Ines Belladonna was an exceptional software programmer but sometimes she questioned the life choices that had led her to choose this damned job.

Today was one of those days where she would have preferred to be unemployed or at least not be in that office rather than having to solve the umpteenth crash caused by another user.

"Why don't they read what I write in the documentation? I explain it to them, but no. They keep doing it!"

she said, slamming her fist on the table.

Her coworker, a man with dyed hair and an unkempt beard, looked at her worriedly as he continued to eat his sandwich, while his other colleague, a bald man, laughed.

"I don't understand why you get so worked up about this! It's not your fault."

"Exactly. The users are stupid. We are geniuses and they are just ordinary people. They should read what we write, it's easy. We're better than them."

Ines raised an eyebrow, wondering who was the genius who had given the users such bad instructions that they crashed the software every time.

At that precise moment she remembered the appointment in the calendar that kept postponing for months.

"Oh"

She mentally committed to writing the documentation the next day and never to postpone the marked calendars again.

Ines took a deep breath before leaving her office and entering that of her boss, an elderly man who liked to smoke cigars.

"You wanted to talk to me?"

The old man looked at her with a smirk, putting out his cigar in the ashtray.

The man kindly asked her:

"Did you then solve the problem of the game's cheat Love&Magic?".

Ines sighed.

She had spent weeks working on this project and now it seemed that all her work was in vain.

"No. I have done everything possible. I don't understand how the players can hack the system, we have put the best protection possible!"

Her boss smiled at her.

"Unfortunately we are forced to admit defeat. The players have managed to decipher our program and therefore it is impossible for us to keep selling the game.Tomorrow we will talk with the members to decide what to do. In the meantime, why don't you go home and relax? From tomorrow, not exactly ideal days await us"

Said the boss.

Ines nodded and returned home, melted by too much work.

She had conceived and created the game Love&Magic together with his former fiancé to realize his childhood dream and now, because of a cheater , she could probably lose the only good thing left in her life.

"Well, tomorrow we will know for sure."

She went to bed without having dinner, thinking about what to do if the news were bad.

A few hours later Ines woke up to a terrible noise. The whole house was shaking as if an earthquake had hit it and she could hardly move, as if something was pressing against her chest.

"What's going on? Is it an earthquake?"

Suddenly she heard a voice that called her by name:

"Ines Belladonna ..."

She turned and saw a bright light, from which emerged a woman with long blond hair and a diaphanous dress.

"Who are you? What do you want from me?"

The woman smiled.

"I am here to save you".

"Save me from what-?"

Ines tried to get up but the pressure on her chest was getting stronger.

Suddenly a beam of light lit up the room and she felt swallowed by that light.

Then everything started to swirl until she lost consciousness and it was all dark.

♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠

When she woke up, Ines found herself lying on a luxurious canopy bed.

She looked around bewildered, but the place looked familiar to her.

"Wait. I own nothing this fancy. Did I rob someone?"

She heard the door open and in the doorway a maid appeared.

"My lady, are you awake?"

Ines rubbed her eyes and sat up, trying to get up, but the pressure on her chest prevented her.

"Where am I?"

The maid came to her.

"You're in your room. You fainted and the doctor said you should rest."

she blinked in confusion and shook her head.

The maid was carefully inspecting her heartbeat while she didn't understand anything.

"But ... How did I get here?"

"M-my lady ... don't you remember?"

Ines looked around and noticed that in addition to the furniture, she saw pictures of her as a child and even one of her brothers.

She looked at the maid:

"What's going on? What date is today?"

The maid replied:

"April 6th, Year 1013, My Lady."

Ines felt her heart sink into her stomach.

"A-april 6th 1013 ... What the hell?!"

Bewildered she said to herself

"1013?! That's not just before WiFi—that's before TOILET PAPER!!"

The maid looked at her worriedly.

"My lady, after the fall you have made it is understandable that you still feel confused. Heavens! Your parents were so worried about losing you! I'll now go to warn them that you have finally awakened"

said the maid with a smile, before sneaking out of the door.

Ines sighed and took a few deep breaths, looking around again.

The room was spacious and bright, with high walls painted a light pink.

The furniture was all made of walnut Wood and there were some old pictures on the walls.

"So this is the year 1013 ... What the HELL happened to me?"

The door opened and she saw a beautiful woman with long, wavy black hair and big hazel eyes. She could recognise that silhouette even with blind eye.

"Mom!"

Ines said with a broken voice.

She had lost her parents in an unfortunate plane crash years before but what was now ahead of herself was undoubtedly her Mother!

How could it be? Was she hallucinating?

Her mother approached her with a worried face and took her hand.

"Daughter, we were so scared! We thought we had lost you. We were afraid you would never wake up."

Ines felt his eyes fill with tears.

"Mother ..."

She hugged her, realizing that it wasn't a dream. She was really in front of her mother.

"What happened to me? How did I get here? Where are we?"

The woman stroked her head, calming her down.

"Don't worry. You just fainted. The doctor told us that you were fine, you just needed to rest."

Ines sighed.

"That doesn't answer my question. Where are we? How did I get here? Last thing I remember I was at home and I had gone to sleep".

Ines's mother looked at her for a moment, before smiling.

"I'll explain to you everything."

Ines waited for the explanations.

"You know that our family has been blessed by magic since your ancestors founded this Kingdom. Each member has always had a talent for magic and you are no exception. Your father and I have always been proud of you."

Really?

Ines continued to not understand.

She was certainly not in her reality!

Maybe it was in a dream?

Yet everything seemed so real, even the warmth of her mother's hands.

As her eyes filled with tears, an idea flashed in her head.

"Mom, what country are we in? "

The mother looked at her confused but then with a sweet voice said:

"We are in Elandrìa"

Ines waved her eyes.

Elandria was the name of the empire in which her game took place!

Ines understood then that the idea that came before was indeed correct.

As she had read in many web novels, she was reincarnated in her video game!

She hoped in her heart that she had not incarnated in one of her characters.

Scared she asked:

"Mom, could you pass me a mirror?"

her mother smiled and nodded, passing her a small hand mirror.

Ines took it and looked at his reflection: her eyes were green and her hair was wavy and black, almost reaching her hips.

Her face was full and round as it had always been.

Seeing her normal face she was taken by a mixture of happiness and sorrow.

If on one hand she was happy not to recognize herself among any of the characters in the main story, on the other hand if she had to reincarnate she would have wanted to do it in a slimmer and toned body.

Then the mother spoke again:

"You have been asleep for a month and now you must be hungry. I will bring you something to eat and then rest, tomorrow we will talk about the prince who your father chose that will become your fiancè"

Ines widened her eyes and blushed.

Prince?

Fiancé?!

The mother came out leaving her alone to think about what she had just told her.

"What is happening? Why am I in this world? And most importantly, why the hell do I have to marry a prince?"

She thought about the answer for hours, trying to understand why she had been catapulted into that world.

Suddenly she heard the door open and she saw her brothers enter.

"Ines, are you really awake? Mom said you woke up!"

She looked at them and was overwhelmed with emotion when she recognized them.

"Elìas! Elìen!"

She hugged them and cried.

The brothers were confused but reciprocated her hug.

"Sister, we were so worried! We thought you would never wake up. I even started praying for the first time in my life!"

Said Elien.

Ines laughed

"You never prayed before, what did you pray for this time?"

Elien blushed

"I prayed that you would wake up. I thought about how lonely I would be without my sweet sister".

Ines was moved.

"You idiot!"

She smiled and looked at her two brothers: they were twins and identical except that their eyes were different colors: Elien had green eyes and Elias had brown hazel eyes.

They were fifteen years old and were a little too tall and thin but they still had time to grow.

In her world , after the death of her parents , both twins were entrusted to a distant aunt who lived on the other side of the globe.

She missed them every day and seeing them like this even in this world made her forget for a moment all the questions about where she was.

All but one question .

Only one question remained in her mind, why was her family there in her video game?

In her game she had not created any NPC of her family.

Ines asked herself many questions, but at that moment she had no answers.

She spent the day talking with her brothers trying to get used to that strange situation.