Months after my seventh birthday, they finally did it. In early spring, with much pomp and fanfare, they got married and Claire Onyx became Claire Verne. Plenty of influential nobles and even the Queen and the royal brood turned out for it.

It was extra annoying because it seemed that despite being withdrawn from noble social circles, with my mother's bragging and that incident with the reading I became quite the popular commodity. A huge amount of them seemed to have showed up just to glimpse me.

Aphrodite, you... just what kind of "blessings"(read curse) did you put on me???

At the reception I was approached by one person after another but despite being internally annoyed I plastered on my most charming megawatt business smile and made polite conversations with them. I silently hoped for the end of the whole fiasco and my suffering to arrive.

What arrived before me instead were both the royal princes. I groaned internally.

Before me were Fabian von Gestalt and Leon von Gestalt the first and second princes of Gestalt Kingdom respectively.

The first prince, Fabian, was two years older than me, according to information I'd gathered, which made him eight. He was about a head taller than me with short curly blonde hair and deep blue eyes. He was just this old but was already adapting the bearing of a prince. He had a straight posture and a calm smile on his face. But... he's still a child after all. I could easily see the childish curiosity in his eyes. No doubt he came over to see what all the adults were fussing over.

I showed them my calm collected smile before dipping into a deep bow and offering the appropriate greetings.

They seemed a little taken aback at first before regaining their bearings.

I have to say that the first prince seemed very capable. He made for very polite conversation and seemed somewhat mature compared to other noble children. He asked me questions such as what kinds of books I read and how I felt about Claire's marriage.

About the first topic, I was genuinely interested in the conversation. It seemed that the royal library had a far more diverse collection of books than I imagined. I made it a goal to find a way in there one day.

The second half of the conversion, I completely lied through my teeth with a warm, sincere smile on my face.

Soon he was called over by the Queen to speak with some other noble family. He politely excused himself and walked calmly over to her leaving me with the second prince who curiously enough remained standing before me.

I gave him a curious glance.

If the prince had blonde hair, then prince Leon's hair was golden. His wavy hair reached just below his ears. It was swept pack swept back into a small ponytail with a few locks escaping to make an unruly frame for his pale white face. He was... just as tall as me.... hmm... the royal family must have a tall gene going for them.... That's it...

His teal eyes studied me curiously. He was two years younger than me, four just like Ronnie but he somehow dwarfed her. This kid...

He was only four after all, so he was much less controlled than his brother and outright looked me up and down. He was obviously at least a little spoiled if not haughty. It was actually kind of amusing. So, I decided to bully him a little.

I fixed him with a blank stare and let an awkward silence descend between us until it penetrated that thick skin of his and he started to fidget slightly.

Finally, he cleared his throat and spoke first. I smirked inwardly at the small victory.

"So, you are Kaoru Onyx, the child genius?" He asked.

"I wouldn't dare to call myself a genius," I said with my business smile back in place. "I just picked up a few things a little earlier than others, it's not enough to warrant such praise."

"Do you want to visit the palace sometime?" He threw out a question that had me reeling.

'You're going to invite me to the palace? Just like that? Don't you need permission?' These questions ran through my head as I looked at him slightly stunned. At that moment I also thought, 'This could be a good opportunity to get into that royal library the first prince mentioned.' And like that I made up my mind, but before I could accept--

"Big brother~" came a voice with a clear pout in it. Ronnie came up to me in her frothy pink and white dress and hooked onto my arm with a frown on her delicate face. "Big brother, my cheeks hurt~ Those ladies won't stop pinching me~" She complained.

The prince chuckled at this causing her to glance at him before returning to giving me an extremely wronged look.

I patted her head as a consolation. I, of course, ingrained the proper manners into her from the very start, seeing such a sweet, well behaved, rosy cheeked little munchkin, anyone would want to pinch her face a little. She seemed satisfied by the petting and snuggled into my side.

The prince looked very amused at us.

"Big brother," she called, and I looked down at her, "Since mother married Sir Verne... Does this mean my name is Veronica Verne now?"

"...." When I didn't answer prince Leon who'd been watching silently for a while spoke up.

"Do you want it to be?" He asked smilingly.

"No," she said wrinkling her button nose.

The prince chuckled at this.

I would admonish her for doing that in public at the aforementioned wedding, but I was too stunned to react to anything at the moment.

Veronica Verne...

That name rang through my head like a gunshot in an empty room causing some particular memories to come flooding to the forefront of my thoughts. All those moments of deja-vu and familiarity finally explained, and the realization why left me frozen with shock and disbelief.

Veronica and Prince Leon seemed to have noticed my stillness because they looked at me questioningly.

I quickly pried suddenly dry lips apart and made some excuse about feeling unwell before quickly pulling Ronnie towards the exit to the huge ballroom packed with people. On my way I put Ronnie into Maddie's arms before telling her I was retiring for the night.

I think I may have scared them a bit by showing them my current panicked expression in place of my usually stoic one, but I couldn't stop to comfort them at the moment.

Everyone in the household was at the reception which was good because I practically ran the rest of the way to the room I'd claimed for myself before slamming the door shut and locking it behind me.

I ran my hands through my blood red hair sweeping my bangs back as I paced in front of the bed.

My mind was still reeling even now.

Finally, I couldn't contain it anymore.

"Aphrodite!" I yelled into the air. "Aphrodite, I know you're watching me! Come out!"

"What's the matter, doll?~" Came that familiar voice, "You haven't even hit puberty yet but you sound so distressed~"

I wheeled around to see someone standing in the corner of the room behind the door.

It was a petite woman with her hair in a raven black bob cut. She was wearing what looked to be... a sexy French maid outfit?...

I was confused at first until I saw the hearts floating around in those green eyes. Then it hit me.

"You!"

"Me!~" She mocked before giggling.

Yes, this unfamiliar person was Aphrodite. Unfortunately, I wasn't in the mood to ask how the hell she now looked like a completely different person. I had a vendetta.

"Tell me! Is this not the same world as the one from that game? This is 'The Magus' Romance' isn't it?!"

Her grin grew wider.

"It is~"

Just those two words shattered any hope I had that this was all a scary coincidence. I all but gaped at the smug goddess.

"But... but how?!" I stuttered, still in disbelief. "It was just a video game!"

"Apparently not~"

"You... you put me here on purpose!"

"Your ice mask is full of cracks now you know~" She said ignoring my growing panic. "It's interesting to see you reveal your bad temper when things don't go your way~♡ What's the matter, ducky, does it scare you to not be in complete control anymore?~"

I took deep breaths and collected myself before fixing her with a level stare.

"Aww~ Already pulled yourself together, hun?~ Boo~" She pouted. "And to answer your question, yes, I put you here on purpose~ It's an alternate world with its own history, fate and even other gods. It would likely have followed the same story from the game, but I've made a few... tweaks here and there~"

"And the gods of this world just let you tamper with it without so much as a word?" I asked raising an eyebrow. She snorted.

"Those small fry ain't tryin' to catch no case. Besides they weren't doing anything constructive with it anyway~"

"...... Bullying."

"Should I give you some more blessings, dear heart?~♡"

"No thank you." I didn't need another curse.

"I Even let you keep your past memories so go ahead and give me a proper show this lifetime. I thought it was a darling little game. It was the closest you ever came to having an exciting love life." She sighed heavily. "You can even read your status just like in the game. Just will your status menu open in your mind." She straightened up and smoothed or the non-existent wrinkles in her short black maid dress. "Well, Mama's gotta blast, so tata for now, cupcake~♡"

With that she disappeared from my sight in a cloud of gold mist. I stared at the spot where she used to stand before slumping onto the fluffy covers of the huge bed.

I threw am arm over my eyes and groaned as I rearranged all my plans for the future, now with the ridiculous shallow plot of one of my daughter's otome games in mind.

I cursed into the darkness of the room at the madness of it all.

"..."

I was in the setting of a flash animated otome game.