She Becomes The Hero In Another World 57 She Performs-It's A Secret-Part 3

"'Let's keep the head movements to a minimum. If it's yes, then give us a thumbs up. If it's no, then give us a thumbs down.' The king replied. When the prince was about to nod his agreement, he paused, then gave a thumbs up.

"'But, still, how did you get past the gates? Is there anyone here who brought a child in with them?' The king asked. Yet, all of the councilors shook their heads. The royal guard also reported in, saying that there were no records of a child entering at the castle gates that day.

"Did you sneak in?" The king asked.

The prince gave a thumbs down.

"Is one of your parents here?" The king asked. The prince gave a thumbs up.

"Is he in this room?" Thumbs up.

"Is he one of the guards?" Thumbs down.

"One of the council members?" Thumbs up. The king ran through the entire list of councilmen, yet, every single one received a thumbs down.

"That's all of them! Are you sure your father is here?" the king asked. Thumbs up.

"Who is he? Point to him!" the king finally ran out of patience. The prince pointed to the king.

"Me!?! Wouldn't I already know if that were the case?" The king asked, amused. 'Although...he does resemble my beloved wife…'

"Could it be possible that you are my nephew?" He asked. The prince once more gave a thumbs down.

"Don't toy with me, child! There's no way that you're my son! How on earth would I forget the child of my own wife!?! Do you know I can have you hung for defamation!" The king began to get angry."

Robin, who was playing as the prince, paused, as if thinking about how to explain things. She pointed to her nose, and then motioned it growing. Then she pointed to where the 'king' would be standing, and, using her other hand, pointed to her own head, tilting it to the side as if she couldn't understand something. Finally, she waved her hand about suggestively, as if she were going to cast magic. After that, she moved back into the king's spot.

"Magic? You're saying that someone used magic to make us forget about you!?" Thumbs up.

"Nonsense! All the best magicians in the kingdom are protecting this place. There's no way that an enemy magician can make it past our allies!" The prince simply looked at the king, and raised an encouraging eyebrow.

"Was it an enemy magician?" the king asked. Thumbs down. "But, it was a magician, right?" Thumbs up. "An allied magician?" Thumbs up.

"Why would one of our own magicians cast a spell on us?" the king asked.

The prince paused and placed his thumb behind his back, guiltily.

"...It's a secret?" The prince said, looking completely suspicious. The king eyed the prince, then slowly began to form an idea. The audience chuckled already guessing what was going to happen next.

"Perhaps...you didn't manage to upset one of them, did you?" The prince flinched. While he was good at pranking folks, he wasn't that good at telling lies.

"It's a secret!" the prince a.s.serted." At this, the audience once more burst out into a hearty round of laughter.

"So, you angered a magician, and he cast a spell on you, huh?" the king pondered. At that point, one of the guards came in and reported the results of what had happened outside the council room.

"What!? Could it be that you angered a pixie horde instead?!" He asked the prince. The prince enthusiastically gave a thumbs down.

"Is this also a part of the spell?"

The prince was not sure how to answer that, so he tilted his thumb sideways, and jiggled it a bit.

The pranks did not originate from the spell, so he could not say yes. But, the pranks weren't uninvolved, either, so he could not say no. Aside from the outrageous pranking, the prince really wasn't a bad sort of boy, after all.

The king noticed the prince's hesitance. "It is not a consequence of the spell? Then, perhaps ….don't tell me that you angered the wizard as a result of these pranks!?"

The prince twitch, and wiped the sweat off his forehead, awkwardly not meeting the king's eyes.

"It appears that this is the case…" The king sighed. The prince did not understand how the king knew what had happened.

"You don't understand how I know this?" the king chuckled. "It's true that I don't remember you, but you're the mirror image of your mother when she was your age. She was a cunning trickster, but a horrible liar. It's only now that I see you, that I remember that side of her..."

The king stroked his beard in thought. "So, what kind of prank did you play on the magician to make him so made."

The prince pointed to his mouth. "It's a secret." he sighed.

The king raised an eyebrow at that, and pondered. "While I'm not sure exactly what you did, the only thing you can do at this point is to give up and apologize."

The prince looked at the king, then tilted his head to the side, as if he didn't quite understand. He pointed to his mouth and said pointedly. "It's. A. See-cret."

"I don't know how you're going to do so, but you'll get it done, or you'll have to live the rest of your life staring at these four walls. But, I can tell you this: if it's not resolved by the end of the day, i'll summon the royal executioner to come in and chop your nose right off." the king retorted.

The prince grabbed his nose, protectively. But it was far too long for his small hands to cover the whole long length of it.

"Also, after that, you're going to apologize to all the people here in the castle whom you've pranked, one by one. I'm not sure how bad your previous pranks were, but, judging by your most recent ones, they were most likely way over the top!" the king ordered.

"This you will accomplish diligently, or else you really are no son of mine." he said, before retiring to a nearby parlor.

The councilmen and guards all left the boy alone in the room, since there was no way he could escape with his current nose length.

When no one else was in sight, the prince sat down, and pondered over his plight. He didn't want to apologize to the grumpy old wizard. But he also did not want his nose to be cut off, and disfigure his face. Soon enough, teardrops started to fall as he began to cry.

"Oh why didn't I leave things well enough alone? At least, if I had stopped my pranking spree after lunch, then now I wouldn't be stuck here having to worry about my nose being cut off! How will I ever find that old man again?" the youth thought to himself as he sat there and cried.

"It's a secret.." -I'm sorry..

"It's a secret." -I'm really sorry.

"It's-It's a secre-het!" - I-I'm really so-ho-rry!

The old magician, who was still invisible, watched the boy cry. He wanted to know whether this was all an act, or if he was really, truly repentant. When the sobs began to dwindle, the old man silently released his invisibility spell.

The old man did not speak harshly nor softly, nor warmly nor cooly. Instead, he asked in a slow, measured voice.

"Well, boy? I'll give you one chance, and suspend the spell for a minute. What do you have to say for yourself?"

The youth glanced up, looking somewhat lost. "I...I...I'm sorry! I shouldn't have made fun of you. and I shouldn't have done all those things to trouble everyone! I guess that even when I'm having fun, that I have to make sure not to have it at everyone's expense...The truth is, I do know where the king is, and I do know who would know where the king is, because I am his son, the prince! And I definitely do not want to get my nose cut off!"

All the words that had been bundled up inside of him fell out of his mouth at that moment.

"Good. See that you remember your answer.

A small prank here and there is not a problem. But too much of anything is a bad thing.

For now, I shall accept your apology.

But, be careful... Should you forget this lesson, your nose might grow much, much longer."

And, with that, the wizard really did disappear. The prince looked around, then raised his hand up to his nose. What joy he felt when he found that it was right back to it's lovably small size.

He nearly jumped for joy. Then he went around to all the servants and knights to apologize. He helped the laundry maid gather the scattered clothing in the hall-picking up every last marble, and helped the knights catch all the messenger pigeons. He carefully removed the glue from the councilroom's chairs, and placed all the buckets back by the well, where they belonged.

In fact, that young man found he had a talent for taming animals, and inventing things. He later on became known far and wide as a wise, benevolent ruler, in times of peace, and an absolute terror to his enemies in times of war.

And some of you may ask the question, 'did he truly learn his lesson'? Well….I'm afraid….that that's a secret."

Robin finished her story, with a finger over her smiling lips as she winked mischievously at the audience. After a long moment, everyone broke out into thunderous applause, as Robin's story received a standing ovation.