Once Upon A Royal Christmas (Chaennie)

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Or perhaps not.

Rosie had assumed that since her computer was already connected to the palace wifi, she would have access to certain records and other privileges, but that appeared to not be the case.

Each article she read held the same anonymous sources or false leads that she was beginning to wonder if there were any truth to really base any of the claim around. However, Rosie was able to pull up some public birth records and such of the royal family so that definitely helped.

In a private word document, Rosie had an ongoing list of reasoning why the adoption rumor was indeed false: the similar features in past King Jared and Jennie such as the eyes, the coronation portrait, the same rare blood type. That evidence alone should have been enough to prove that the princess was indeed who she claimed to be.

But there was one thing that still nagged her: the lack of publicity and pictures from Jennie's birth.

A part of Rosie wanted to believe that since Jennie was the second born, the press hadn't hyped it up like they had with the first born, Jayce. That perhaps the excitement had worn off; however, that didn't mean that they would have ignored it completely. The former queen Jessica had drastically decreased her time in the public eye during that time as she claimed she sought privacy during a difficult pregnancy, but that didn't quite explain why she had kept her daughter hidden until she was over two years. Someone had to have gotten a whiff of that sooner. Not to mention the photos the palace released of infant and toddler Jennie were nothing quite like the amount or quality of the ones released of the then prince Jayce. While it all seemed very odd, Rosie knew there had to be some sort of explanation for it. She just didn't know what.

As she raked through more and more of the articles and photos online, Rosie almost didn't notice the knock on her door.

"Come in!" Rosie called out, raising her head towards the door.

"I was wondering where you got off to," Ella said as she walked in, a plate in her hand. "You missed out on Lisa's sugar cookies, so I brought you some."

Rosie couldn't help but smile as Ella set them on her desk. "Sorry, something came up, but thank you Ella. That was so sweet of you."

"Everything okay?" Ella frowned.

"Oh yeah, just a research project," Rosie said with a wave of her hand as she pushed up her glasses. "Not a big deal."

"Oh, I love research!" Ella perked up, rounding the desk much quicker than Rosie expected. "Let me help!"

"No really, I'm fine!" Rosie exclaimed, swiftly clicking out of the royal family's birth records, but with the amount pulled up, Rosie wasn't able to close them all out before Ella got a good look at her screen.

"Um..." Ella paused and Rosie's spine immediately stiffened. "Why do you have my mom's birth certificate pulled up on your computer?"

"It's uh, it's for a project I'm working on," Rosie said slowly, her heart now hammering in her chest as her fingernails dug into her palms.

"What kind of project would involve that?" Ella asked, her eyes still wide.

And Rosie couldn't take it. This girl had swiftly become the closet thing Rosie would ever have as a little sister in just a few short days. After their conversations, snow adventures, and feasting with one another, Rosie just couldn't bear the thought of lying to her anymore even if she hadn't done so much already. Still, a lie by omission was still a lie. To think that Ella had been so worried that Jennie would hurt her by turning into her father, but really the true traitor lay elsewhere. The thought alone made Rosie's stomach twist and threaten to heave. But Ella deserved the truth.