Soon, the transmigrator found himself in the dining room. The mahogany table was incredibly large, likely big enough to seat thirty people. Despite its impressive size, only two places were set, at either end. It could be said that only the head of the table contained plates and dishes.
This arrangement of food struck Richie as odd, but he remembered that you don't bring your own rules to someone else's monastery, so he ignored the confusion. Right now, the boy was interested in something else.
One side of the table was already occupied; a distinguished-looking elderly man of about sixty sat there. He was also dressed in a business suit, but in beige. He had no jacket; it hung over the back of his chair. He wore only a burgundy vest over a white shirt.
Richie carefully studied the man he was about to have breakfast with. He noted the same light hair, slicked back and sprayed with hairspray, as his own. A pair of oblong platinum-rimmed glasses shaded cloudy gray eyes on a round face. A few wrinkles betrayed the man's age. The boy noted his tall stature and slightly protruding belly.
"Good morning, son," the elderly man nodded. "How are you?"
- Um... Good morning.
Richie was confused. He'd thought that since he was eight years old now, this man might be his grandfather, but in fact, it turned out to be his father. It was also strange that the child's mother wasn't there.
"Bon appétit," said the boy, then sat down at the table. "Why are we sitting so far apart?"
"That's the way it is in the Rich family," the boy's father replied. "That's how my father raised me, and his grandfather, your great-grandfather."
Since the transmigrator didn't know what to answer to this, he decided to pay attention to food.
A maid served the gentlemen at breakfast. The valet disappeared for a while. Apparently, he went to breakfast with the servants.
The food was in keeping with the setting - three courses, the taste of which was on par with three-Michelin-starred restaurants.
To conceal his presence, the boy followed the rule "when I eat, I'm deaf and dumb." Although he wanted to ask those around him about many things. For example, why hadn't he yet seen a single holoprojector or even a rickety old flat-screen TV? And the presence of archaic cordless telephones with retractable antennas in every room made the transmigrator suspect he'd fallen back into the past, perhaps even into the twentieth century.
After breakfast, the father approached the boy and said:
"Have a nice day, Richie. Do you remember that on Sunday we have to go to the annual charity event that the royal family will be attending?"
Naturally, the transmigrator didn't remember this. He was very surprised.
"The royal family?! My God! What country have I ended up in? If there's a royal family, the English language, a butler, and a duke on the front... Is this really Great Britain?"
Something needed to be said, so Richie mumbled:
- Yes...
"Don't disgrace me, son," the man said.
The young gentleman's valet entered the dining room.
"John," the gentleman addressed the servant, "has anything been learned about yesterday's earthquake?"
The valet immediately replied:
"Sir, scientists from Queen's University said there have been no earthquakes recorded in the UK. Supposedly, there's a forgotten vault under our house where something exploded. That's why the house shook yesterday."
"This is still Britain of the past," Richie noted to himself.
"What a nightmare!" the gentleman exclaimed indignantly. "John, hire some builders and let them explore the basements. I don't want anything else to explode and harm my family!"
"It shall be done, sir," the valet bowed. Then he turned to the boy and said, "Mr. Richie, it's time for you to go to school."
- Yeah...
The boy's thoughts were consumed by digesting the news he'd just heard. He wondered if the explosion in the basement and his entry into the body of the child from the past could be somehow connected.
Lost in his thoughts, Richie didn't notice how he'd found himself outside. He turned around and surveyed the house he lived in. It truly was a huge palace. At least fifty meters long, with arches and marble columns, the walls clad in white stone. The enormous windows suggested the house had been built much later than the Middle Ages.