Becoming Benjamin Riser

A night passed.

"Young Master Benjamin, it is time to get up. The Old Madam has asked you to come downstairs for breakfast."

The butler's voice and knocking came together, pulling Gu Bei, still lying in bed, back to reality.

Was it morning already?

He gave a bitter laugh inwardly. He had not expected that merely absorbing Benjamin Riser's memories would keep him up from midnight until dawn, without leaving himself even a moment to rest.

It was not the system's fault. That simplified version of the memories had indeed been sufficiently simplified, giving him a general overview of his situation within half an hour. The problem was that it had been simplified a little too much. Gu Bei had searched through the memories, yet failed to find the person who might have hired assassins to kill him.

Thus, he could only narrow down the question and begin asking the system for details from the memories.

Since this sort of questioning was no different from searching for a needle in a haystack, and the system's temperament was prone to acting up every now and then, the search for the mastermind continued until morning. Even when the butler came to call him down for breakfast, there was still no result. In other words, he still did not know who wanted him dead.

Gu Bei felt rather defeated, as though he had wasted the entire night.

There was nothing he could do. Time was up, and he could no longer continue searching through the details of the memories. The butler was waiting outside, and he was about to face the members of the Riser Family—something far more important and urgent at the moment.

Could he fool "his own" relatives right under their noses?

From that perspective, the night had not been wasted after all. He had memorized the simplified memories and reviewed many details within them, all of which would be immensely helpful for his disguise.

With those memories, dealing with the butler outside should not be a problem.

"Understood. I'll be down shortly."

That was how he answered the butler.

"Jeremy is not feeling well, so I will attend to you as you get up, Young Master." Unexpectedly, the butler opened the door, entered, and said this to Gu Bei.

"N-No need. I can manage myself." Gu Bei hurriedly refused.

The thought of a middle-aged man helping him wash up and get dressed felt rather strange. No, more accurately, as an upright young man of the modern age, he was neither a three-year-old child nor some mama's boy mocked by others. Having someone dress him was not normal in the first place.

Yet after hearing Gu Bei's words, the butler wore a strange expression.

Gu Bei immediately realized something was wrong.

"Hey, you never told me last night that nobles here are used to having others dress them, and that dressing yourself would be strange," he asked the system inwardly.

"That is not true. While servants do indeed commonly attend to people here, a trend has risen recently, and quite a few people have begun washing and dressing themselves. It would not be strange," the system replied, seeming equally puzzled.

"Is that so..."

Hearing that, Gu Bei felt a little more at ease.

Since the system said so, he should not give himself away. Perhaps Benjamin used to be accustomed to being attended to, but if his temperament changed a little one day, it should not be a big deal.

He was simply being paranoid because he had a guilty conscience.

With that thought, Gu Bei put on an entirely natural expression and said to the butler, "It's fine. Go take care of your work. I'll be down soon."

Sure enough, the butler raised no objection. He bowed, set down the things he was carrying, and turned to leave.

Gu Bei let out a breath of relief.

Every step after returning here was a war without smoke or flames!

He climbed out of bed and looked around. He had not seen much clearly the previous night due to the darkness, but now he wanted to take a proper look.

Come to think of it, his room was quite large, comparable to the living room of a moderately well-off modern family. It had a desk, wardrobe, dressing table, and bookshelf, while the windows were quite large as well, though they were tightly covered by elegantly patterned curtains. A European-style pendulum clock hung on the wall. The entire room carried the air of Western aristocracy, and an oil painting heavy with religious meaning hung on the wall above the bed.

And the chamber pot that had stolen the show last night had been placed by the door by the butler.

Gu Bei walked over to the dressing table, washed up with the water the butler had left behind, and tidied his hair. Then, following the system's instructions, he took out a shirt and a pair of suspenders from the wardrobe and changed into them.

For the first time, he saw what he looked like in the mirror.

He was a typical white teenage boy with golden-brown hair, light blue eyes, and a rather thin frame. A few faint freckles dotted his pale, slightly flushed cheeks, and his entire face exuded the air of someone suffering from kidney deficiency.

He was not too disappointed. He did not ask for much. As long as he was not ugly, that was enough. He also believed that the listless aura he had now would improve in the future.

He merely memorized this face in silence, memorized what "he" looked like.

A voice sounded deep within him: From this moment onward, he was no longer Gu Bei. He was Benjamin Riser.

Gu Bei's life had broken off at the mark of twenty-five. From today onward, there would no longer be any "Gu Bei." He had to become Benjamin Riser, through and through.

Looking at that unfamiliar face in the mirror, he silently made up his mind.

Then, Gu Bei pushed open the door... no, rather, Benjamin pushed open the door and walked out.

Following the route map provided by the system, Benjamin went downstairs and arrived at the dining room where the Riser Family usually ate. Two servants stood outside the entrance. They bowed to him, and he nodded back at them.

Everything was as "usual," with nothing out of place. Benjamin entered the dining room.

If his bedroom had been roughly the size of an ordinary person's living room, then this dining room was on an entirely different level of extravagance. A nearly ten-meter-long brown table stretched across the room, dividing it into two halves. Cabinets of tableware stood against the creamy white walls on either side, arranged in perfect symmetry. Four religious paintings with entirely different subjects hung on the four walls, adding an extra touch of mystery and solemnity to the room's richly Baroque style.

The enormous dining room was rather empty. There were only two people inside.

An Old Madam nearing eighty, dressed in luxurious clothes, sat at the table eating. A maid in her fifties stood respectfully beside her, utterly motionless.

Through the memories passed on by the system, Benjamin knew that this Old Madam was his grandmother, a figure akin to the matriarch of the Riser Family.

Only one person was dining. He was naturally somewhat surprised, but also much more relieved.

In his expectations, he would have to face all his relatives in the Riser Family during this breakfast—his parents, his younger brother, and the grandmother before him. He did not know what had happened, but with only the Old Madam here, the pressure on Benjamin lessened considerably.

He walked over, sat at the table, and respectfully greeted the Old Madam.

"Good morning, Grandmother."

The Old Madam glanced at him, raising her brows in a manner that was difficult to read. "Good morning, child. Young people are always bursting with energy, wishing they could turn the whole world upside down, unlike old fossils like us. Isn't that right?"

Notably, there was something subtle in her tone. It did not sound like an elder speaking to her junior at all. Instead, Benjamin detected a trace of cold mockery, as though Benjamin were the descendant of her sworn enemy.

What did she mean? What was she trying to say?

A huge question mark rose in Benjamin's mind.

Before Benjamin could figure out how to reply, the Old Madam suddenly put down her knife and fork, wiped her mouth with a napkin, then looked at Benjamin with indifferent eyes and said,

"Are you hungry? The cook did not prepare breakfast for you, but since you are a strong and healthy young man, naturally you would not care about such things."

"..."

Was she really his grandmother?

You were the one who called me down for breakfast, yet there was no breakfast? Why did you call me down if there was no breakfast? To eat air?!

Benjamin was stunned.

The system popped up at just the right moment and said in Benjamin's mind, "I seem to have forgotten to tell you last night. Ever since your grandfather passed away, this old lady's temperament has become increasingly strange. She is difficult to deal with. Even your genius younger brother cannot get a pleasant look from her. I think she is angry because the commotion you made last night disturbed her."

"Why the hell didn't you tell me earlier?" Unable to do anything to an elderly woman, Benjamin could only vent all his anger on the system.

"Isn't that just a trivial detail? When we got to that part last night, you did not ask any further questions," the system answered righteously.

"..." Faced with the system's shamelessness, Benjamin was defeated once again.

In reality, seeing that Benjamin did not answer, the Old Madam shifted her gaze and continued, "Young people should learn more manners. That little fellow from the Fool Family has had Night-walking Syndrome for quite some time. Though I do not like him either, he is still a guest in our home. We must maintain basic courtesy, or what will the other nobles of the Royal Capital think of us? Don't you agree?"

Hearing this, Benjamin finally understood what she meant.

The system was right. The commotion he had caused last night had definitely offended her.

But Benjamin still felt helpless. If this grandmother had spoken to him in the manner of an elder reprimanding a junior for making a mistake, he would not have held the slightest grudge. But this roundabout, sarcastic way of speaking truly left Benjamin speechless.

Could we just speak properly?

No matter what, he had been kidnapped and barely survived before being rescued. As his relative, should she not show at least a little concern? How could she act as though nothing had happened?

Once again, what exactly was wrong with this world?

"Young people these days, they have not learned any real skills, but they are exceptionally good at pretending to be deaf. It is as though they cannot hear a word when their elders speak. Wouldn't you say so?" the Old Madam continued.

This time, Benjamin was genuinely getting angry.

"Since there is no breakfast, then as your grandson, I shall return to rest first. Please enjoy your meal, Grandmother."

The moment the words left his mouth, Benjamin regretted them somewhat. This was definitely not something the old Benjamin would have said. But inwardly, he felt immensely satisfied. He had truly had enough of this condescending attitude.

The Old Madam's reaction also satisfied Benjamin greatly. Her eyes widened in surprise as she stared at him, her wrinkled eyelids twitching. For a moment, she could not continue her mocking remarks.

Seeing this, Benjamin said nothing more. He stood up, gave the Old Madam a bow dripping with sarcasm, turned around, and strode out of the dining room with considerable flair under everyone's astonished gazes.

The Old Madam widened her eyes and looked around. Suddenly, she put on an innocent expression and said to the servants, "What is wrong with that child? What did I say? Why did he suddenly leave halfway through breakfast? How strange, don't you think?"

The servants looked at one another, not daring to speak.

Meanwhile, Benjamin returned to his bedroom.

The instant he closed the bedroom door, the system's voice rang out.

"Your performance just now was absolutely wonderful! Everyone will think, 'This is our Young Master Benjamin. Young Master Benjamin used to be exactly like this. He is truly no different from before!' No one will ever doubt you again. I am so proud of you."

Veins bulged on Benjamin's forehead again. "Shut up. I've already used up my quota for tolerating sarcasm today."

"Then what are you going to do? The old Benjamin was a pathetic coward. If you act like this now, everyone will start thinking something is wrong," the system asked in return.

"They won't. No one will doubt me."

Benjamin gradually regained his calm, without showing the slightest sign of panic.

"How do you know?" The system clearly still did not believe him.

"The reason is simple, because the old Benjamin was a pathetic coward." Benjamin paused, then voiced something he himself had only just realized. "Precisely because of that, no one ever truly paid attention to Benjamin Riser. They do not know what Benjamin Riser was really thinking. Under such circumstances, even if I act the way I did today, others will only think I am a pitiful coward who was provoked beyond endurance, and that this pitiful coward finally erupted for once today. They will be surprised, but no one will suspect me."

"How do you know?"

"Because I'm smart, and you're stupid."

"..." This time, the system was finally left speechless.

When he turned to leave the dining room, Benjamin had paid special attention to the way the servants looked at him. Their gazes had indeed been shocked, but after careful thought, he was certain that they were shocked in the sense of, "My god, the young master endured it for so long and actually exploded for once," rather than, "My god, the young master has completely changed. Could someone have transmigrated into him?"

That completely put Benjamin at ease.

To put it bluntly, no matter how outrageous his behavior became afterward, others would simply think that he had suppressed himself for too long and that the kidnapping had changed his entire temperament. No one would connect it to transmigration or soul possession.

Why? Because, plainly speaking, no one paid attention to Benjamin Riser. He was merely useless. No matter how much a useless person's personality changed, no one would care.

Benjamin was not discouraged by this. Instead, he was rather pleased.

Unnoticed by all—this was precisely where a mage ought to be.

"Perfect. Even if I go out now, no one should notice me," Benjamin thought, saying so aloud.

"Go out? Where are you going?" the system asked in confusion.

"To the church."