After I had planned everything I needed to do in this world, my mind, which was previously filled with numerous memories, thoughts, and fears, gradually became calmer and more relaxed.
Only now did I finally have the mood to properly observe everything on the desk and in this room.
My left hand unconsciously began to tap the desk with a slow, irregular rhythm, while my right hand picked up the family photo of John and looked at it, holding it up.
In the photo were four people, two sitting and two standing. The two people standing in the photo were John and Viola, John's younger sister, while Charles and Eleanor were sitting. All of them had serious expressions.
Perhaps due to John's memories influencing me unconsciously, as I gazed at the photo, I suddenly smiled. Hah, probably because I was previously thinking about my original family's disappearance, combined with the memories of the original John, it made me smile to myself.
I put the photo down and looked at several economics books owned by the original John, along with a few copied pages from Roselle's diary that he possessed. I picked up those Roselle pages and immediately tried to examine them, just in case there was a miracle and the text was in English.
Well... the result still didn't meet my expectations, which was actually a bit lousy. I mean, I could have suddenly gained a power like the main character in an otherworldly novel, right? I was still giving my "beloved" summoner a chance. I thought about that while frowning, because my foolish thought didn't come true again.
But I truly didn't understand anything written there because it was in Mandarin...
...
Through the window, the pale red moonlight gradually began to fade, replaced by a dim light starting to enter this large room.
At that moment, the sound of footsteps from several people could be heard, seemingly heading towards my room.
"Hmm... This should be the moment when John is prepared by Fritzh and the other servants, right?" I thought about that, recalling how quick and efficient Fritzh and my other servants were at their jobs.
No! I don't have servants, the correct ones are "John's" servants, not my servants. I immediately refuted my own thought.
Fritzh is John's butler, and he is a man who is actually quite old. Previously, this man had also served the Lynch family for a long time and had even been a servant to John's mother.
John also had several other servants, mostly consisting of older women. Hah... of course, male servants are indeed a relatively rare case.
The sound of those people grew louder, meaning they were already near this room. And they could enter at any moment.
Creeeak...
Quickly, the sound of the door opening echoed in the room, replacing the previous silence.
I immediately turned towards the door to check if they were truly my servants or someone else, and indeed they were.
There was Fritzh, and behind him several wrinkled women who were looking at me with furrowed brows because I had woken up so early. Of course they were surprised, after all, John had terrible sleeping habits. It was truly rare for this man to wake up this early.
I just glanced at them indifferently for a moment, but then I immediately turned my head back to look at the desk, to show my indifference towards them.
Although the servants were actually surprised by me waking up too early, they weren't really bothered by it. Because after looking at me in surprise, they immediately carried out their duties as usual, some going towards my bed to tidy it while others came towards me.
"Good morning, Young Master," Fritzh immediately greeted me with a polite smile on his old, bearded, and wrinkled face.
I immediately turned my face and looked at Fritzh. His face was old, but he had black eyes and a rather large build, taller than the average person even in his old age, which proved his descent from a Feysac family that immigrated to Loen.
"Morning, Fritzh." I said that in a nonchalant tone to Fritzh, to show that nothing strange was happening to me at the moment. Besides... he wouldn't really know anyway...
The other servants bowed their heads slightly towards me as a sign of their respect.
"The bath has been prepared, Sir," said one of the maidservants, who was actually younger than the others. She spoke while holding out the bathing attire.
The attire was white, appearing to be made from very fine and expensive material. Seeing it, my mind immediately screamed: this family is truly wasteful! Even for something not worn regularly, they choose something this luxurious!
Although on Earth I was by no means lacking economically—in fact, I had a very good financial situation and financial freedom—still, on Earth I wouldn't consider buying clothes I wouldn't wear outside or to formal events at such a potentially high price.
Well... it's actually a bit silly to compare my original life on Earth with John's life or the Lynch family in general. I mean, they can even earn hundreds of thousands of Pounds per year, which is really an immense amount. Even John himself can easily get twenty thousand Pounds per month due to several things he owns.
Heh. Actually, John has quite a lot of assets that allow him to earn super large amounts of money, both passively and actively. For instance, he holds shares in many large companies, banks, and other ventures; he owns estates in the countryside which he doesn't manage personally; and he receives a very substantial allowance.
He even still earns money from several antique collection businesses he owns, given that John is a collector of historical or ancient items. He would actively seek out ancient objects, buy them at a regular price, and usually sell them at a high price using many tricks to make buyers believe the item is truly worth that much.
And since he has a social circle filled with truly wealthy people, they wouldn't mind spending hundreds or even thousands of Pounds on the items John sells.
Hey! If Klein had known about this early on and compared it to himself, who even had to save every Penny, I think he would have truly cried and felt his transmigration was unfair. Thinking about that is really funny, hehe.
"Alright, I will bathe now." I immediately answered the maid's words in a normal tone. Actually... everything I'm doing now is quite similar to the original John. Seriously, having obtained John's memories really makes me, even unconsciously, act like him too.
While thinking that, I immediately stood up from the chair and approached the younger maidservant, then took my bathing attire with a casual attitude.
I heard the cathedral bell chime several times, so I was sure that it was indeed morning now.
I left the room and immediately walked towards the bathroom, accompanied by several of my servants.
After leaving my room, I observed everything in this house. It was evident that this house was truly large, and several walls were adorned with beautiful paintings. For example, there was a painting depicting a Loen soldier figure in prayer, or other paintings like one of the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery, or several other things that made me truly aware of this family's high social level.
Ah, right. The layout of this house strongly resembled the layout of a classic Western luxury house that I had only ever seen in movies or the like.
Furthermore, on several other walls, there were mounted animal heads. For instance, deer or bear heads.
There weren't too many such decorations, of course, but it was noticeable that several servants were cleaning the existing decorations, as well as arranging flower pots or other items.
I quickly passed by many such items and finally arrived at the bathroom.
The bathroom was clean white, with several ornaments adorning parts of it.
Even the bathroom was still full of expensive items! Does this family truly not understand that it's unnecessary to do this? Really. It's such a waste of money that it would make any poor person in Loen cry.
Honestly, the social gap between the rich and the poor is severe, isn't it? It makes me curious about the nobles' houses in this world. Are they even more excessive and wasteful than this house, which is merely the home of a major tycoon?
Alright... using "merely" in the statement that this is a Tycoon's family truly downplays this family's situation. Besides, I'm thinking too much about this, aren't I...
Finally, I immediately decided to put on my bathing attire and promptly closed the bathroom door. Then I immediately looked into the mirror at my own face.
And I immediately tried to recall the rules I had set for myself: DO NOT CHANGE THE PLOT and BE JOHN LYNCH, and tried to recall them repeatedly.
My face, which looked like that of a Loenese person with green eyes and black hair, and quite handsome, stared back at me. It truly felt like staring at someone else and myself at the same time. It was really strange...
...
I exited the bathroom after finishing cleaning myself. Outside the door, a servant was holding my change of clothes for the next part of the day.
The clothes themselves appeared to have many intricate patterns and were clearly quite difficult to put on by myself. Right, after this, John would presumably have breakfast with his family, then he would go to some events he was scheduled to attend.
But setting that aside. I immediately walked back to my room accompanied by that servant, and there I saw Fritzh and the others had already prepared a chair for me to sit on so I could be prepared promptly.
I sat there, and the servants removed my bathing attire and replaced it with those fine clothes. I didn't really pay them much mind, but I noticed Fritzh's face twitching, and it seemed he wanted to say something.
"What is it, Fritzh?" I immediately said that while looking at the man. After all, he wouldn't say anything if I didn't try to initiate conversation. And I didn't know if I was portraying John correctly, so if he said something about my behavior, I would use it as evaluation material and try to act more like John.
Fritzh looked hesitant; his face showed surprise and confusion, but he finally decided to say something.
"Why did you wake up so early, Sir? It's not like you usually do," Fritzh said with a confused and hesitant expression.
"I was... trying to decipher Emperor Roselle's cipher again last night. I'm still truly curious about what his cipher actually is." I said that while looking steadily at Fritzh. After all, it wasn't a lie at all; I really had been thinking about how to translate the copied pages of Roselle's diary that John possessed.
"Trying to translate the Emperor's cipher again? Don't you know that even the best linguists in the entire world still don't understand that cipher?" Fritzh replied to my words, his expression beginning to show a faint smile.
"Well... I can't blame you for trying to translate it again, although last year when you were so confident about translating it, you still failed." Fritzh continued.
"Of course I won't give up trying to translate the Emperor's cipher. Besides, as I said last year, I am the special person who can figure out what the Emperor wrote in that cipher." I also gave a foolish smile while saying that to Fritzh.
After all, what the original John thought—that he was the special person who would uncover the contents of Roselle's cipher—has truly come true, hasn't it? I mean, I transmigrated into his body, and I am a reader of LoTM who knows that the "cipher" is actually a diary.
Although, I still don't know all its contents! Because whoever made me transmigrate was so lousy that I didn't prepare for this.
"Haha. Of course, it's best that you believe you are special. After all, you have been an admirer of Roselle since you heard his story at the age of 10 and have remained so even until your current age of 20," Fritzh said with an amused smile.
"You're right," I replied briefly, also smiling amusedly like Fritzh.
The servants were almost finished arranging and putting the rather difficult-to-wear clothes on me, but they continued working seriously until they finally finished dressing me in these luxurious and expensive clothes.
After they were done, the servants bowed and promptly left my now tidy and clean room. In the end, I just stared into the mirror because I had no idea what to do next.
I saw the rather dim light from the window and immediately stood up to look outside through it.
A large garden was visible in front of the house, with extensive fencing and filled with numerous luxuries and artistically appealing designs. Further away, there were many residential areas and several industrial districts.
"This truly convinces me that this is indeed LoTM," I sighed after seeing that.
Shortly after, a maidservant came back to my room and said politely, "Young Master, breakfast is ready. Your family is waiting in the dining room."