The following morning just like I promised previously to Ser Willem Darry I began my basic sword training with him, he gave me my first wooden sword and shield.

“Solid stance with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent.” He began to demonstrate. “Hold the shield in front of ya, protect your body, and grip the sword with your dominant hand.”

I replicate what he’s doing, observing each detail and practicing it.

“Good, let’s continue.” He said.

He began to show me all of the basic movements like parry, thrust, and slash. He made me repeat these movements over and over, criticizing me when I made a mistake and offering advice to better myself. When he felt satisfied with what he saw we began to move forward with the next basic movement variation.

Shield bash, feints, and footwork, just like the first time around he began to show me how it's supposed to be done and told me to try after it. It was a boring and monotonous routine, yet it was also surprisingly exhausting.

We kept going from dawn until the sun was rising high in the sky, drilling the basic movements of sword fighting with many variations. When I asked how long are we going to keep training he just shrugged his shoulder.

“I thought you never asked Your Highness, you can stop a little while ago if you just asked. Since you don’t ask, I just assumed you wanted to keep going.” He explained.

‘This old man…’

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

I keep busy with my studies, learning more about High Valyria language, trade routes in Essos, and building a rapport and connection with the Sept Faith of The Seven here in Dragonstone. It leaves me with no time for ruminating on my own life that I had practically left behind, but honestly, it didn’t really bother me, I don’t think there’s anything I can do instead to move on anyway. 

"It helps when you don't really have anyone you would really missed in your life." I mused aloud.

 One thing I noticed in my new life that’s different from mine previously was how much I’m able to concentrate on things I was doing and how much I enjoy learning.

 I was able to do my own thing without worrying about bills and work unlike in my previous life where I was practically forced to do things I don’t particularly really care or love every day for decades out of necessity.

Rhaegar still alive and that give me the opportunity to do anything I want since people literally have zero expectation of me, the role of second-born son in medieval society is basically just to be there as a replacement in case the heir dies.

It might be an unusual to say but this current predicament, I think it turns out to be perfect for me.

Speaking of Rhaegar, I don’t think I can stop him from chasing his stupid prophetic dreams, my plan is just to lay low for now and take one step at a time to survive and eventually thrived in this world.

During my studies I spent a lot of time with Maester Corren since he was sort of my tutor assign to me, one evening when I was helping him in his work shop, learning about botany and various medicines, he was offering me a surprising proposition.

He said he was impressed with my dedication to learning and innate curiosity lately, he would like to offer me a letter of recommendation to learn at the Citadel so I can eventually become a Maester.

I’m happy with his kind gesture, maybe he just assumed since I was a second born, I don’t have anywhere really to go.

I just said thank you and telling him I will be thinking about it, which made him seems happy.

‘But there is just no way though…’ I exclaimed in my mind.

There are various reasons that arrangement will never work, first I don’t have any interest on doing that, second there is Robert Baratheon Rebellion.

After he assumed power there’s no way he just let me go scott-free no matter what my personal stance is, apart from the two main reasons I just mentioned there are also many more reasons that make this decision impossible or foolish to take.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

It was late in the afternoon when I once again finished my training regiments with Ser Willem Darry, apart from doing sword training I also begin to incorporated a bodyweight workout routine to build my base level of strength.

In this time period, we don’t really have a codified name for all of the movements we know in the modern world but Ser Willem Darry himself approved of my method and seemed surprised when I explained to him more in-depth explanations and the concept of training different muscle groups.

He legit just chalked it up for me being a nerd, which is kind of infuriated me a little, but apart from that I do think he also takes note because I see the knight and the men-at-arms under him doing the same routine I do the following morning after our talk.

‘Ah, another random talk but I honestly think it was fortunate of me to be transported here when my body is still in a growing phase. I just need to change my diet to optimize growth, hopefully, I can trigger a big growth spurt in my teen years if I eat correctly.’ my brain scheming.

In my previous life I didn’t get blessed with a tall height but I also think that was also because I didn’t eat healthy and have a poor sleep routine during my growing phase. I hope to rectify that in this body since having a slightly taller frame than average will always be positive things to have.

To achieve my goal of that currently, I ate a lot of seafood since Dragonstone is located on an island in the Narrow Sea, the cuisine in this world was surprisingly delicious despite the simple ingredients they have. Maybe it was because of the freshness of the food, whatever it is I have no complaint about the food in this world.

Speaking of other food, since I also like to hang out in Aegon’s Garden, I can pluck cranberries and eat them as a snack. I usually do this while I begin relaxing because I feel burned from my studies, this is where and how I find my main fruit in my diet.

Anyway... since I'm done training with Ser Willem Darry, currently  I’m planning to walk to my personal chamber and freshen up myself before getting ready for my next lesson with Maester Corren, usual stuff really. Maester Corren do teach me many things but, each Maester in Westeros actually have their own specific field of study, and in the case of Maester Corren, his specific field is medicine and apothecary.

From his tutelage I learned how to identify various medical plants and how to synthesize basic drugs. There are many plants that are just available in this world and chemistry is not my field of knowledge, so during this particular topic I just learn and experiment with things he told me to do, basically just following his instructions and absorbing as much knowledge as I can from him.

I stretch my body which is still full of sweat from all the training today, when I finally turn around toward the hall where my chamber located, there is Septa Marybel standing there on the hallway, seems to be waiting for me.

There is a man with rich-looking attire and a young girl in a foreign dress I’ve never seen before.

‘Are this the Braavosi merchant we talked about last week?’ I questioned to myself.