense?" Samira asked.

"He was reading a book about emancipation, and we realized that was going on," Amber said.

"You mean that's what you think is going," Sofia frowned.

"Why would Hugo get emancipated from us?" Garrick asked. "I just started having a good relationship with him."

"And I've been getting along with him better since the flying derby championships," Axel chimed in.

"Well, you'd better think of something fast because he's already got his emancipation papers, and they're due tomorrow," Amber said.

Hugo's family was shocked, and Sofia just shook her head in disbelief. If Amber and Hildegard had just let her talk to Hugo in the first place, they'd know what's going on, and this drama could've been avoided.