Once Upon A Royal Christmas (Chaennie)

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"I cannot believe that you made me walk down all those stairs and put on my winter gear just to look at the snow," Lady Ella grumbled as she rubbed her arms. "Especially when we could see it just fine from inside."

The housekeeper who had seen them exiting the castle had insisted that the teen put on multiple layers of coats, hats, and boots despite the royal's grumbling. The attendant paid much less attention to the tutor and simply threw a scarf at Rosie and a glare, clearly not happy that this tutor was adding to her already busy workload. Her own Seoul winter attire wasn't quite up to par with the Westfallian season, but she was sure she could push through it as long as they didn't spend too long outside.

Besides, the outdoors here were absolutely stunning, and Rosie would have had to have been a fool if she were to pass on them. Between the castle walls and forest line, everything was prestrinely trimmed and landscaped to human perfection. Even the snow appeared to hang on the tree perfectly, the added weight bending the birch trees down as if even nature was honoring their upcoming new Queen. Red cardinals and brown sparrows trilled as they flitted along the evergreen branches in the pines and squirrels chattered as they chased one another around the thick trunks of oaks. The snow dusted the palace walls that watched over them while the paths and benches were freshly cleared and inviting. Everywhere Rosie looked, she saw images from post cards and travel guides. How could anyone not want to spend all the time they could out here?

"Fresh air is good for you!" Rosie insisted as she inhaled deeply, doing her best not to cough on the tickle of cold air.

"And the warm air inside isn't?"

"Oh, please, this winter weather isn't going to kill you."

"Haven't you ever heard of hypothermia? Frostbite? Heart attack?"

"All valid points, but," Rosie clapped her now gloved hands. "On with our lesson!" Rosie scooped up a handful of snow from the grass besides them. "Can you tell me what snow is exactly?"

"Frozen water," Lady Ella said with dead eyes.

"Not exactly," Rosie explained as she spun around to gesture at the snow covered garden around them "See, snow is actually ice crystals. That's why it takes the form of a snowflake. If it were actually frozen water, it would be considered sleet or frozen rain-- oof!"

Rosie's lecture had been so rudely interrupted by a clump of snow hitting her in the back. Turning slowly, Rosie saw a smirking teen with her hands hidden behind her back.

"Did you just throw a snowball at me?" Rosie asked slowly.

"Who me?" Lady Ella feigned innocence. "I'm just a crippled royal who is much too proper for that. I probably wouldn't even know how to make one."

"You literally just hit me with one." Rosie grunted as the teen revealed what was behind her back and launched another snowball that hit her in the chest. "Hey!"

Lady Ella only laughed as she bent down to scoop up another handful of snow, but Rosie beat her to the throw this time with a hit that glanced the teen's shoulder.

"You dare hit a member of the royal family?" Lady Ella demanded with a scoff as she stood up, her own snowball in hand.

"And I'll do it again," Rosie said, raising her arms as she dared the young woman to throw the snowball she was packing together in her hands.

"Oh, you're so on."

Rosie spun out of the path of Lady Ella's snowball with a laugh, but wasn't quite able to return fire in time before she was hit by another snowball in the back. Sliding to the ground, Rosie gathered a large clump of snow together and managed to sling it into Lady Ella's direction before the royal took shelter behind a large stone statue of some patriarchy of the past. Vulnerable, Rosie sought shelter behind a pine tree, but that didn't prevent her from getting hit in the face once she peaked out behind it. When Rosie launched her own retaliation snowball, it barely hit the teen in the foot. Apparently all her training with Alice in her childhood had worn off.