"My boy, it's not good to forget the names of the servants," the duke said, a hint of displeasure in his voice. "Stephen is your driver and also your bodyguard."
"He doesn't look like a bodyguard," the boy said hesitantly. "Well… he's so… inconspicuous, I guess. Ordinary."
"Exactly!" The duke raised his index finger. "That's because Stephen is a top-level specialist. He has to be inconspicuous and look ordinary. In fact, he served in a special unit of the British Special Forces and, at one time, worked in the Queen's security service. So don't be dismissive of people with such qualifications—they are extremely rare. If you offend Stephen, it will be very difficult to find another security guard like him."
"I understand. I'll be polite to him."
"Son, you must be polite to everyone," the duke said in an instructive tone. "You are an aristocrat, which means you must be impeccable and treat both people of your own circle and ordinary workers and servants with equal courtesy. At the same time, however, you should not behave familiarly. You must maintain a proper distance between yourself and the servants."
Richie thought that now was a good moment, so he asked his father,
"Dad, I'd like to graduate early. Can that be arranged?"
"Richie, how exactly do you imagine that?"
"Well…" The boy scratched the back of his head. "I know the elementary school curriculum pretty well. I just need to brush up on English and computer science. I think I can manage the middle school curriculum too if I work hard at it."
"Well, I don't see any obstacles."
His father was delighted by his child's thirst for knowledge. Like any parent, he believed his son to be smarter than he actually was. The duke had no doubt that Richie was a genius and would be able to finish school much earlier than other children. He was willing to spend any amount of money on his son.
In truth, the boy might indeed have been a genius, but it was hard to call the transmigrator one. All his "genius" consisted mainly of the fact that he had already studied at school once and therefore knew a great deal. Added to that was the more organized mindset of an adult.
What is the difference between an adult and a child? For the most part, it lies in life experience—and in the fact that adults have different toys. They are also capable of organizing their time more efficiently.
Children spend a lot of time on nonsense, are easily distracted, bump their heads, and often fail to understand the purpose of studying. They want to play, not learn. Adults, on the other hand, understand that knowledge is needed for the future—or, as in the case of the transmigrator, he don't need the knowledge itself so much as a school-leaving certificate.
Richie wanted to get the mandatory part over with as quickly as possible. He understood perfectly well that, one way or another, he would have to obtain at least a secondary education. So, instead of spending years trudging through school, he decided to compress that time, so that later he would have the best years of his youth in reserve—years he could dispose of at his own discretion. After all, he was insanely rich and could afford anything: traveling the world, indulging in all kinds of entertainment, and enjoying lighthearted romances with young women once he was old enough.
"I'll tell John to take care of it," his father said. "He'll speak with the school and hire tutors for you. But, Richie, if you don't perform well, you'll go back to regular school. And this doesn't cancel your fencing and economics lessons."
"Okay," Richie said happily. "Thanks, Dad!"
After dinner, Richie was in high spirits at the thought that he wouldn't have to attend school anymore. He was also mentally prepared for the additional classes.
In the end, however, he still had to go to school the next day.
Only a day later, a tutor for the elementary program arrive at the house. She turned out to be an elderly, strict woman named Jane Stephenson. She was at least fifty years old, thin as a rail, dressed in severe dark-colored dresses. Her dark hair, streaked with gray, was pulled back into a tight bun at the nape of her neck. Large horn-rimmed glasses and perpetually pursed lips gave her an austere appearance.
On the very first day, the tutor of the junior curriculum tested Richie's knowledge in all subjects. At first, she was skeptical of her wealthy pupil, but when she reviewed the results, she was deeply impressed. She could hardly believe that an eight-year-old child possessed such extensive knowledge—the test had been designed for first-year middle school students, that is, twelve-year-olds.
After the new tutor left, Richie went to the fencing club.
Upon returning home, the boy resumed exploring the house. A curious situation arose: the names of his grandfather, sisters, mother, and the former wife of the sixth Duke of Westminster were already known, but the name of the man Richie called "father" or "dad" was not. It was precisely this information that the transmigrator was now trying to uncover.
Richie sat down in his father's study, waited for the valet to leave him alone, and then began examining the documents. This tactic proved effective almost immediately. In the very first letter, the boy found the addressee:
Mr. Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor
So, Gerald, Richie thought. Well, at least now I know my father's name. It seems I'm doing pretty well at getting into the skin of Richard Grosvenor. At least no one has noticed that the boy has changed much yet. Then again, how often do people pay attention to changes in children's behavior? Perhaps loving parents might quickly notice the substitution—but Gerald had distanced himself from his son and didn't really know what Richie was supposed to be like, since he only saw the child at breakfast and dinner. As for John, raising a child is simply a job. Even at the moment of transmigration, he dismissed the strange behavior as nothing more than a ploy to avoid going to school.
The only thing that matters to the butler is that I'm healthy, clean, properly dressed, attend my lessons on time, and do my homework—otherwise, he might suffer a painful blow to his bonus.