Rapunzel, Eh? {To Be Continued Soon!}

~Chapter 8~

 Matthew's POV

 I only takes two seconds of being in the palace for Alfred to take the spotlight, doesn't it? 

 Here we were, finally bringing Alice somewhere she could be safe, and what happens? He starts blabbering on about how he saved her, how he's such a hero for going and fighting evil forest warlock, and 'sweeping her off of her feet' as he carried her to safety. 

 I watched as my brother kept on talking to our parents, one arm around Alice, and sighed internally. Or died. I'm actually not quite sure. What I was sure about, though, was that Alfred was going a tad too off track with this. 

 "So...what you're saying is that there really is some warlock just running free in the woods?!" Arthur exclaimed, his forest green eyes widening. Of course, that's the part he's more concerned about. Not about Alfred's crazy tales, not about the random woman he's brought into the house, no. He's worried about a fucking warlock that hasn't done anything terribly bad yet.

 W-well, I mean, Alice was captured and everything, b-but I'm just saying-

 Alfred puffed out his chest triumphantly. "I'll go warn the guards, and make sure they beat his ass until it's just a lifeless corpse!" 

 "You do zhat... just dial down zhe gore, Alfred..." Francis sighed, turning to me as the idiot ran out of the room. "So, what really 'appened?"

 Ah, finally someone with common sense. 

 "Well, it all started when..." 

 ~~Time skip of not-so-epic-proportions~~

 "Ah, I see. So, Alice...you were trapped in a tower for zhat long?" Francis looked shocked, gaze locked on the young girl. 

 "Yeah...but, at least I got out, so...yeah." Her face reddened in embarrassment, obviously nervous. I'd never seen her so shy and intimidated.

 "You poor thing...well, you're welcome here for as long as you'd like." Arthur smiled reassuringly, and Alice relaxed slightly under both of my parents' sights.

 "Thanks, I appreciate it a lot. I mean, you guys could've, like, kicked me out and stuff for being a dirty peasant from a random tower in the forest and-"

 "Ooookay, I'll just go show her to a room." I grabbed her arm, dragging her upstairs to stop her rambling.  

 She stuttered and stumbled, then sighed as soon as we stopped moving. "Was it that bad?" 

 "Um...no...?" 

 She covered her eyes with her hands. "Ughhhh..."

 "Sorry, but yeah, i-it kind of was..." I answered honestly, and she removed her hands.

 "Well, at least that's over. Now, which room is mine?" 

 I led her down the hall, dimly lit by candles, paintings of former rulers (family members, to me) lining the walls. She quietly observed, until we reached a brown door at the end. 

 "This is one of our guest rooms. It's mainly used for other royals when they come to visit, b-but you're an exception." I smiled, blushing slightly at my awkward stutters. She flashed me a grin. 

 "Thanks, even though I don't deserve this much, really..." Her grin faded, while looking at the doorway.

 "O-of course you do! I-I mean, you were trapped with Martin your entire life, w-why shouldn't you deserve a little bit of respect for once? A-and we saved you, we should be treating you with more than just this anyways!" 

 She turned and looked up at me, her green eyes holding slight confusion. "But I'm not exactly a person to be saving, Mattie. Sure, I was locked in a tower for most of what I can remember, and yeah, my life sucked, but that doesn't mean royals should be treating me with such luxuries. I'm still under all of you, and I always will be." 

 Before I could say another word, she disappeared into the room, door closing softly behind her. 

 "She doesn't know what she's saying," I mumbled to myself, returning down the hall, gaze focused on the floor beneath me. "She deserves more than what she's already getting. She deserves to be treated like a princess." 

 My mind flashed back to Alfred. "But of course, he's going to somehow manage to screw me over, and get her in the end. Tch, doesn't matter, not like his little brother deserves someone like her anyways." 

 I paused for a second. "I shouldn't be thinking like this, this is exactly what happened just minutes ago with Alice...I've got to make her see somehow that she...she's more important than she believes, a-at least, to me." 

 "Yo Mattie bro, whatcha mumblin' about there?" My head snapped up to meet my brother's gaze. I guess he'd come upstairs and heard my little ranting. 

 "O-oh, nothing. Just wondering where we'll go from here, that's all." Alfred raised a brow. 

 "We don't really need to go anywhere, dude. We've got Alice here safe, and the guards are out looking for Martin. They're trying to get the forest under lockdown." 

 "But what if he's not in the forest? What if he's coming to get her, what if he goes to other towns?" I thought of Martin on the hunt for her, like he probably was, and shuddered. 

 "Don't be so worried, bro. We've got the best army out there, no warlock will be messing with us." He smiled, one of those smiles that you wouldn't expect. It was nice and genuine, and actually pretty common. It was his calming smile, the one he used to handle tough situations without distressing anyone. 

 'He'll make a great king,' I thought to myself, as he walked past me, probably to go check on Alice. 'But...'

 I couldn't help but feel that something...was very wrong. 

 - 

Back in business, homies. 

Why did I read all of this in a British accent?

Meh.