CHAPTER 403: THE KING AND QUEEN WHO PLAY IN THE SNOW

"Husband, can we take a walk outside?" asked Primrose as she looked at the piles of snow outside the palace.

She had felt a little sad when they had to leave their secluded room, but now that she found something interesting, she had completely forgotten her sadness.

"We can," Edmund said. "But you have to wear something warm first."

He then asked the maids to bring his wife’s thick coat, gloves, and the scarf he once gave her.

"The scarf is really warm." Primrose smiled as Edmund helped wrap it around her neck. "I don’t feel that cold anymore."

To be honest, she was still cold, but the scarf definitely helped her keep from shivering and freezing in place. Even though the temperature was painfully low, she couldn’t stop herself from walking into the thick snow with her husband.

After all, this was their first winter together. She wouldn’t count their first life, because back then, they hadn’t even interacted during winter.

"Are you sure you’re all right?" Edmund touched her cheeks with his gloved hands. "Your face looks a little red."

Primrose laughed softly. "Don’t worry, it’s normal for me," she reassured him. "My skin always turns reddish when it’s cold."

Besides that, she also tended to look paler in winter than usual, so pale that her father once thought his daughter was dying.

No, she wasn’t exaggerating at all. Her father had truly believed she was going to die just because her complexion looked as pale as snow. Fortunately, the doctor told him she wasn’t sick and explained that it was normal for people with pale skin to look even paler during winter, or turn red after being exposed to the cold for too long.

After realizing she was fine, her father went from worrying about her to joking that if she ever wore a white coat and covered her red hair, she might disappear into the snow and no one would even notice her.

But apparently ... her husband had a different thought about that matter.

[She looks so pale right now,] he spoke in her mind. [No wonder it’s so easy to leave red marks on her. Maybe I shouldn’t have healed those marks, so I—]

"Husband," Primrose interrupted, still smiling even though she had caught Edmund thinking something naughty about her. "I can hear you."

Edmund froze and immediately tried to stop his dirty thoughts by repeating the word ’donkey’ over and over again in his head.

For an overthinker like him, it was really hard to control his thoughts, or suddenly think of nothing at all.

"I’m sorry," he muttered, lowering his head.

"You don’t have to be," Primrose said with a teasing smile. She gestured for him to bend down so she could whisper beside his ear. "You had two whole weeks to do that, but you didn’t. Husband, that was such a terrible mistake."

They had basically stayed in their bedroom for two weeks, so Edmund had no real reason to erase the red marks all over her body, and yet he only thought about it now.

She had actually thought about it before, but since her husband hadn’t mentioned it, she decided not to either.

"My wife, that—"

"That’s such a pity, I know." Primrose patted his cheek. "Don’t worry, you can still do it next year. Just make sure you don’t get me pregnant during the next winter."

In other words, she meant that if she wasn’t pregnant, they could spend the entire two weeks making love all day and all night, or maybe not that much, since they’d still have to take care of their newborn.

Anyway, she’d think about that later. Right now, she had something much more interesting in mind.

"Come on, let’s go outside now." Primrose grabbed Edmund’s hand and led him to the garden behind the palace.

All the flowers and trees had withered in the cold, but the ones inside the greenhouse were still blooming, thanks to the plant witch who had cast a spell on them at Edmund’s request.

However, Primrose had no intention of going into the greenhouse right now.

"Have you ever made a snowman before?" asked Primrose with a bright smile.

She used to make snowmen with her father and friends back in Illvaris, but since moving to Noctvaris, she hadn’t done it again. She simply never had the mood, and always feeling gloomy instead.

"I’ve done it a few times," Edmund murmured softly. "But ... maybe that was more than a decade ago."

In other words, it had been that long since he became king.

Besides, he also thought making snowmen wasn’t all that fun.

"Trust me, it is fun! Especially if you do it with someone else!" Primrose grinned so brightly that her eyes curved like crescent moons. "And even more better if that person is me! Come on, help me make the big snowball!"

Edmund couldn’t help but chuckle at her enthusiasm. He watched as Primrose bent down and began to roll a handful of snow across the ground, giggling every time it picked up more flakes and grew bigger.

"You have to press it gently," she instructed, her tone half-serious and half-playful. "If you do it too hard, it’ll break apart."

Edmund followed her instructions so carefully it looked as if they were trying to save someone’s life instead of building a snowman.

After a while, they finally stacked three big snowballs together until they formed the perfect shape of a snowman. The bottom was sturdy, the middle was smooth and round, and the top sat neatly like a small crown of snow.

Primrose clapped her hands happily. "See? I told you it’s fun!"

"Edmund" at their creation, then turned to his wife’s face, which looked so happy. "You’re right. It’s really fun."

"Of course it is!" she said proudly, then began searching around. "Now we need the eyes, nose, and mouth!"

Edmund bent down and picked up two small stones from the ground. "For the eyes?"

"Yes!" Primrose nodded eagerly. "And maybe a small branch for the mouth. Oh—and the nose! We need something for the nose!"

Edmund looked around but frowned. "We don’t have a carrot, do we?"

Primrose puffed her cheeks. "No, but ...." She glanced toward a nearby bush and grabbed a tiny red berry that had somehow survived the snow. "This will do!"

After placing a tiny red berry, their snowman finally looked perfect.

"We’ll name him Berry," Primrose said proudly. "And maybe we should make more snowmen so Berry won’t get lonely."

As they made more snowmen for Berry, the palace staff watched them from afar, munching on snacks as if they were witnessing a live romantic play.

"Do you think I’m dreaming?" one soldier whispered to his partner. "There’s no way I’ve lived this long just to witness His Majesty making a snowman."

"I can smack your head so you’ll know whether you’re dreaming or not."

The soldiers ended up smacking each other’s heads just to make sure they weren’t dreaming, but to their shock, they really weren’t!

The mighty Lycan King was truly out there, playing in the snow with his beautiful wife, completely at her mercy as she made him build more and more snowmen for their little friend Berry.

"Now Berry has his own army!" Primrose cheered after Edmund finished making the twelfth snowman for Berry.

A smile formed on Edmund’s face every time his wife looked that happy. He hadn’t expected her to be so delighted just because he made snowmen for her.

He even considered making an entire army for Berry. However, before he could build too many snowmen and fill the entire palace garden, Primrose called out to him, "Edmund, look over here!"

He turned toward her, and to his surprise, Primrose suddenly threw a small snowball right at his face.

"Husband, this is a snow fight!" she declared before running away and throwing even more snowballs at him.

After processing what his wife had just done, Edmund finally joined in and threw small snowballs at her, but not too hard because he was afraid he might hurt her.

However, as the snowball fight grew fiercer, Edmund accidentally threw one a little too hard, and it hit Primrose right in the face, causing her to fall backward.

His eyes widened in panic as he rushed toward her. "Primrose! Primrose, I’m sorry! I’m really sorry!" He quickly grabbed her hands and helped her sit up in the snow. "Are you hurt? Your head? The baby?"

He was so terrified that he could barely speak properly. He brushed the snow off her hair and checked the back of her head in a flurry of worry.

But to his surprise, Primrose started laughing instead. "Husband, I’m fine!" She cupped his cheeks and said gently, "The snow is really thick, so I didn’t fall onto the hard ground."

Edmund finally let out the breath he’d been holding, but that didn’t mean he was calm yet. "Are you sure? I’ll ask Dr. Celdric to check on you right away."

"Oh, husband, I’m really fine." She patted the thick layer of snow beneath her. "Here, lie down on it so you can feel for yourself how thick it really is."