Hazel was woken up early in the morning by the chirping of the birds, she stood up from the bed and opened the curtains it was still very early.
"Your Highness, are you awake", she heard Marioo ask from the door
"Yes", Hazel replied
"His highness, the Crown Prince demands an audience with you", Marioo informed again
"Okay let him in", Hazel said and sat on the edge of the bed and the door was pushed open.
"Good morning Your Highness", Hazel greeted smiling
"Morning Sister Hazel, you woke early like you promised but you are not ready yet", Roshan said and his smile turned to a frown
"Ready for what Prince Roshan", Hazel asked confused
"Weren't you informed, all the Royal children have a horse riding training every morning", Roshan said and Hazel finally took a close look at his attire.
He was dressed in a black regal with black pants and black boots and he was holding a golden sword, his Regal had the illustration of a dragon in front of it in golden color. The sleeves were adorned with gold threads and the waist of the regal had a large golden belt tied to it, overall it was beautiful.
"But I have no knowledge of horse riding", she lamented she would really love to join the training.
"That's not a problem our coach will teach you but he is kinda strict though", Roshan said
"If he will teach then I can bear his strictness but my attire", Hazel said looking at her silk robe.
"You can't practice with this Sister Hazel", Roshan laughed and said
"So what do I wear then, I only have gowns",
"Where are your personal maids they will find you a shirt and pant", Roshan said and took a seat on the couch.
"Hazel snapped her fingers and Kloy and Anna came into the room and bowed
"Give your orders your Highness",
"Can you both find her a shirt and pant she has to go for the horse training", Roshan said playing with the statue on the coffee table.
"Sure your Highness let's go", Kloy said and they left her into the wardrobe, a few minutes later Hazel came out dressed in black pants, white shirt and a red Regal which looked exactly like that of Roshan apart from the fact that the drawing on hers was that of a Phoenix and hers didn't have a belt on the waist, Kloy had already helped her tie her hair into a bun so she was ready to go
"Wow Sister Hazel, you look beautiful. Let's go the general is going to be there soon and he hates lateness", Roshan said and held Hazel's hand as they both ran out of the quarters. They ran through the Palace gardens for a while longer before they got to an open field.
Klara and Astrid were practicing sword fighting when they noticed Hazel and Roshan running towards the fields.
"Why does this girl always look so beautiful no matter what she wears, I feel like pouring boiling water on that pretty face of hers whenever I see it", Princess Astrid said glaring at Hazel from the distance
"I also feel the same Astrid but we can't say our thoughts out loud remember even walls have ears", Princess Klara said cautioning her sister.
"Good morning Sister Astrid, Morning Sister Klara", Roshan greeted smiling at his elder sisters
"Good morning Prince Roshan", they both chorused
"Good morning", Hazel greeted but both Astrid and Klara ignored her and walked away.
"Ignore them Sister Hazel, let's go see your horse", Roshan said and pulled her into a shed where a snow white large horse was standing.
"Wow it's so beautiful" Hazel said and touched its smooth fur. Back in Elainor only the Duke had a horse and although it was also white in color it certainly wasn't as white or beautiful as this one in front of her.
"Do you like it Sister Hazel", Roshan asked beaming at her
"I love it Prince Roshan", Hazel said rubbing the horses head, it seemed to like her as well since it wasn't resisting her touches.
"Yay, I knew you would. Grandmother bought it for you and its name is Snow because of its snow white color, its of the best breed of horses in the whole of the seven continents and the breed is rare to find too",
"Wow but hope it wasn't troublesome for Grandma to find", Hazel said feeling quite guilty that the Royal mother went through so much trouble for her.
"It wasn't troublesome sister Hazel don't feel bad. Come on bring Snow out I will show you my horse as well", Roshan said and pulled the reins of the horse to the field center before entering another shed and pulling out a large brown horse. It looked exceptionally mighty and gorgeous under the morning sun.
"Your horse is huge and beautiful", Hazel said trying to touch the horse but it evaded her touch.
"Rocks doesn't allow anyone else to touch it apart from me, I have it for the past four years now", Roshan said beaming happily it was obvious he loved his horse
"Rocks which name is that", Hazel asked
"The name sounds mighty just like its gait so I gave it to it", Roshan declared
"Oh I see", Hazel said and they both laughed.
"Good morning your Highnesses", a young man in black pants, white shirt and black long coat greeted with a mild bow. On seeing him Prince Roshan and the Princesses immediately became quiet and replied him
"Good morning Sir Richard",
"Hello your Highness you must be Princess Hazel, His Majesty already told me about you. Welcome back to Lexan", Sir Richard said and bowed again staring at a Hazel with a complicated look in his eyes.
"Thank you", Hazel replied with a smile looking at the young man in front of her she had to admit he was really handsome and he looked so young too, he is probably just 20 or 21 years old.
"Let's start with your runs first your Highnesses",
"The three of you know what to do so start", Richard said and Klara, Astrid and Roshan began running around the field.
"Princess Hazel you have to run around the fields for a whole hour, can you do it", Richard asked giving Hazel a scrutinizing gaze,
"I will try my best Sir Richard", Hazel said and removed her regal, she rolled up her sleeves and started running after Sir Richard snapped his fingers thrice. Hazel ran around the field five times in one hour and by the time she was done she was out of breath, she collected the bottle of water from Kloy and drank it all in one gulp.
"Is that all you can do Hazel, just five laps we can run up to fifteen laps in an hour", Astrid said mockingly and laughed.
"Her Highness is doing well for a first timer", Sir Richard said sparing a single glance at Princess Astrid while she just snorted.
"The three of you can carry on with the horse riding, but Princess Hazel you will have to run again you will only move on to the horse riding when you can run at least ten laps in one hour", Sir Richard said looking at Hazel.
"What ten laps, five was enough to make me run out of breath how will I able to complete ten without fainting", Hazel thought glaring at the man in front of her but she didn't have the courage to say it out loud
"Start now your Highness, we don't have all day", Hazel looked at Sir Richard and remembered what Roshan said about him been strict
"He isn't just strict he is evil too, I have never ran like this before", she thought silently before replying
"Sure I will start now", and began running around the fields again. She ran for another three hours but her highest feat was eight laps per hour.
"You have tried your Highness but you are still weak, so we can't start the horse training for now we have to train your body first", Richard said and pointed to an heavy bell in the field center
"You see that bell it keeps on swinging from left to right, you have to go and start catching it from the right", Hazel looked at the heavy bell and took a deep breath but she still went to it. The first few times the bell kept on knocking her down but after a while she could finally hold it well.
Hazel spent five hours in the field that morning along with Klara, Astrid and Roshan but she didn't get to practice horse training like the rest, all she did was running and catching the bell, by the time she was done both her feet and hands were sore. She went back to her quarters and Court Lady Carla helped her massage her hands and feet with warm water and oil and she finally felt better.