"I don't know what to do. He's been like this for more than an hour already!"

"Is he hungry perhaps?"

"Not at all! I've been trying to get his attention for so long now..."

"...."

When the goddess told me she'd "toss" me in, it never crossed my mind to ask exactly what she meant by that.

By that, I mean I came into this world the natural way. Meaning I was now an infant. To me, infancy was pure hell.

Motor control was a pipe dream. My arms and legs would just spasm randomly and speaking was a pipe dream within a pipe dream. I also couldn't control any of my bodily functions. The maids wouldn't know if I was silent either, so I was forced to cry, something that I tried to avoid doing to preserve some dignity.

What little dignity I had left was bulldozed, however, when I realized that for the next several months of my life, I would need them to change me every... single... time.

To add even more to my grievances, I once caught sight of an extra dangly bit down there when they undressed me. No wonder it felt weird when I peed.

My poor pride. T_T

There's no doubt that Aphrodite did this on purpose. She definitely changed my gender just to kick me when I was down.

At the thought of it, I couldn't help but scowl, and I suppose that a six-month-old baby frowning so hard for long periods of time alarmed the maids greatly, because when I did it, they would become flustered.

"A stomach-ache perhaps?" My wet nurse, Maddie, said while peering, worried into the frilly white bassinet I was laying in. "Or is it gas? ...That's quite the scowl."

The maids hover over me even on a good day. It seems that Aphrodite wasn't joking about those blessings because they were constantly fawning and cooing at me. It's honestly a bit annoying. They were at my beck and call and if I were your average baby, I'd have been spoiled rotten by them. They always fussed around me with sweets and toys.

I seemed to be born in a wealthy household, but I couldn't yet decide whether this was good or bad. Only... it seemed that I was in medieval Europe.

I knew for a fact that everyone around me spoke English. Even if I couldn't yet speak myself, I could understand them at least.

It is through their conversations (which were always gushing about me or something) I learned my name was Kaoru Onyx. The first time I heard this odd name I got an odd sense of deja-vu, but no matter how long I thought about it the reason why eluded me.

I also found out that I was the first-born son of a Baron household in a kingdom named Gestalt. Again, I was assaulted by a sudden feeling of deja-vu as some old memory gnawed at the back of my mind. Anyway, I guessed that it really wasn't Earth. Being heir means predetermined responsibilities... Oh joy.

It was enough to cause flashbacks from my previous life. That goddess definitely did this on purpose. My father and mother were Shunsuke and Claire Onyx.

The mother I barely saw. In fact, I think I only ever saw her face when she'd show me off to her peers at gatherings, she threw on the estate we lived every so often. That was the only time she would hold me and pretend to be the caring mother she most definitely was not.

A "merchant's daughter fair" with stars in her eyes she married into nobility with aspirations of a higher status. She used me as a buffer to curry favour with other women of status. All of which would squeal and coo at me just like the staff did. I was surrounded by a swarm of powder make up and perfume. I started to sweat wondering if any of these primitive cosmetics had junk like lead, nightshade or mercury in them.

Using her own son for her personal gain... She gave off the same vibe as the father in my past life, so I immediately didn't like her. Unsurprisingly neither did the staff, but they were polite and did their job efficiently anyway, and she's far too absorbed with chasing status to spare them so much as a thought.

I was by all means raised by the staff. My wet nurse Maddie, a lady in her early thirties with dark brown hair and a warm looking round face, was basically my mother figure.

The father on the other hand was quite the contrary. My brethren who belongs in the strange name club as well. He was a certified ikemen, with a tall stature, broad shoulders tapered waist and legs for days. His face was certainly handsome, with kind turquoise eyes. According to the maids my coloring was mostly from him with my right eye having the same blood red color as the mother. His skin was also tanned whereas mine was the pale rosy color it had been since I was born.

I was intrigued by the rough callouses on the hands of my father who was supposedly a noble. I learned that he was in fact a high-ranking knight. His hands were rough from years of swinging a sword, yet they were still so gentle as if he was scared they'd hurt me. His job kept him away from home a lot, but he still made it a point to visit the nursery when he returned no matter how exhausted he was.

I would see father at least twice a week. It wasn't much but it was a far cry from Miss Social-climber. He may not have visited often but in the time that he spent with me... His gaze was filled with an adoration I was unfamiliar with. It wasn't the mad feverish gaze of my ex-husband, the fascination of those noble women or the blind loyalty in the eyes of the staff. It was the kind of adoring gaze I'd often see from a doting parent to their child.

This man might have been the only proper parent I've ever had...

Fine. I grudgingly allowed him to rub my cheeks a bit.

Also, I should mention one important factor among my discoveries: magic.

That's the detail that shocked me the most. I was in a particularly bad mood after one of the mother's tea parties in the garden and when the frantic maids went to my father that night about it he decided to amuse me by summoning a small ball of fire to dance about on his fingertips.

I could just imagine how huge my eyes must have gotten. He must have taken this as a good sign because he summoned several more and they did a little synchronized dance on his hands.

At the end of the show I was furiously clapping my chubby hands. He looked a bit surprised at my enthusiasm but pleased all the same.

After months of barely being able to move and being at the mercy of everyone else this was the interesting thing I'd seen since birth hands down.

I was instantly fascinated and song to learn how he did it. Unfortunately, I first had to get rid of obstacles like the fact that I didn't know the forest thing about casting magic and the fact that I couldn’t simply ask to be taught magic. I was still a baby after all.

I decided to quickly "learn" how to talk and read at a young age. It might cause a bit of a stir, but I didn't have time to sit around being cute damn it!

That day I made a determined face...

And the maids squealed dazedly.

At the age of one close to my second birthday I coincidentally "learned" to read much to the shock of the entire household.

I gravely overestimated the learning standard of this place because it caused a sensation. The servants were beaming proudly and bragged to everyone and anyone who cared to listen about their young master being a child prodigy.

The mother rushed to invite people over to gloat about it and I was dragged along much to my distaste. She continued to flutter about like a social butterfly despite being heavily pregnant. I had to give her points for effort.

It was worth it however for the proud smile that father gave me and the fact that he granted me access to the treasure trove that was the library, so let's just ignore the annoying people.

Another surprise was that father wasn't just a man of the sword. From the vast collection in the library I could gather that he was quite the scholar as well. The books in this country were at least written in English, which made it a lot easier.

I learned plenty about this world. It seems that Gestalt Kingdom was one of the three major kingdoms on the largest continent in this world. It lies to the westernmost part of the continent and had some of the most fertile land there. It was flanked by Polaris kingdom in the north, and Noctis Kingdom in the south with the smaller countries and subordinate countries making up the east with what was known as the demon lands to the extreme east.

The words "Demon Lands" made me do a double take. At first, I thought it was some sort of exaggeration, but it seems that that part of the continent consisted of unclaimed land that was proven uninhabitable because it was infested with demon beasts and excess dark magical energy.

So, there were monsters in this world as well as magic. That upped the danger level quite a bit and I wondered whether I should start training my body as well. But I quickly decided to wait after remembering that I was still only one and that incident with the reading already had the household in shock. I decided to stay low key from then on.

Anyway, it seemed that Gestalt kingdom was ruled by a monarchy with the current king being Aldrich von Gestalt with one child. A young prince who was, at the time, for years old. Yet again I got that nagging sense of deja-vu. What am I forgetting that was so important? I'm pretty sure that I've never been in this world before, more than sure, so why do certain words and phrases ring a bell? It didn't come to me no matter how long I pondered it, so I returned to studying.

Our estate was located on our modest fief that my father had earned through his deeds in the Knights Order.

I'll say it again, but this father of mine was pretty impressive. It seemed he was extremely well liked by the commoners of the fief as well judging by how the servants spoke of him. It seemed that his treatment of them was exceptional as well because we got a lot of refugees from other fiefs seeking to live there.

'Well if it's this kind of father then I don't mind putting up with the responsibility as heir....'

I spent my time buried in books for a long while as my second birthday finally came along.

Birthday parties weren't a thing in this world. They did hold birthday celebrations like balls but those were for people already debuted into society. The two-year-old me was much too young so the most I got was another of the mother's bragging parties, only this time those noble ladies dragged their noble brats along. I made it a point to avoid all of them until it was over.

The best part of that whole day was when father gifted me some brand-new books. They were fairy tales and adventure stories though... but he especially took time out from his schedule to sit me on his lap and read to me.

'Geez. I guess I'll just have to put up with it. These books could have valuable information about culture and lore after all.'