The last lesson was now over and most of the students were heading to the markets to get something to eat. Haoran was standing by his chair in front of his desk while watching the students leave. His eyes also went to Lithanya who was the last person walking behind everyone.

  “Miss Manrayar, please stay for a moment.”, Haoran said firmly.

  Lithanya stopped immediately then looked at Jullien. “I’ll see you just now.”

  “Okay.”, Jullien acknowledged then followed the other students.

  Haoran waited for the other students to leave before he could talk to Lithanya. Once the students were out of the room, Haoran closed the door by using his mind.

  “So, how’s the undercover mission going?”, he asked.

  “It’s going good so far but I still need to make my first move.”, she answered.

  He nodded. “I did a lot of thinking last night about our conversation. After finding out that we’re actually here for a similar reason. I’m here to offer you something.”, he said politely.

  Lithanya was slightly surprised to hear that considering their discussion last night was a bit ugly. “I’m listening.”

  “Why don’t we work with each other since we’re trying to bring down the same person and his connections?”, he offered.

  “You want me to work with you?”, she wanted to clarify.

  He nodded. “Yes.”

  She was really surprised to hear that. “As much as I want to take the offer, I don’t want Emperor Huang to be suspicious when we’re together late in the evenings. We can’t use the excuse of sleeping with each other because a student having a relationship with the senior investigator is forbidden.”

  Haoran chuckled a little bit. “You’re such an innocent woman.”

  She looked flustered. “What do you mean by that?”

  “There are so many students sleeping with senior investigators but it happens in the hotels in The Sorceress Inn. The student I was with last night was a student.”, he mentioned with a small wicked smile.

  Lithanya didn’t know how to respond to that. “So, what’s your plan to find out who killed your best friend?”, she asked. “Before you answer that question, why was your friend stabbed if you do know the reason?”

  “He was the deputy headmaster in this academy and he was working more like an actual headmaster in this academy. And he was exposing the true side of the academy to the public. Not to mention that my friend was also exposing the true side of Emperor Huang.”, Haoran explained.

  She suddenly realised something. “Was he the one who let out that new rule to the public?”

  “No, it wasn’t him.”, Haoran corrected.

  She nodded. “So, you’re here to bring revenge for your best friend’s death.”

  “And to complete his job to save the students from this academy.”

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  Lithanya tilted her head a little bit. “What do you mean?”, she asked.

  Haoran looked out of the window to see if anyone was watching. “We can discuss this later but somewhere further away from this academy. Meet me in the same inn you came to last night and we’ll discuss this.”, he said firmly.

  “Okay.”, she said, then walked to the door.

  Haoran watched her walking to the door with those thick and heavy books. He opened the door for her because she wasn’t going to be able to open the door with those heavy books.

  “Thank you.”, she appreciated it then walked out of the room.

  Haoran left the door open in case some of his old students wanted to see him before dinner.

  Lithanya was walking in the passage while holding the books tightly. While she was walking, she could see a beggar sitting in the corner further in the passage. Lithanya was so confused as to why there was a beggar in the premises and no one was doing anything about it. She walked closer to the beggar to see if that beggar needed help. But Lithanya stopped when she realised that it was the same beggar she saw in Vacanta. Lithanya didn’t want to encounter this beggar again so she decided to walk away with her head down.

  “Princess Lithanya.”, the beggar called her with her hoarse voice.

  Lithanya stopped and said a curse word. “Yes.”

  The beggar got up from the floor with no struggle which surprised Lithanya so much because the beggar looked elderly. Until the woman removed the ragged hood from her head to reveal her face to Lithanya. Lithanya’s eyes widened when she saw the face of this beggar.

  A beautiful woman was standing in front of Lithanya. Her shiny golden blonde hair was tied in a bun with two tiny plaits on the middle of her head. Lithanya’s eyes were wide with shock that the beggar turned out to be a beautiful woman.

  “Who are you?”, Lithanya asked with a hoarse voice.

  “I’m here to tell you something important. Firstly, I’m happy that you’re working with Mr Xiao to find out what happened to the deputy headmaster. Secondly, I want you to go through the case of a ship named Theodora.”, she explained firmly with no expression.

  “Theordora?”

  “That ship went missing thirteen years ago and it still hasn't been found yet. There’s a file in The Tarot Library that has all the information about this case.”, she explained.

  Lithanya looked so confused. “Why do you want me to look at the case?”

  “Because you’re the only person who will take this case seriously. Ever since the ship had disappeared thirteen years ago, no one had ever opened a case to find out what happened.”

  Lithanya found it strange that no one opened a case. “Were there people on board that ship?”

  “Yes, five families were on that ship.”, she answered.

  Lithanya nodded. “Okay, I’ll find that case and check it out. I’ll also ask some people to help me.”

  The woman shook her head firmly. “No, don’t get anyone else involved. The more people find out about this case, the more destruction it’ll cause. Don’t even tell Emperor Huang about this.”, she said firmly.

  Lithanya stared at her for a moment. “Okay. I’ll try my best.”

  “Before I leave, this is for you.”, she pulled up a royal blue envelope.

  Lithanya glanced at the envelope before taking it from her. Lithanya cautiously took the envelope from the woman.

  “Thank you. May I please know your name if I ever see you again?”

  “You can call me Lona.”

  Lithanya nodded. “Okay, Lona.”

  Lona nodded with a small smile then disappeared into the thin air. Now Lithanya was alone in the passage until she saw Samantha standing by the entrance of the passage with her arms crossed. Lithanya bowed to Samantha then walked back to the direction she was heading to. Samantha was watching Lithanya walking further down the passage.

  Lithanya was back in her room to leave her books upstairs. She turned her upstairs room into an office or a place where she could do her work. She was also going to use the space to work on her undercover investigation.

  All the books were placed on the royal blue long and wide simple table. Lithanya ripped the tip of the envelope then pulled out a light pink paper.

  You’ve been chosen to be part of The Shadow Knight Academy to become a witch knight.

  Lithanya stared at the paper with confusion because she never heard of the academy before. Now she had to send a letter to her father to find out more about this new academy. She took a seat on the desk then started writing a letter to her father.