Haa...

This mother of mine...

Is strangling me....

Her body weight pressed down on my slight eight-year-old frame and the chill from the freshly fallen snow beneath me stabbed straight into my bones so that despite the lack of air I was shivering hard.

My little sister is standing just a few feet away blubbering loudly unsure of how to help or what to do with herself in general. Though I could hardly hear her begging on my behalf over the spiteful, insane ranting of my mother dearest.

Come to think of it I can barely hear that either. I can see her brightly painted lips moving and twisting and the warmth of her breath ghosting onto my face, but the sounds are muted as if I'm under water.

I guess this is an indicator that I'm close to death. It sucks that this weird, chaotic scene is the last thing I see. This whole situation is weird.

An eight year old boy with blood red hair thinly dressed and lying in half a foot of snow with an extremely richly dressed woman sitting on him with her hands in a death grip on his neck, and perfectly manicured nails biting into the skin of his neck and drawing blood, a frantic six year old girl bawling bloody murder next to the scene, all of them barefoot in the middle of winter.

Unfortunately for me, no one is around to see it as this drama is unfolding in the wintery forest of one of Gestalt kingdom's ducal houses sprawling estate while the servants inside try frantically to understand why the Master of the house, Duke Verne was wailing and most importantly missing his right eye.

If there was any air left in my lungs, I would h

eave a huge sigh at these circumstances.

The tear stained face of this woman, the 'Duchess' above me with her make up all smeared and runny is really distasteful. It's not like she's crying out of guilt for cold-bloodedly murdering her only son or traumatizing her only daughter either.

Nope.

She's crying for her marriage which is currently so in shambles you could barely call it a marriage anymore.

This woman is convinced that this is my doing.

Yes... Mine... me... the eight-year-old.

To be fair I suppose that I'm not like any other eight-year-old seeing as I have the soul of a 39-year-old elite businesswoman.

Yes, it is strange that I am currently in a child's body and a boy no less, but that is just how reincarnation works I guess.... actually no. I don't think the way I reincarnated was very normal either.

In my past life I was, ironically enough, strangled to death by my crazed ex-husband. It was winter then as well (I'm beginning to draw similarities between these situations now...).

As I lay sprawled out on my bed in my home clad in my favourite silky bathrobe and my night dress his large hands gripped my thin neck sure to leave garish bruises and his desperate tear streaked face hovered close to mine. Those gorgeous brown eyes of his were looking at me, the victim, as if he was the one being gravely wronged.

My vision faded to black and as my consciousness faded as well. I remember feeling too lazy and sluggish to wonder what kind of afterlife I was headed for. I thought that whether it be heaven or hell there's no helping it now so let me sleep. I then slipped into undisturbed eternal slumber.

........

Or at least I thought I would.

"Oh no you don't~♡"

"?!"

My descent into the stillness of death was halted by the most sickly-sweet voice I'd ever heard.

"You've really been a naughty child your entire life. Don't think that you can just move on without repenting even a tiny bit. Bad children have to be punished~"

"Who's there?!" I was surrounded by thick impenetrable darkness wherever I looked, yet there was a voice exceedingly close to me and it wasn't my ex-husband’s. The voice seemed to come from all around me. It was a female voice practically dripping with sugar, yet there was a dark undertone to it that could make anybody shudder just a little. When I didn't shudder, or rather couldn't, I also realized that I couldn't even move a muscle. Added to that was my invisible company so I started to panic a bit.

"Who are you?! Where are you?!" It was strange how I could still hear my voice despite not being able to move or feel anything, because I was pretty sure my lips weren't moving either.

"I'm right here silly~"

"Why can't I move?!"

"Because you already died of course. You're only a soul now~"

In the moment I was stunned by this reply there was a soft glow that illuminated a figure standing right in front of me. She was huge because I seemed to be resting on her outstretched palms. Despite this, she was a show stopping beauty.

Her facial features were flawless and sat against her dark brown skin perfectly symmetrically and delicate. Her skin shone flawlessly with an unearthly glow and a mass of chocolate brown hair tumbled down her back from behind a silver crown atop her head. Startlingly she was naked from the chest up and extremely shapely with a flowing white gauzy dress with patterns that drifted lazily across it.

Despite the fact that she was damn near naked she looked so completely natural that try as I might, I couldn't find it strange. Her blue green eyes focused on me and I could see the reflection of light in her eyes forming

small hearts.

....

Wait what?!

"There is this better, my sweet? ~" She smiled sweetly at me causing the hearts to float around in her eyes.

"Who... who are you?" I managed to ask after I'd gathered my wits.

"Oh, Lovely, you can call me Aphrodite, or you could call me Venus. Whichever is fine. I am the goddess of love. And you, poppet, have caused me to grieve sorely~"

"I did?" I raised my non-existent eyebrows at this. "I think you have the wrong person. I didn't exactly die a virgin, but my life wasn't exactly the most exciting when it comes up to love either. At least not enough to catch the attention of the goddess of love--" My statement was cut short by a panicked squeak as her hands suddenly squeezed together and I got a feeling of unimaginably uncomfortable pressure.

"And that, my little nightingale is what you did wrong." Was that a muscle twitching in that flawless cheek? "Tell me loveling, can you spot the discrepancy here?" As soon as she asked this a thin glowing blue screen appeared just over her left shoulder. It read:

Name: Yukimura Michi

Patron God(dess): Aphrodite

Age: 39 years

Occupation: Businesswoman

Marital status: Divorced, single

Children: One (daughter)

Status: Deceased

C.O.D: Strangulation

"On top of this, you lost your virginity at the age of twenty and married at the age of twenty, had one child and divorced at the age of thirty-eight. Total sex partners... one." While stating out every key detail of my marital life her voice seemed to get huskier and huskier with what I could now identify as barely concealed anger. Yes, that was definitely a tick in her jaw.

"So, tell me, my sweet sweet little honeybee... HOW THE HELL DOES SOMEONE BLESSED BY THE GODDESS OF LOVE LIVE LIKE A DAMNED NUN FOR ALL 39 YEARS OF HER LIFE BEFORE DYING?!!?"

Ah... She exploded. Her flawless face was marred by undiluted fury.

"But... but I didn't even know... I'm not even Greek--" I somehow managed to stutter out only to feel her fingers pinch either side of what I assumed to be my entire being and stretched harshly. She then began to squish me flat and stretch me again repeatedly.

"Hmmm? What was that, sugar? ~ You're mocking me right? I can't believe what happened to the soul I had such high hopes for... Do you have any idea what a laughingstock you've made me on Olympus? Hmm? hmmm?"

She seemed to get progressively angrier and that muscle in her jaw was ticking away furiously now.

I was at a loss at how to defend myself against this mad goddess and could only be helplessly tormented by her.

It's true that my love life was rather cold, but I grew up in a cold house. I was raised in the main branch of a prestigious clan with a heartless father focused only on power and a bland complacent trophy wife of a mother...

My whole life was mapped out so I could become the perfect pawn in my father's power schemes by marrying me off to some rich house, so of course I had to study hard all through my school life. I had no time for romance, not that the old man would have let me come within four feet of any man he didn't see as a potential son-in-law.

I narrowly avoided being married off fresh out of high school by convincing him that a smart pawn is worth so much more. So, I was allowed to go to college.

That close brush in high school gave me such a fright that I studied hard and graduated college early. It was here that I put the charm I didn't know I had to use and seduced Shirogane Asami and eloped together with him cutting all ties with the Yukimura family.

I couldn't relax yet as I struggled to find a foothold to stand for myself in the world. My pride wouldn't allow me to depend on Asami for the rest of my life, so I put my schoolwork to use and dove into the world of business.

At the age of thirty-eight I was already standing at the pinnacle of the business world running one of the top companies on the world stage. This was when Asami started to interfere. The man clung to me something fierce.

I never honestly loved Asami I admit. I also admit that I used him for my own gain, but I didn't hate him either. On the contrary I looked upon him very affectionately. This was why I chose to run away with him in the first place. I saw him as one of the two closest people to me, the other being our daughter... it just... wasn't love of the romantic sort.

His clinginess only got worse, unfortunately, until a divorce was in order. So, I left and took our teenage daughter Aki with me. I considered it over and done with but now that I look back on it, it seems that I either consciously or unconsciously overlooked that feverish expression in his eyes when he looked at me ever since we first met, the way he looked at me like I was his life line...

It was probably this carelessness towards potential danger that ended it all...

That and a careless maid that succumbed to his charm and gave him a key to my villa...

My love life really was not the best but hell! I didn't even know that I had a patron goddess! I was atheist as a matter of fact, so I had no idea I was pissing off the goddess of love.

Speaking of which... she's really pretty which is understandable seeing as she's also the goddess of beauty... but her current expression was scary you know....

"That bitch Athena is gonna be laughing in her sleep for centuries to come!" She pulled at her glossy hair.

"... I still don't get why I'm here though." I said tentatively free from her torment for a moment. "I can't go back and change who I was. I'm already dead."

She stopped her ranting and her expression returned to the previous serene smile.

Somehow, I could tell that this did not bode well.

And I was proven right in the next instant.

"Oh, don't worry, muffin~~" She said in that melodic voice. "I know exactly how you'll compensate me for my troubles~"

Uh oh.

"You cannot return to your previous life... but you can start over in another world~"

"… Another what?!"

"There are plenty of worlds I can toss you into~"

"Wait wait wait! I never agreed to this!" My danger senses were alerted despite how simple she made it sound.

"Now look here little girl," her voice dropped an octave, "I never gave you a choice. You will start over in another life and this time you will do it right. It's what you get for insulting my gifts to you in your previous life.

Despite me giving you a gorgeous face and a perfect body with talent in music, singing, dancing and even art, you lived your entire life like you were made of ice. You only got close to one man and you never even loved him. There wasn't a shred of romantic love in your entire lifetime. It's a disgrace and I won't stand for it!

Being the beautiful, benevolent being that I am, I decided to allow you to start over instead of just cursing you for all eternity~

I'll let you reincarnate but keep in mind that if you fail me in this life..." her voice dropped lower and lower, "I'll just keep sending you into different worlds and you best believe I'll make sure your circumstances are worse and worse. Let's see if you won't get it right. Understand?"

"Y... yes..." Tip number one: Do NOT provoke the angry goddess.

"Good~♡" She seemed pleased with my answer. "How about some extra blessings for good measure? An enchanting voice? Bewitching eyes? A seductive body? Ooh~ Maybe a mysterious air of allure? ~~"

Just the thought of what kind of trouble those blessings could cause made me scared, but I kept my mouth shut to avoid being cursed horribly.

She held a palm out in front of me. Instantly the glow started to fade and that all-consuming darkness swallowed her figure from my sight. I began to panic once again when it finally sank in that she really was going to just toss me in just like that.

"Wait at least tell me where I'm headed!!"

I was answered by a lilting chuckle.

"Be sure to show me a proper romance this time okay, agape mou~♡"

Suddenly feeling came back to me like rainwater through a dry riverbed. It was almost overwhelming after not being able to feel anything for so long.

There was an unimaginably constricting heat surrounding my entire body. It was so suffocating that I couldn't even scream out my grievances.

It seemed to be forever before there was even more pressure and a tugging at the top of my head. Finally, the pressure eased, and I was free but....

Why was the light so blinding? All I could hear were garbled voices.

'Where am I?!' I tried to shout but all I heard was the high-pitched wail of an infant.

....

....

....

'Actually, it kind of sounds like its coming from me....'

....

....

....

My poor heart was wailing for the injustice too.