In another world as my waifu #1: Brave New World and the Fallen Prince(ss)

Chapter 75: A ball awaits. Dresses arrive. Mouths are left agape.

In the room closest to a certain someone's, when the sky was close to be painted in the colors of a new day, a black-haired maid was still dreaming.

She dreamt of the past.

She dreamt of bygone days much earlier than a certain Order.

She dreamt of days even earlier than her days in a certain academy.

She dreamt of a time when things were...if not simpler, at least much different.

She dreamt of her childhood.

She dreamt of...halcyon days.

Yes...even if those days were full of lessons, trials and challenges put before her by her parents.

And the reason was simple...she was happy.

She was happy learning everything she could from those lessons.

She was happy facing the impossible trials set by her mother in her training.

She was happy taking on the challenges made by her father in his training.

She was happy playing around with her childhood friend in the gardens of the palace, reenacting the legends of the Knights she looked up to.

She was happy taking care of her little brother and telling him such legends every night.

Indeed...it was a time when she did not have to worry about the innocence of her brother nor her childhood friend.

And of course...

"We are almost there, my son. You can do it."

"Yes, Father! Hnng...!"

...it was a time when her father was that.

A father.

One who would sometimes take her on small journeys outside of the Capital, regardless if that meant skipping classes and kingly responsibilities alike.

And the scene that her dream showed her was one of those journeys, one where they were climbing up the skirt of one of the smaller mountains in the Kingdom after having dealt with some monsters.

There, her father had reached the spot where they would both camp and take in the vista that it provided.

Meanwhile, the child that was Erevain was only a few meters away, climbing up the path that his father had taken, carefully grabbing each ledge, and making sure that his footing was sure.

And as he got close enough to his goal, his father crouched and looked at him in the eye.

"Do you need a hand, my son?"

"No."

So answered the child that was Erevain as he shook his head.

And indeed, he did not need it.

His hands were not trembling, nor were his legs tired.

After all, it was not his first time climbing and his body was already well conditioned enough by his parents' training.

Still, his father did not move and neither did Erevain.

"Do you want one?"

"...yes."

Before such question, the child that was Erevain looked at his father and then looked slightly down as if pondering about it for a moment before looking up once more and smiling at his father as he said that.