biography of lvan

"From now on, this will be the room where you live," Odrie said in a calm tone, as if it were just an ordinary matter.

"What? No way," the young boy couldn't help but exclaim when he heard this. His face was full of surprise and disbelief. Obviously, he was quite taken aback by such an arrangement. He thought to himself how he could live in such a nice room. The treatment was too good. For a moment, he couldn't quite come to his senses.

"In the next half year, you'll live here and learn a lot of things. The most important thing is that from now on, your name will be Ivan Esther. Remember this name and don't forget it," Odrie said with a serious look on his face, instructing in a stern and unquestionable tone. There was an air of authority in his eyes that made people dare not disobey.

"Why?" the young boy asked with a puzzled look on his face, his heart full of questions. He didn't understand why he had to change his name. It was such a strange thing, and he really couldn't figure out the reason.

"Don't ask why. When I think you've learned enough, I'll explain all your questions, but definitely not now," Odrie's tone left no room for negotiation. He said firmly, meaning that for now, he just had to do as he was told and not ask so many questions. There was no room for discussion. "Ivan Esther, let's start your first lesson."

With that, Odrie turned around and walked to the bookshelf, took down a thick book from it, then gently placed it on the desk. Then he casually dragged a chair over, arranged its position, pointed at the chair, and gestured to the young boy, indicating that the young boy should sit down and get ready for the class.

Although the young boy's mind was full of questions at this moment and he was still entanglement about the name change, he didn't dare to say anything more. He could only walk towards the desk in a daze but obediently, slowly sat down, but his heart was still in a mess, not knowing what kind of lessons he would face next.

And so, the class began, and the room suddenly became quiet, with only the occasional sound of pages being turned...

In the study, the old man was sitting leisurely on a recliner, holding a thick, somewhat old book in his hand and casually flipping through it. Pam and Baz had already left. At this time, the warm sunlight shone gently into the study through the window. The warm feeling was really comfortable, but it also made people a bit sleepy. As the old man flipped through the book, his consciousness gradually became blurred. He had already forgotten where he had read in the book. Finally, he simply closed the book, leaned back on the recliner, and slowly dozed off. Before long, he fell asleep and made a slight snoring sound.

After an unknown amount of time, with a "creak", the door of the study was opened. The noise immediately woke the old man up. However, the vigilant ability he had developed from spending most of his life on the streets wouldn't be completely forgotten just because his life had become more comfortable now. The old man immediately woke up and was quite pleased in his heart, secretly glad that he was still as vigilant as when he was on the streets. If it came to a critical moment, this might come in very handy.

The old man raised his head and took a look at the person who came in. Oh, it was indeed Odrie. So he smiled and asked, "How is it? Are you satisfied with that child?"

"Very good. Pam made a good choice this time," Odrie nodded slightly and replied, with a satisfied look on his face. It seemed that his first impression of the young boy was quite good.

"Are you confident that you can complete the first step of the plan within half a year?" The old man then asked immediately, with a hint of concern in his eyes. After all, this plan was quite important for them. Whether it could be carried out smoothly or not, the first step was crucial.

"Just as Pam told us, this newcomer is quite studious. I think it won't be a problem to transform him and make him meet our requirements within half a year," Odrie said with confidence. He still quite recognized the young boy's learning ability in his heart.

"Is there any news from Firth? What he's doing is just as important as your work. There mustn't be any mistakes," The old man remembered this matter again and quickly asked. He had been always thinking about the progress over there.

"All the important witnesses have been bribed. Especially the captain of the guards. He has a big weakness in Firth's hands. For those who don't need to be bribed or those who can't be influenced by money, Firth is going to find a reason to replace them one by one. This matter can be handled by the bribed butler. It should go quite smoothly," Odrie answered in an orderly manner, reporting the situation there in detail. It seemed that everything was going according to plan.

Hearing Odrie's answer, the old man nodded with satisfaction, then stuffed the book in his hand into Odrie's hand and said with a smile, "You'd better read this kind of thing. Well, I've never developed the habit of reading in my whole life. I always feel sleepy and want to doze off as soon as I see a book. I really can't get into it."

"Heraldry is really a rather boring and dull subject. Moreover, in my opinion, it's useless at all. If it weren't for this plan, I wouldn't be interested in studying this aspect at all," Odrie took the book and casually complained. Obviously, he wasn't very interested in heraldry either. If it weren't for the plan, he probably wouldn't even want to touch it.

"What about that kid?" The old man remembered the young boy again and asked, wanting to know what the young boy was doing at this moment.

"I gave him a test paper to do, wanting to see what he already knew. It seems that I underestimated him. Just by looking at the few questions he answered, I can tell that this test paper isn't difficult for him at all. It seems that one can really learn a lot of things in South Port. This kid does have some knowledge," Odrie replied. He had a new understanding of the young boy's academic level and thought in his heart that this child was a bit more capable than he had expected.

"Knowing too much isn't necessarily a good thing," The old man frowned slightly when he heard this and said thoughtfully, as if he was worried that if the young boy knew too much, it would be difficult to control him or something like that.

"Can we ask Herbert to go to South Port? That kid has an Aunt Jenny. Ask Herbert to get a token from this aunt. I think it will be easier to control this kid in this way," Odrie suggested. He thought in his heart that this method should be quite reliable and could better control the young boy.

"Herbert? Is it necessary for Herbert to get involved?" The old man had some doubts about this. He thought in his heart whether it was a bit of an overkill to ask Herbert to take action or whether it would cause unnecessary trouble or something, so he was a bit hesitant.

"I really hope that Herbert can participate in our plan. He will be of great help to the plan," Odrie quickly explained, with a serious look on his face. "From some information collected recently, I found that the real Ivan Bayndit didn't die of illness. It was more like poisoning. And half a year ago, someone was always inquiring about Ivan's life and death situation. The situation is a bit complicated, so it will be more safe for Herbert to take action."

"Fortunately, that butler has a lot of things to be afraid of. He's especially afraid that others will know that his young master Ivan has died. Because once this matter gets out, others will first suspect that he didn't fulfill his due responsibilities and didn't take good care of the young master. Moreover, he's even more worried that the judge will get involved and investigate the property situation under Ivan's name. That would be terrible. Once the investigation starts, it will definitely be found that part of the property has already been secretly embezzled by him, the butler, under various pretexts. At that time, the judge definitely won't let him off lightly. Maybe he'll be wrongly sentenced to the gallows. Then his life will be gone. So he came up with this idea, using the excuse that the young master was sick and needed treatment to block the news that the real Ivan had already died from the outside world."

And even more fortunately, later, when he was at his wits' end and probably had no other way out, he came to us. This was equivalent to presenting us with a once-in-a-lifetime excellent opportunity. Such an opportunity was really rare, and we could just take advantage of this situation to carry out the biggest plan we've ever had. If this plan can be implemented smoothly and succeed, then there will be so many benefits in the future.

However, it's quite obvious that someone didn't want Ivan to exist in this world. Or to put it bluntly, someone didn't want to see that there was a direct heir in Luxembourg. Just look at the situation in Luxembourg recently. There have been successive changes of lords, and all kinds of problems keep emerging. Old Lord Medin unexpectedly fell off his horse and died while hunting. That was already quite unexpected in itself. But even more bizarrely, his two sons didn't escape misfortune either. One son was smashed to death by a chandelier on the very day he inherited the title. That's really strange. Such a thing happened on such an important day. And the other son fell seriously ill just two months after taking office and then passed away not long after.

It's said that before his death, this lord was about to sign an important document. He even claimed at that time that this document could help Luxembourg smoothly get through the most difficult period. But the strange thing is right here. All along, no one had ever mentioned that Luxembourg was facing any crisis. Usually, Luxembourg was operating smoothly in all aspects, and the lord didn't have any debts that couldn't be repaid or anything like that. On the contrary, through the trade with South Port, the lord could earn 20,000 gold francs every month just from this aspect alone. That's quite a lot of income. Just this money alone was enough to equip a heavy-armored cavalry squadron. And this didn't even include the investment income in South Port.

Although there's no exact figure yet, the count's investment in South Port could bring him at least more than 500,000 gold francs of income every year. Just think about it. With so much money flowing in continuously, I really can't imagine what kind of financial problems Luxembourg could have. So, the death of this count has made the whole thing even more mysterious. There must be a lot going on behind this. It seems that the inside story here is definitely not as simple as it appears on the surface.

So, based on these situations, I'm quite confident that the death of the real Mr. Ivan must also be due to some unknown reasons. It's definitely not as simple as a normal death. Because of this, I was thinking that I hoped Herbert could be the bodyguard for our little friend, that is, the child who has now changed his name to Ivan Esther. At least before he successfully obtains the identity of the heir, we mustn't let Ivan Esther die inexplicably due to illness or something like that. We have to ensure his safety. Odrie reported in detail all the findings he had carefully investigated and thought about in the past few days. He explained the whole story and all kinds of doubts very clearly.

"This matter is actually quite obvious. Since the news of the lords' deaths in Luxembourg came out one after another, I had already guessed roughly what was going on at that time. Do you think that butler really came to us on his own initiative? It's not that simple. He was guided by someone behind the scenes before coming to me. Moreover, I can even guess who the person guiding him behind the scenes is and why that person guided him to come to us. Actually, Herbert has already been secretly helping you all along. However, his situation is rather special, and he's definitely not suitable to show up in public. Herbert can only exert his greatest power when he hides in the shadows. If he comes out into the open, many things might become difficult to handle," the old man said unhurriedly, with a smile on his face that showed he knew everything, as if all these things were under his control.

"Yes, you're right. But do you think the person guiding behind the scenes will betray us at a critical moment?" Odrie couldn't help but worry after hearing the old man's words. After all, this matter was related to the success or failure of the whole plan. If they were betrayed at a critical moment, all their previous efforts would be in vain. So he had always been rather uncertain and asked with a frown.

"Betraying us won't do him any good at all. On the contrary, the harm it would cause to himself would be much greater than the impact on us. That person actually just wants to maintain the current situation steadily. Once Luxembourg has no legitimate heir, then someone will be able to rightfully and openly seek this position. As long as there's a change in the situation, it won't do him any good at all. So, whether our plan can succeed or not, to be honest, that person is even more concerned about it than we are. He won't easily do something that's not good for himself and disrupt the plan," the old man continued to say patiently with a smile, looking at Odrie with a hint of an elder giving advice to a junior in his eyes. "Odrie, I have to tell you that your biggest problem now is that you lack an understanding of the actual situation. You've seen and known too few things usually. Although you have much more knowledge and ideas in your mind than I do, you don't quite know which things are the most important and which are the most useful at present. You should spend more time understanding human nature. Your knowledge reserve is already quite sufficient. The key now is to combine this knowledge with the actual situation. You can't just bury your head in books."

"But I prefer to stay in the study," Odrie said with a slight frown, his tone revealing a hint of reluctance to leave the study, as if being immersed in books in the study was the most pleasant thing for him.

"I hope you can take over my position. This plan may be the last operation I've formulated. I'm getting older and older. I'm old and just want to change to a more peaceful way of life. Maybe, like Pam, become a wealthy landowner and live a leisurely life every day, or perhaps live in South Port in the future and enjoy the different life there." Having said that, the old man waved his hand gently, indicating that Odrie could leave. He seemed a bit tired at that moment and wanted to be alone and have some quiet time.

Before Odrie left, as if the old man suddenly thought of something, he said, "That little thing you want Herbert to do, I'll tell him to handle it well. Don't worry."

Odrie replied and then turned around and walked out of the study. As he walked, he was thinking about what the boss had just said. In fact, in recent years, the boss had gradually told him more and more secrets that he had no idea about before. He had already guessed that the boss probably intended to retire. However, he wasn't really interested in taking over. He thought to himself that if the boss could give him that study without any conditions attached, he would be even happier. After all, there were so many precious books in the study, which were really attractive to him.

Odrie sorted out his somewhat chaotic thoughts and then returned to the room that was used as a "classroom".

Once inside, he saw his student, the young boy, sitting upright at the desk and seriously working on the test paper. The boy was so focused that it seemed that everything around him had nothing to do with him.

Odrie curiously went over and took a look. To his surprise, the answers on the test paper were quite good. The thinking was clear and the handwriting was neat. It could be seen that the student hadn't wasted his time when he was in South Port and had really learned a lot of things.

"Alright, Ivan, stop for a moment," Odrie said softly, interrupting the young boy who was concentrating on doing the questions.

Hearing the teacher's words, the young boy raised his head and looked at his teacher with a puzzled look on his face. He didn't understand why he was asked to stop and was still wondering if he had made a mistake somewhere.

"I've already got a general idea of what you know. I've already arranged a meticulous study plan for you," Odrie said as he took out a rolled-up piece of paper from his pocket and explained. He slowly unfolded the note and placed it in front of the young boy so that the young boy could see clearly what was written on it.

"Every morning at six o'clock sharp, you must get up on time. No slacking off, okay? Have breakfast at half past six. But when having breakfast, it's not just about filling your stomach. You also have to learn the proper etiquette and grace at the dining table in high society at the same time. You have to behave elegantly and appropriately. This is also a very important lesson. At half past seven, start learning horse riding or fencing. You have to build up your body and master these skills that nobles usually have. Have morning tea at nine o'clock. Don't underestimate having morning tea. You must learn this elegant art. Meanwhile, this is also your language class for you. Let me ask you, do you know how to speak Xibai language, Otto language, and Delizhi language?" Odrie asked while pointing at the content on the note, with a hint of seriousness in his eyes. He attached great importance to learning in these aspects.

"I know a little. I can count or just say simple greetings like that," the young boy answered honestly, thinking in his heart that he only knew this much and was probably far from meeting the teacher's requirements.

"That won't do. You have to be able to speak fluent Xibai language. You can be a bit less proficient in Otto language and Delizhi language, but you can't be too bad either. It seems that you still need to work harder in this regard. Then I'll add another language class session for you before going to bed at night," Odrie said. Then he picked up a pen from the desk and carefully added an hour of language class at the end of the note. While writing, he was muttering to himself as if confirming whether the arrangement was reasonable or not. "That's about it. From ten to eleven is the entertainment time. But don't misunderstand. This is not for you to play casually. You have to learn everything that's popular in high society and the etiquette that should be in line with your new identity. These are all things you need to learn seriously.

At eleven o'clock, it's the cultural class. I'll supplement you with the knowledge you lack to make you more learned. Twelve o'clock is lunchtime. After lunch, you can take a half-hour break to relax a little. Start the religious class at one o'clock. I think you seem to lack some common sense in this aspect, so you need to make up for it. Two o'clock is the painting class to cultivate your artistic accomplishment. From three to four is the political class, and from four to five is the history class. It seems that you haven't known anything about these two aspects at all. You have to study hard. Have dinner at five o'clock. When having dinner, it's also the test time to check your learning achievements of the day. I have to see how much you've learned in a day.

Start the mechanical class at seven o'clock in the evening. I'll teach you the principles of machinery, how to assemble or how to disassemble it. This knowledge may come in handy in the future. Eight o'clock is the physical fitness class. Exercising can also help you digest the food you had for dinner. From nine to ten is the second language class added just now. You can go to bed after ten o'clock. However, before that, there's also a punishment class. I have strict regulations for your daily studies. If you can't complete the learning tasks of the day, you'll get whipped before going to bed. Do you understand?" Odrie said seriously while elaborating on the content on the note. His solemn appearance made the young boy know that this was no joking matter.

The young boy felt a bit intimidated when listening to this full schedule, but still nodded repeatedly to show that he understood. Especially when Odrie took out a teaching whip made of rattan and as thick as a thumb from the top of the bookshelf, the young boy nodded his head like a chicken pecking at rice. His fear of being beaten was so obvious.

"Alright, it's almost nine o'clock now. I'll ask the servants to prepare morning tea," Odrie said. Then he stretched out his hand and pulled a long yellow silk ribbon in the room in a specific rhythm. This should be a way for them to summon servants.

"But I just had breakfast not long ago. I'm not hungry at all..." The young boy quickly explained, thinking in his heart that he couldn't eat any more since he had just eaten not long ago. But he didn't dare to disobey the teacher's intention and could only mutter in a low voice.

Before he could finish speaking, the teaching whip in Odrie's hand snapped and landed on his left buttock.

The sound was particularly harsh in the quiet room. The young boy immediately felt a burning pain coming. He subconsciously covered his buttocks, exclaimed, and jumped back a step. His face was full of a mixture of horror and pain.

"The time for punishment isn't just before you go to bed. Once you make a mistake, you'll be punished at any time and anywhere. This is to remind you all the time to pay attention to your words and deeds. Do you understand?" Odrie asked expressionlessly, with an air of unquestionable sternness in his eyes. His solemn appearance made the young boy feel extremely intimidated and he didn't dare to disobey at all.

At this moment, the young boy couldn't care less about feeling aggrieved. He could only keep stroking the painful part with his hand. He was terribly frightened and nodded repeatedly with great fear. His head nodded like a pestle pounding rice, hoping that the teacher would calm down and not let the whip fall on him again. This feeling was really unpleasant.

Just at this time, there was a gentle knock on the door. Only then did Odrie put away his solemn expression and walked over to open the door. It turned out that the butler had pushed a small cart over. On the small cart were all kinds of delicate little snacks, which looked particularly tempting. Each piece of snack was small and exquisite, like a work of art. And in the middle were placed a set of silver tea sets and a pot of an unknown beverage. The pot body emitted a faint luster and looked rather high-end.

Odrie stretched out his hand and picked up a stack of snacks with an extremely elegant movement and gently placed them in the young boy's hands. "Morning tea and afternoon tea are one of the most important parts of high society social circles. You must attach importance to this. If someone invites you to have morning tea, it means that they have already recognized you and are willing to accept you into their circle. As for the invitation to afternoon tea, it means that others already regard you as one of their own or have quite important things to ask you for help. So, the tea party will be the first test for you to officially enter the social circle. You must fully master the key points. Now, pick up the snacks in your hand... Hey, don't be so rude. Follow my example. Watch my every move clearly. Don't be so hasty anymore."

After that, Odrie began to teach the young boy various etiquette details one by one.

"When pouring coffee, your movements should be slow and show an elegant and calm posture. Don't bend your back at all. You're not a servant now. You should have the air of a noble... Keep your eyes looking straight ahead. Don't pay too much attention to the cup deliberately. Just use the corner of your eye to look at it... When inviting someone to drink coffee, your tone of speech must be sincere and forceful, and your enunciation should be clear, making people feel comfortable and appropriate when listening... You're not the former shop assistant anymore. Don't look so respectful in your expression. Straighten your chest and look into my eyes... Hey, don't look at my chest. If you meet a lady, that would be quite rude behavior. You should pay attention... Also, when getting up, your movements should be light. Don't use the chair for support. That's a rather impolite way. That's a privilege only for the elderly. You can't do that..."

In this way, in Odrie's repeated scolding, the young boy finally stumbled through a long and tense day of study. He had never been so tired in his life. Even when the hunchback in the shop arranged all kinds of heavy work for him before, he had never been as physically and mentally exhausted as he was now. At this moment, he just felt that his body was about to fall apart. His whole body was limp and he had no strength at all. He just wanted to lie down quickly and have a good rest.

He had been in an extremely tense state all day long. His mind was filled with all kinds of knowledge that he had never heard of before. And he had to be careful all the time. As long as he did something wrong in one place, the whip might fall on him, which made him even more nervous. There was always a string taut in his heart and he couldn't relax at all.

At night, the young boy lay on the bed, gently stroking the still faintly painful wound on his buttocks. He could still feel the burning pain from time to time. At the same time, he couldn't help muttering in his heart, wondering if tomorrow's courses would be even more difficult. Thinking of this, he felt even more worried, but there was no way to escape. He could only face it bravely.

However, despite the hardship of learning, despite always having to be careful of the whip that might fall at any time, and despite living in an extremely tense atmosphere all day long, the young boy faintly felt that such days were quite fulfilling. Because he had never been so completely immersed in the ocean of knowledge like now. He could learn a lot of new things every day and felt that he seemed to be changing slowly.

It could be seen that Odrie was an extremely learned person. Compared with him, Mr. Madiield, who the young boy thought was very knowledgeable before, was a bit inferior. There were many things that Mr. Madiield could only explain roughly, but for Odrie, that knowledge seemed as simple as common sense. He could explain it clearly and logically at will, which made the young boy admire him very much. The young boy thought in his heart that he hoped he could be as learned as Odrie someday.

However, he also knew in his heart that for himself, the most important thing at present was to learn the courses that Odrie had prepared for him first. Don't think too much about other things for now. He had to move forward step by step.

In the young boy's heart, it would be nice if Odrie could be as amiable as Mr. Madiield. That whip and the pain it brought to his buttocks were really the only regret for the young boy. Every time he thought of the whip, his buttocks seemed to start hurting again.

On the second day, the courses were not as difficult as the young boy had imagined. On the contrary, because he had gone through the trials of the first day, he was gradually able to adapt to this highly intense learning life. So the courses on the second day were actually not as hard as those on the first day. However, he still got whipped once that day. It was because he didn't control the horse very well during the horse riding training. Once the horse started running, he got a bit flustered and couldn't maintain his balance. But the young boy felt rather aggrieved in his heart. He had never ridden a horse in his life before. In his opinion, having such a performance for his first time riding a horse was already quite good. But he still got beaten, and he felt extremely wronged.

Just as he had imagined, in the following few days, horse riding became easier and easier for him. And as he kept learning and adapting, the courses also became simpler and simpler. He even had the energy to spare some extra time to learn and read some knowledge that he liked. He felt that life didn't seem so difficult anymore and he also had a sense of accomplishment.

Gradually, the young boy had gradually gotten used to his new identity. When others called him Ivan Estee, he would naturally take it as his own name and wouldn't have that strange or awkward feeling anymore. It was as if he was really Ivan Estee.

However, the young boy was always full of doubts about these studies. Because no matter how he looked at it, he didn't think these studies were for serving others. Instead, it seemed that he was being taught to be the kind of person who would be served by others. It was as if Odrie was going to train him to be an elegant and decent child from a wealthy family, to be the kind of rich family's offspring who could wander around in a carriage every day, with numerous servants waiting on him, could be idle all day long but still enjoy the best things in the world.

He was really puzzled in his heart. What was the use of training himself to be such a person for his employer? This doubt had been lingering in his heart all the time and he just couldn't figure it out.

Moreover, this doubt grew heavier and heavier in his heart as time passed day by day. The fencing and horse riding courses were basically over, and the young boy had mastered these two aspects quite well. Meanwhile, his performance at morning tea, afternoon tea, and any banquet was so good that even his strict teacher couldn't find any faults. He had learned the etiquette very well. As for his conversation skills, under Odrie's meticulous training and combined with the fact that the young boy had witnessed all kinds of strange things in South Port before, his performance in this aspect was the most satisfactory to Odrie. Even if this student was placed among the noblest nobles in the Kingdom of France, with his conversation skills, he would definitely be outstanding and not inferior at all.

In the young boy's opinion, Odrie was just like a tutor or a private secretary hired by wealthy noble families. There was a professional and rigorous temperament in his every move.

When he was in South Port before, he often saw the nobles of Luxembourg bringing their servants to buy things in the store. Beside those nobles, there was always a person who obviously looked different from ordinary attendants but was definitely not in the position of the master, with a rather strange identity.

These people seemed to be all the same. They were equally rigid, equally serious and meticulous in doing things. There was always a solemn look on their faces, which made people feel a sense of distance when looking at them.

Moreover, these people also had the same characteristic, that is, they were all learned scholars with extensive knowledge and broad experience. It seemed that they had a lot of knowledge in their minds. No matter what topic was discussed, they could always explain it clearly and logically. They were really remarkable. So the young boy thought that instead of being attendants of the nobles, they were more suitable to be called advisors or consultants. They must be able to give the nobles a lot of good suggestions beside them.

In the past experiences in the store, whenever those nobles took a fancy to a beautiful item among the dazzling array of goods, their actions were often quite consistent. They wouldn't rashly decide to pay for it. Instead, they would surely ask these advisors or consultants following them to come over and carefully appraise it first. These advisors or consultants would then step forward, look at the item from left to right, carefully consider everything from the details of the craftsmanship to the texture of the material, and would also have quiet exchanges and discussions, as if they were going to dig out every mystery of the item. Only after they had gone through a rigorous inspection and finally gave a positive reply would those nobles feel relieved and obediently take out money from their purses to complete the transaction. It was as if the approval of these advisors or consultants was the "passport" for the item to be worth buying.

In the young boy's previous impression, these people who were advisors or consultants seemed to have a kind of unique aloofness and principle, that is, they would never accept bribes. He had actually seen the shopkeeper secretly giving money to those personal maids or butlers, with a big smile on his face and the action of giving money was quite concealed, hoping that the other party could say a few good words for him in front of the nobles or do him a favor. However, the young boy had never seen the shopkeeper give money to these noble advisors who were much higher in status than maids or butlers. These advisors always had an indifferent and unmoved look. Facing possible bribes, they seemed to completely ignore them and appeared extremely upright.

The young boy was full of curiosity at that time and really couldn't figure out the reason. So he deliberately found an opportunity and ran to ask the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper was quite patient and explained it to him in detail. These people were all genuine scholars with profound knowledge. Moreover, many of them even had their own industries. For example, Mr. Madiield, the young master of the shop, had once served as the private secretary of a noble with a prominent reputation in Luxembourg. The old shopkeeper was also the same. In South Port, many merchants established connections with nobles by letting themselves or people around them serve as private secretaries for nobles. In fact, this could be said to be the quickest and most direct way for merchants to open up upper-class channels. If they could rely on their own abilities to satisfy the nobles and further develop a close friendship with them, it would be equivalent to successfully building deep connections in the upper-class social circle of France. In the future, whether it was to expand the scale of business or to handle various other things, it would become much smoother because of the care of these noble friends. Others would also look up to them because of the face of those nobles, and it would naturally be more convenient when handling affairs.

After hearing what the shopkeeper said, the young boy became even more curious about Odrie's identity. Looking at Odrie, he always felt that Odrie had a unique temperament. There was a different kind of elegance and authority in his every move, which Mr. Madiield, the young master, didn't have. So he couldn't help but secretly wonder whether Odrie was also a successful merchant or perhaps had a nobler identity and was a descendant of a small noble family. After all, the noble temperament on Odrie was so obvious that it was hard not to have such associations.

Moreover, Odrie horse riding and fencing skills were quite excellent, which the young boy also found very special. You know, ordinary merchants were usually busy taking care of their business and calculating how to make money. They would never spend too much energy and time on horse riding and fencing. Most merchants thought that sitting comfortably in a carriage and traveling slowly when going out was a pleasant and safe choice. Horse riding was tiring and prone to danger, so it wasn't their favorite way of traveling. As for fencing, in the merchants' view, it was used for duels. And their usual practice was that whenever something happened, the first thing they thought of was to solve all problems with money. Swords and other weapons were things they tried to avoid as much as they could. They thought that if they used swords, it would be too easy to get into all kinds of troubles. It was much more worry-free to spend money to avoid disasters.

So, considering all these aspects, the young boy became more and more certain in his heart that Odrie should be a descendant of a declining noble family. In his opinion, only such an identity background could reasonably explain these distinctive features on Odrie. Otherwise, it really didn't make sense.

In addition, according to what the shopkeeper said, those who served as private secretaries for nobles enjoyed special respect in the noble circle. The reasons for this were as follows. First of all, naturally, it was because they themselves had noble blood. Just because of this, their status was different from that of ordinary people. In the eyes of the nobles, they were somewhat "their own people" to some extent. Secondly, these people were often also the nobles' personal political advisors. In terms of political strategies, relying on their profound knowledge and unique insights, they could always give particularly brilliant guidance and help the nobles make correct decisions in complex situations and plan out favorable strategies. This was definitely a skill that merchants didn't have. After all, merchants usually focused their main attention on business operations and were not so proficient in the intricate ways of politics.

As for Odrie, judging from the courses he arranged for the young boy, it was obvious that he wanted to train the young boy to be a noble's child as well. Just by looking at the difficulty and breadth of the history courses and political courses, it wasn't difficult to understand Odrie's intention. If he didn't have such a purpose, it would be really impossible to explain why he taught the young boy so much profound and extensive knowledge. After all, for a person with an ordinary identity, learning these things was basically not that necessary. So Odrie must have other plans.

Later, seeing that Odrie was quite satisfied with his academic performance during this period, the young boy thought about it for a long time and finally summoned up the courage to bravely ask Odrie about the purpose of doing all this.

To the young boy's great surprise, this time, the teaching whip in Odrie's hand didn't fall mercilessly on his buttocks as usual because of his question. This was so different from the usual situation. The young boy was first stunned in his heart, and then he began to feel uneasy. He didn't know what Odrie would say next. His heart was pounding like a little rabbit.

"Do you really want to know?" Odrie looked at the young boy, with deep and calm eyes, and asked slowly. After a pause, he continued, "Alright, I'll have to tell you sooner or later anyway. Baz, the one who recruited you, didn't tell you the truth. Our employer isn't a 'philanthropist', Mr. Juan. He's the chief leader of the Thieves' Guild in the sixteen southern provinces of France. Everyone calls him 'the Boss'.

And I'm the commander of the swindlers. Everyone calls me 'the Actor'. Pam, he's in charge of the thieves in the city. He's a thief leader. And Baz is the boss of the thieves.

We now have a new plan. However, in this plan, we need a new face that no one has ever seen before. That's why Baz found you. But you've really lived up to our expectations. At least you haven't let us down so far," Odrie calmly told the whole inside story, his tone as if he was telling an ordinary and commonplace little thing, without the slightest ripple or any intention of hiding anything, as if these things were nothing to be surprised about.

Hearing these words, the young boy immediately felt a chill run through his whole body, as if he had plunged into an ice cave. His heart skipped a beat and he was completely dumbfounded. He had never expected that, without realizing it, he had ended up in the hands of a group of thieves. He hadn't thought about this possibility at all before. In fact, when he was at the place where Baz and the others lived earlier, he had once suspected their identities to some extent. After all, some of their behaviors and manners did seem a bit odd. But later, when he saw that Pam's room was filled with so many books, he thought to himself, how could a thief have so many books? They surely couldn't be bad people. So he put aside his doubts and even felt that he might have been wrongly suspecting good people with his own petty thoughts. Unexpectedly, he still couldn't escape in the end and had fallen into such a tightly organized web. What was he going to do now? The young boy was both frightened and regretful. He regretted not having been more vigilant and observant from the start. Now that he was trapped in such a difficult situation, he was on the verge of crying but had no tears.

Thinking about all this, the young boy couldn't help but become absent-minded and a bit out of sorts. It felt as if he were in a dream, yet the harsh reality right in front of him was so clear that there was no room for doubt. Fortunately, the one-month training had borne some fruit. After this period of high-intensity training, he had engraved most of the things deeply in his mind. The etiquette norms, knowledge content, and various skills had all become natural habits in his every move. So although he was extremely flustered in his heart at this moment, he could still manage to stabilize his state to some extent and avoid making any particularly big mistakes.

At night, when the young boy was lying alone in bed, his fear grew stronger and stronger. He hadn't been this scared before when he didn't know that this was a thieves' den. Now that he knew everything, he always had the feeling that there seemed to be pairs of eyes secretly watching him through the crack of the door. The feeling was so vivid that it seemed as if his every move was being clearly seen by others. Or he would imagine that there was a person with a dagger in hand, standing silently by the window, quietly waiting for him to fall asleep. As soon as he closed his eyes, danger might befall him. Thinking of these terrifying scenes, the young boy felt his hair stand on end. He tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep at all. His eyes were fixed on the ceiling, longing for daybreak to come soon.

"I can't stay here any longer. I have to find a way to escape," the young boy thought to himself. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that he couldn't just sit around and wait for disaster. If he continued to stay here, he didn't know what terrible things he would encounter. This fear kept spreading in his heart, driving him to give escaping a try, even if there was only a slim chance.

So, he quietly got up. His movements were as light as could be. He was careful with every single move, fearing that he might make the slightest noise and alert those people. Then he gently put on his clothes, tiptoed to the balcony, and slowly opened the window of the balcony. The balcony was on the second floor and wasn't too high from the ground. The young boy looked up and outside, estimating in his heart that there should be a chance to escape from here. As long as he was careful enough not to be discovered. At this moment, he was both nervous and had a glimmer of expectation in his heart.

The young boy took a deep breath, carefully grasped the railing of the balcony, and slowly climbed down from the balcony. When he was close to the ground, he held his breath, gently jumped as lightly as possible to make the least noise, just like a nimble little kitten, and then landed steadily on the ground. At the moment of landing, he was rather relieved that he hadn't made too much noise. He secretly let out a sigh of relief, thinking that the first step had finally been successful. Next, he had to be even more careful.

After stepping onto the flat ground, the young boy began to think about whether to go to the stable first and lead out the horse he was familiar with. If he had a horse to ride, he could escape much faster. Perhaps he could get rid of those people's pursuit more quickly and it would be easier to escape. After all, running on his own two legs definitely couldn't outrun others on horseback. With a horse as help, the chance of escape would be greater. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that this method was feasible, and his steps unconsciously moved towards the direction of the stable.

However, on second thought, during this one month, Odrie had painstakingly taught him horse riding. Although Odrie was usually quite strict with him, when teaching horse riding, he had also put in a lot of effort and taught him without reservation. If he went to steal Odrie's horse when leaving, that would be really mean and ungrateful. It was simply unjustifiable. He couldn't do such a heartless thing. Thinking of this, the young boy abruptly stopped in his tracks, turned around, and walked towards the back of the house. Because he remembered that there was a small door there, and it was bolted from the inside. In this way, he didn't need to climb over the tall and difficult-to-climb iron fence gate. It should be more concealed to go this way and less likely to be discovered. So he quickened his pace and walked towards the direction of the small door.

But just when he turned around, suddenly, he saw Odrie and another middle-aged man standing expressionlessly behind him. Their eyes were cold, as if they could see through his thoughts, exuding an intimidating air that made one shiver. The young boy's heart leaped to his throat and he froze on the spot. His mind went blank and he didn't know what to do.

Looking again, these two people were also dressed neatly. There wasn't a single wrinkle on their clothes and their hair was combed meticulously. It was as if they had known that he was going to escape and had been waiting here specifically for him. Obviously, they had been waiting here for a long time. This scene immediately made the young boy despair. He knew that this escape attempt had definitely failed. He was filled with regret in his heart, thinking about how unlucky he was and how he had been discovered by them.

"Your patience is quite good. We've been waiting here for a long time," Odrie looked at the young boy, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised, showing a half-smile expression, and said in a mocking tone. There was sarcasm and disdain in his words, as if he had expected the young boy to do this all along. This tone made the young boy feel particularly uncomfortable, both embarrassed and scared. He wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

Just at this moment, the door creaked open and the butler walked out from inside wearing a nightgown. He was yawning as he walked, looking as if he had just woken up. The nightgown was loosely worn on him, but there was a shrewdness in his eyes. It was obvious that he was no ordinary character. He walked over slowly, looked at the young boy, and had a half-smile expression on his face.

"Your apprentice didn't learn very well. He made such a loud noise. What does he think this place is? A nursing home? I think most people were woken up by him," the butler said with a teasing smile. However, there was no kindness in that smile. There was even a bit of disgust in his eyes when looking at the young boy, as if the young boy had caused him a lot of trouble. This made the young boy feel even more uncomfortable. He felt extremely aggrieved but didn't dare to refute and could only listen silently.

The young boy knew in his heart that this butler surely wasn't a real butler either. The servants here probably weren't real servants either. They were probably all thieves or people in the same group as them. Now he really had no way to escape. He became even more desperate in his heart, knowing that there would definitely be no good outcome for him next. He could only lower his head, like a child who had made a mistake, and dejectedly follow the butler back into the house. Every step he took felt extremely heavy. He was very uneasy in his heart, not knowing what kind of punishment was waiting for him next. He was thinking all kinds of thoughts along the way and was terribly scared.

After returning to the room, the middle-aged man walked to the bed. He stretched out his hand and casually knocked on the four pillars at the head of the bed. The solid wooden pillars made dull "thud, thud, thud" sounds. The sounds were especially loud in the quiet room, as if they were sounding an alarm for the young boy. Each sound seemed to hit the young boy's heart, making him even more nervous. His heart was pounding and he didn't dare to breathe loudly.

The middle-aged man slowly walked back to the desk, then took out three goose-feather pens from the pen holder on the desk. His movements looked quite casual, as if he was just picking up something at random. But suddenly, he turned around as fast as the wind. His movements with his hands were extremely quick. The three goose-feather pens shot towards one of the pillars of the big bed like lightning. The speed was so fast that people couldn't react in time. The scene was like magic and was really astonishing.

Only three clear "swish, swish, swish" sounds were heard. Looking again, the three goose-feather pens were neatly and deeply nailed into the extremely hard wood. This was really incredible. The young boy used these three goose-feather pens to write every day, so of course he knew that the tips of these goose-feather pens were not very sharp and were quite soft. They were usually good to use precisely because they were soft and comfortable. And that big bed was made entirely of wild jujube wood. The wild jujube wood was extremely hard. Usually, even if you chopped it with a knife, it might not necessarily be able to cut into it. But these goose-feather pens could pierce into it so easily. This skill was really amazing. The young boy watched with a panicked look on his face. He was trembling with fear while standing there and didn't dare to breathe loudly. He thought in his heart that this middle-aged man must be an extremely dangerous character.

The young boy was trembling with fear while standing there at this moment. His eyes were wide open and full of horror as he looked at the two expressionless middle-aged men in front of him. His heart was pounding like a rabbit. He was silently guessing in his heart what kind of fate he might face next. The more he thought about it, the more scared he became. In his mind, the terrifying rumors he had heard in South Port kept emerging. When he was in South Port, he had heard others say that thieves could be extremely cruel to traitors. They would tie a big stone to the traitor's feet and then mercilessly throw the person into the river and let them drown alive. Thinking that he might also end up like this and might soon be fed to the small fish and shrimps in the river, the young boy couldn't help but tremble all over. His teeth were chattering and his face turned as pale as paper. His nostrils were twitching constantly. His frightened appearance was really obvious.

Odrie, on the other hand, just stood quietly aside and didn't say a word all along. He just looked at the young boy expressionlessly. His eyes were unfathomable and no one knew what was on his mind. Instead, the middle-aged man slowly took out a necklace from his pocket. The necklace looked quite ordinary, just a cheap style that could be bought everywhere in the streets and alleys of South Port.

"Recognize it?" The middle-aged man held the necklace, looked up at the young boy, with a hint of threat in his eyes, and asked coldly.

The young boy's heart sank when he saw the necklace. He took two steps back in fear, yet his eyes were fixed on the necklace as he nodded tremblingly. Of course he recognized it. It was clearly the necklace that Aunt Jenny usually wore around her neck. At the sight of it, the young boy grew even more panicked, worrying about Aunt Jenny's safety and wondering what else these people had done to her.

"I went to South Port and took this from your Aunt Jenny's neck. It was an extremely easy thing for me. I could also take other things from your Aunt Jenny's neck instead of just this necklace. Do you understand?" The middle-aged man said slowly while shaking the necklace in his hand. The implication of his words was blatant – he was blatantly threatening the young boy that if he didn't obey and do as they wished, Aunt Jenny would be in danger and could encounter misfortune at any time.

Seeing the young boy's eyes widen in fear, nodding vigorously up and down, his face as pale as paper and his nostrils twitching more violently due to excessive fear, Odrie seemed rather satisfied. He nodded slightly and said, "Alright, I think you know what to do. You can continue to rest. However, before you rest, I'm going to give you one last lesson."

When the young boy heard this, he knew in his heart that the so-called "last lesson" surely meant that he had to accept punishment for his attempt to escape this time. Although he was still terribly afraid at the thought of being punished, he felt a bit more at ease at that moment. After all, as long as he could save his life, compared to losing his life, getting beaten seemed bearable. So he could only helplessly accept this reality.

The young boy obediently lay on the bed, waiting to be punished. But to his great surprise, the punishment was unbearably painful. Each lash of the whip felt like fire burning on his body. The searing pain instantly spread throughout his whole body, making it impossible for him to hold back. With each stroke, he let out a hoarse scream that echoed in the room, sounding particularly miserable. The pain was so intense that he subconsciously tried to struggle to get up and avoid the terrible whipping. But Odrie firmly stepped on his back, pinning him down so that he couldn't move despite using all his strength. He could only clench his teeth and endure the extremely painful whipping. Tears welled up in his eyes. In the end, the pain was so severe that he passed out and lost consciousness, knowing nothing at all.

I don't know how long it had passed. When the young boy regained consciousness, it was already noon on the third day. He had been in a coma for two whole days. At this time, his injuries were still quite serious. He was aching all over his body and was so weak that he didn't even have the strength to sit up. He looked extremely haggard, as if he had just recovered from a serious illness.

Odrie was surprisingly lenient this time. Perhaps it was because he saw that the young boy was too seriously injured. He exempted the young boy from courses that required a lot of physical exertion, such as horse riding and fencing. After all, with the young boy's current physical condition, he couldn't attend these courses at all. If he forced himself to attend, his injuries would probably become even more serious. Meanwhile, the last punishment class was also exempted. This was really a rare piece of good news for the young boy. He was quite relieved in his heart, thinking that it would be good to suffer less and that he could take advantage of this time to recover from his injuries.

As a result, a lot of time was spent on learning book knowledge, especially language learning. Throughout the day, Odrie always talked to the young boy in different languages. Sometimes he spoke Xibai language, sometimes Otto language or other languages, forcing the young boy to always concentrate, listen carefully, understand, and respond. In this way, he continuously practiced and improved his language ability.

Since the young boy already knew that this was a thieves' den, Odrie no longer concealed anything. The original mechanical class naturally became a class on how to pick locks and how to use tools exclusive to thieves. He began to teach the young boy some skills commonly used by thieves, such as how to skillfully open various locks and how to use tools to quietly sneak into some places. These were things that the young boy had never been exposed to before.

Moreover, from that day on, the young boy had a new course – heraldry. For the young boy, this course was really difficult to learn. It was basically like memorizing extremely complicated family trees. It was boring and hard to remember. There were more than 300 ancient noble families in France. More than half of these families could trace their history back to the era of Emperor Reduco. That was three hundred years before the founding of the Kingdom of France. It was such a long time ago. During this long period, the relationships among these families were extremely complicated.

During these nearly one thousand years, these families intermarried. The daughters of one family married into another family, and the sons of another family married the girls of yet another family. In this way, the relationships became more and more entangled. Some of the outstanding ones created a number of branch families, just like a big tree spreading its branches and leaves. There were more and more families. It was rare for one or two short-lived families to contribute to reducing this huge system. Most of the families were quite prosperous and had extremely complicated pedigrees, like a tangled mess, giving people a headache.

If it weren't for the decree issued by the wise King Francis V, announcing that from his time on, titles could only be inherited by direct bloodlines and could not be split or merged, these noble pedigrees would be even more complicated and probably even more confusing.

During the days of memorizing these family pedigrees, the young boy slowly but surely gradually identified with his new identity. He felt that he was Ivan Estee, a direct descendant of a noble family of unknown bloodline. However, judging from the surname Estee, he should be a descendant of an ancient noble family from Xibai. No wonder Odrie had always emphasized that he must learn Xibai language well before. Now he finally understood a bit of the reason.

Ivan also secretly thought to himself that fortunately, he only needed to understand the noble pedigrees of France, not those of Xibai. You know, on this continent, France was still a relatively new country. But Xibai was different. It was a country with a long history. Many families had been quite active during the period of the Guluole Tower Empire. From then until now, there was a history of a full 1,500 years. Such a long time span made the pedigrees of these families as complicated as the silk threads in a bundle of cocoons, all tangled up and impossible to sort out. If he were asked to memorize the family pedigrees of Xibai, it would really be too difficult for him. His head would probably explode.

After a long and torturous month of recovery, Ivan finally slowly recovered from that tragic encounter before. Although his body gradually got better, since that disastrous day that was like a nightmare for him, he had never seen that strange middle-aged man again. Every time he had a meal, there were always those familiar faces at the dining table. That mysterious and dangerous middle-aged man had never appeared there. Ivan thought to himself and guessed that he should be like Pam, not living in this place. Perhaps he had another residence and only came here occasionally.

To be honest, deep in his heart, Ivan sincerely hoped that he would never meet that extremely dangerous stranger again in the future. After all, the skills that man showed were really terrifying. The ability to pierce hard wild jujube wood with soft goose-feather pens still made Ivan shudder when he thought about it even now. He felt that as long as he saw him, a chill would rush towards him. It was really dangerous.

However, Ivan also knew in his heart that it was almost impossible to avoid meeting him. Because there was one thing that made Ivan have to go to that middle-aged man no matter what, and that was that he must get that necklace back from that man.

That necklace was no ordinary thing. It carried too many emotions and memories. It was the only keepsake left to Ivan by his parents. Back then, his father had contracted a terrible plague and unfortunately didn't survive it and passed away. At that time, life at home was already tough and they didn't have much property. With his father's death, things got even worse. But it never rains but it pours. The sheriff actually led people to their house and set it on fire without a word, claiming that it was to prevent the spread of the plague. In fact, they just wanted to take the opportunity to loot. All the few things in the house that were worth a little bit of money were taken away by those sheriffs. In the end, only this seemingly worthless necklace was left.

Although this necklace didn't have much monetary value, it was of great significance to Ivan. Ivan had always been extremely grateful to Aunt Jenny because she had been really kind to him on a daily basis, taking care of him in every way as if she were his own family. So, Ivan gave this necklace to Aunt Jenny, who was closest to him, to show his gratitude to her. Aunt Jenny also understood Ivan's feelings. Since then, she had never taken off this unremarkable necklace and had always worn it around her neck, treasuring it very much.

In Ivan's heart, although this necklace wasn't valuable in terms of money, it represented the abundant love from his parents and Aunt Jenny for him. It was an extremely precious emotional sustenance. It was the most important, valuable, and meaningful thing in his life, much more precious than any gold, silver, or jewels. So, no matter how dangerous that middle-aged man was, even if he was more dangerous than the devil, more terrifying than the Grim Reaper, and a dreaded killer, Ivan had made up his mind to get this necklace back, no matter what the cost was. Because it was truly that important to him.