‘Yeah, this one goes right about…here…’

In the gardens outside the Aldritch manor, a young boy who looked no older than 3 placed a jigsaw puzzle piece into its correct position, and the moment he did, a soft smile crept its way up his plump face.

He had finally completed it.

Instinctively, his bright blue eyes darted to the direction opposite him, only to be met with the sight of an amber eyed woman with an expression even more glittering than his. It was his mother, and she looked like she had just won the lottery.

“Well done, my dear child!” The woman immediately stood up from her wooden chair and scuttled towards him, “You have worked very hard to put together this puzzle, and it has paid off. I am so proud of your determination and perseverance. You should be proud of yourself as well!”

She beamed, picked him up from the cotton blanket, and hoisted him in the air, her wide smile never leaving her face. Though it wasn’t overt, she was extremely astonished, and honestly, a part of her still questioned the reality of what she had just witnessed.

Her 3 year old son had just solved a 50-piece jigsaw puzzle in a little over half an hour.

It was something she had thought to be impossible, logically speaking, and although by now she had gotten used to the number of surprising things her bundle of joy had done over years, she had felt that it was simply asking too much of him to complete it.

In truth, the only reason she tasked him with it was due to his father’s insistence. The man had repeatedly emphasized the importance of continuously challenging their son to develop his cognitive faculties.

Ever since learning about his prodigious intellect, he had become infatuated with testing the boy’s limits, and not once had he been disappointed. The tests were small at first, like testing his vocabulary and understanding, but now they had become a lot more knotty.

Hell, she wouldn’t even be surprised if the man suddenly tasked Arlo with solving elementary-level mathematical problems. Normally, that was way beyond what a 3 year old should be tasked with doing, but at this point she wasn’t confident in saying it was off the table.

Actually, it seemed inevitable, considering her husband’s nature.

The more she thought about it, the more ludicrous it seemed to her. If anyone else caught wind of it, they might actually pass out from shock. It was too unusual.

But, the fact remained. Her son was special…very special, and as his mother, she was proud. Vittoria showered Arlo’s freckled cheeks with kisses and didn’t spare him any praise.

Inwardly, the boy himself was grinning from ear to ear. His plans, so far, had been resoundingly successful. By now, he had magnetized nearly everyone around him with his intelligence, and he was sure it had netted him some major favorability points from, well…everyone.

Even some of the housekeepers, whom he hardly interacted with, had become fond of him, most likely through words of his exploits reaching their ears. It wasn’t a stretch to say he was the center of attention of the household.

Anakin found their astounded reactions to his notable feats nothing short of amusing, satisfying to watch even. So far, the accolade of funniest reaction would undoubtedly fall to his mother. The woman literally screamed and nearly fainted when she stumbled upon him reading a book a year ago.

Actually, out of fear of coming off as too unusual, Anakin hadn't planned on displaying that level of aptitude at the time, but his curiosity got the better of him.

He had been dying to learn more about magic and the world he had traveled to, so the moment he figured out how to read the new language properly, he clandestinely immersed himself into any book he could find.

Nigh midnight, that was about the time he was discovered. As a result, his mother’s screams alarmed the entire manor, and Anakin even feared that the shock triggered a cardiac arrest in the woman. Her scream was that loud.

Unsurprisingly, it didn’t even take a minute before the entire household was awake. His father had been the first to reach his mother, and he rushed to her aid the moment he laid his eyes on her. It was only once she calmed down that she explained the situation to him.

Anakin still recalled his exact expression the moment he heard it. Initially, it was one of astonishment, but gradually, it morphed into one of inquiry.

He had spent the night answering his father’s comprehensive questions about the book. From them, he could tell the man was trying to see if he actually understood what he was reading, so he made it abundantly clear that he did. At that point, there was no use in concealing his capabilities.

In fact, at the time, he reckoned that it was in his best interest to display it. It would mean that he would probably be allowed to read more books, and that was always a plus. A year later, he could confirm that the decision was the right one, as he’d been tasked with reading a heap of books during that time interval.

Although, nearly all of them were kids books, so it wasn’t all that exciting. Still, he read them seeing as he had nothing better to do. He was curious about what kind of childhood stories the world had.

What he found was intriguing. There were a lot of stories that bore striking similarities to some of the ones he’d read on Earth. Most notably, Alice in Wonderland had become Lydia in Neverland, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer had turned into The Tales of Morton McLusky.

They were distinct books, but their plots were greatly similar to their Earthian counterparts. Not only did it surprise him, but it also made him wonder — what else was similar? And, to what extent? They were questions he’d been keeping at the back of his mind since then. He had found some answers, but he wanted more.

Now that he thought about that event, his daily schedule became a lot stricter. His mother’s lessons had stretched on longer than they usually did, and his free time had drastically reduced. Moreover, nearly all his toys had been switched out completely.

Initially they were varied, with some stuffed dolls, animals and music boxes, but after the incident they became more…cerebral. Now, his toy set largely consisted of wooden blocks, building sets, jigsaw puzzles, and mechanical toys such as clockwork trains, trams, boats, and even toy guns.

At first, the toy guns stunned him. He was surprised his parents had thought it appropriate to present it to him to play with. After all, he was merely 2 years old at the time so it felt extreme. It was even more surprising when his mother started encouraging him to play with it.

She would place his toy rifle in his arms and show him how to fire the rubble projectile at his other toys. He’d tried it a few times, to please her, and she’d often shower him with praise whenever he fired it and hit the target.

‘Bullseye! Congratulations, my dear child!’ she would say, and urge him to reload the rifle and fire it again. Anakin had to admit it was sort of fun, though he had a few nightmares because of it. He’d died from a gun, yet here he was playing with one.

It unnerved him a bit, but after a few weeks of playing with it, he got used to it, and his nightmares faded considerably. Billy Reed did not exist in this world, and even if he did, he’d kill the fucker first. There was no need to be frightful.

‘Fucking asshole, I hope you get run over by a truck or some shit…no that’s too kind for someone like you. If I had it my way I'd claw your eyeballs out, roast them, shove it down your throat and make you choke on them. Then I’d fire some rounds in your stomach, with the same gun you used to kill me, and stab you repeatedly until you croak. No…even that is too lenient…’

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His eyes brimmed with bloodlust, as he thought of several different ways to claim Billy Reed’s life. The torture methods used in medieval times attracted him, but even then he still felt it was too lenient.

Even after 3 and a half years, his anger still remained. Though, what was different about it was that it wasn’t the helpless anger he felt upon reincarnation. No, it was largely more apathetic. A part of him had stopped caring about Billy Reed or Earth altogether. He had nothing but bad memories there.

He had been presented with a second opportunity at living. What’s more, it was in a world infinitely more interesting than Earth, and with favorable circumstances. So far, although his journey within the strange new world had just started, it was already several times better than his old life.

In fact, if he were given a chance to return to Earth as of this moment, he doubted he’d take it. He seriously doubted that his life back on the blue planet could even come close to what his current one was poised to be.

Here, if he played his cards right, he was destined to inherit a massive fortune. With it, he could do whatever he wanted or hadn’t experienced in his old life, albeit with some differences due to the historical timeline. A lavish life awaited him, and he would be lying if he said he wasn't anticipating it.

That wasn’t even the best part. Here, magic was possible. Magic…something that he had been conditioned to believe was paranormal was now normal. His mind went numb imagining its possibilities, and he wondered just what its limits were.

Since his initial attempts at performing it, he had tried again several times, but nothing worked. His attempts at learning more about it were fruitless too, as he couldn’t get his hands on any books that discussed it.

He’d considered asking his parents about it, but there was a problem with that. How would he explain his knowledge about it? Since reincarnating, he’d only seen magic once, and that was when his father cast that ice swan. Its beauty was still vivid in his mind.

He couldn’t possibly say that he knew about it from that memory. That would be absurd. Hell, they may be more inclined to believe that he was suddenly possessed if he uttered such a thing, and he didn’t for a second think that the outcome of that would be in his favor.

So, he decided on finding more about it himself. That way was much safer, and potentially more rewarding, as he could use it as an avenue to net himself more favorability points. It’d be killing two birds with one stone.

So far, his progress on that front has been mixed. Even after absconding to the manor’s library every night for the past year, he discovered next to nothing about magic. He’d learned a great deal about the new world, and confirmed a significant portion of his earlier speculations, but that was about it.

It seriously peeved the young reincarnate. How could there not be a single book, pamphlet, or publication about magic in the library? He refused to believe that. House Aldritch was an aristocratic House of extremely high ranking, so there had to be some knowledge about the subject within their library.

He was convinced he was just looking in the wrong section of it, and had yet to find it; after all, the library was colossal, and it had no organizational classification systems from what he could tell. There were no book or shelf labels.

‘It's no matter…’ Anakin exhaled softly, ebbing his frustration away. ‘I just have to be patient. I’ll find it eventually. Let’s hope my luck today is good.’

He mulled, as his mother kissed his forehead and set him down on the grass. She held his hand as she did.

“Nadida!”

Suddenly, a high-pitched baby’s babble reached both Vittoria and Anakin’s ears, and immediately, the young boy’s little eyebrows twitched.

‘Oh, for Christ's sake, not again!’

He instinctively turned his head in the direction of his jigsaw puzzle as if knowing what was about to transpire. His eyes instantly locked on to the puzzle’s location, and he flinched. She had already started.

Instead of his jigsaw puzzle pieces, there was an infant girl wearing a white dress and cream bonnet. There were puzzle pieces scattered around her, and in one of her hands, there was a wooden doll. Their eyes met, and the baby’s mischievous smile turned into a dazzling beam.

“Bwudder!”

She immediately squealed as she propped herself up and trotted towards his direction. The young reincarnate’s lips joined his eyebrows in twitching, as he fought the urge to hug her and squeeze her plump cheeks.

She was really adorable…

…But, she was still a little devil.

The girl had become notorious for scattering his jigsaw puzzles and breaking his toys, and at times, he swore she was doing it on purpose. He didn’t care about the toys, but the jigsaw puzzles….it irked him. He was one of those guys who lost their shit when a good jigsaw puzzle was jumbled up.

The young girl reached him and wrapped her small hands around his waist.

“Bwudder!”

She babbled again, as her amber eyes twinkled at the sight of Anakin’s face. Anakin sighed.

“Hello, Loretta.”

He smiled and pat her petite head. Similar to Vittoria, it was a dull shade of chestnut. As he had predicted, his passionate parents had gotten busy within the past 3 years, and popped out another tyke.

Anakin still remembered the moment he discovered his mother’s bulge. He was just about turning 2, and it had come as a mild shock to him. Although he had expected it, he didn’t think it would be so soon. It had seemed that he underestimated his parents' fervor.

Throughout her pregnancy, he had prayed that his new sibling would be a girl. A boy was bad news for his plans to seize the family inheritance, whatever way he looked at it. And, while he was not afraid about the prospect of competing, he preferred his new life to be smooth sailing. After his egregious past, it was only fitting.

Fortunately, it had turned out to be a girl, one whom his mother named Loretta. Her room was right beside him, and so far he was largely fond of her. Not only was she unbelievably adorable, but she was also his little sister…his sibling.

He’d never had a sibling before, so he didn’t know what it felt like to have one. As a result, he had initially been largely curious about the little devil the moment she came into existence. She herself seemed to be fond of him, as she would always giggle when he visited her crib.

Those moments paved the way for Loretta to invade Anakin’s heart. It didn’t even take up to 2 months before he became doting to the infant. She was just too cute.

Vittoria smiled at the sight of her two angels interacting. Every moment they did was simply picturesque, and she had become addicted to watching them. They were her everything, the fruit of her and Adgar’s inexhaustible love, and the depth of her enamoredness with the two was unfathomable.

It was just as she’d heard from her best friend. Raising children was indeed fulfilling.

She sighed softly thinking about her. It had been over 5 years since she last saw or heard of her, and she wondered how she was doing. Had her husband been good to her all these years? How much trouble did she get into because of her?

She had to constantly fight the urge to try to contact her. It wasn’t easy, but it was necessary. Not just for her, but for her little ones. Good gracious, she couldn’t imagine any harm befalling them. She would never forgive herself should that happen.

As far as the rest of the world was concerned, Vittoria Di Fazio was dead, and it should remain that way. If word got out of her existence, they would undoubtedly come for her, and the last thing she wanted was to see them.

Vittoria looked up to the sky. It was an orange tinge, slightly overcast. It must be close to six o’clock. She thought as she closed her eyes, the short gusts of wind making her chestnut hair flutter.

“Arlo, Loretta, come now. It’s evening, so it’s time to get ready for dinner.”

She jovially muttered as she hoisted Loretta into her arms and walked towards the manor holding Arlo’s hand.

✵ ✵ ✵

Complementary Information (Optional): In some chapters I'll be sharing some extra worldbuilding notes, or posting things related to the story. It's to enhance your experience.

ALDRITCH FAMILY PHOTO ALBUM

[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1067978055500443690/1073499681927213056/DarkLordVd_handsome_young_man_with_dark_brown_hair_and_blue_eye_e64c7b90-e501-4c87-be2b-213c7d0ecfd1.PNG]

Portrait of His Grace, the Duke of Athanor and Earl of Lavonia, Grand Cross of the Pruvian Order, Lord Adgar D. Aldritch

[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1067978055500443690/1067979490325696553/edjoff_beautiful_woman_in_her_30s_victorian_era_steampunk_hyper_447402f1-bc36-41dc-abf0-1abe5ddf46ed-1.png]

Portrait of Her Grace, the Duchess of Athanor and Countess of Lavonia, Lady Francesca A. Aldritch