After Samantha got permission to pay the Xiao family a visit and to question Shuchang, Lithanya had the time to go through the book that was related to Theodora. Also, she didn’t need to worry too much about her homework or assignments since most senior investigators weren’t actually interested in the students’ works. Except for some senior investigators like Samantha, Tauriel, Haoran and a very few other senior investigators. Since all the students also showed no interest in their work, Lithanya didn’t need to do either. So, now her focus was on this case, being an undercover student and this book Lona told her to go through.

  Lithanya opened the first page of the book which revealed a drawing of a beautiful and big floral ship. One the end of the page on the left was written Theodora. Lithanya had never seen such a magnificent ship before even though it was painted black. This ship could fit roughly over a hundred people since it was quite massive. She was quite sad that such a beautiful ship would go down like that. She flipped to the other pages that showed the inside of the ship. Even though everything was painted black, she could tell that the inside looked so beautiful and magnificent that she couldn’t take her eyes off the beauty of the interior.

  Lithanya finished spending five minutes looking at the interior designs, she was now going through the history of the ship. Despite the fact that she had to only focus on the sinking part, she also wanted to know more about the ship. In case she did find something that was a breakthrough to this new case. This book wasn’t thick at all so it was going to Lithanya not long to go through this book. It was the thick cover that made it look thick.

  So far, there was nothing breakthrough about this case until she went to the last few pages of the book. The last few pages were related to the last few days of Theodora before it sank. She looked at the names of the passengers that were aboard on Theodora.

  Xiao Shuchang Chang (wife and two children)

  Xiao Mingze Qiang ( pregnant wife and a child)

  Xiao Yuxuan Cheng (wife)

  Xiao Haoran’s family (pregnant wife)

  Zhou Xiang Gabriel Alexander (wife and a child)

  Before Lithanya could think about something, she found something that was written on the edge of the page.

  The rest of the Xiao family were travelling on another ship to visit some family relatives in Serphia. The brothers of the Xiao family were travelling on Zephora since they wanted to spend more time in Serphia. While the rest of the Xiao family were currently busy for that week so they were only able to travel the next week.

  Serphia?

  Lithanya found that name so familiar but she couldn’t remember where she heard that word from. Now she fully understood the whole arrangements before the ship sank. Lithanya went to the last paragraph of the book.

  Theodora sank after she left the Terradawn harbour after two days. Unfortunately, no one survived the shipwreck. The bodies of the passengers and crew members haven’t been found.

  Thirteen years ago- 19 August

  Lithanya finished reading everything from this book. Since she and the found the first victim that was now alive, she had a feeling that there were more victims that could be alive. There was some information in Lithanya’s head that were missing in this book.

  How did some people know the ship sank?

  Where did they get the information from about the ship sinking?

  Where did the ship sink?

  How did the ship sink?

  There were more questions that needed to be answered and the only person that could answer her was Lona. Hopefully, Lona could read Lithanya’s mind that Lona was needed. But Lithanya needed to be somewhere that was further away from the academy.

  ______________

  Lithanya was back in The Starry Night Village behind The Academy Island. She was wearing her cloak so that none of the students recognised her. While she was walking down the streets, she could hear loud noises coming from The Sorceresses Inn. The inn was busier compared to the other days. It really showed that Shilin showed no interest in the students and that the students spent most of the days in taverns or inns. Lithanya also noticed that most of the students didn’t attend classes unless there were Samantha, Haoran or Tauriel’s lessons.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  As she continued walking down streets, she caught a few men staring at her. They were showing wicked smirks while drinking tall glasses of ale. Lithanya completely ignored them and walked down the streets to communicate with Lona. While she was walking, she looked at the corner of her eyes to see if those men were following her. As her instinct told her, the men were following behind her. She continued walking down faster to reach a place that was busy but was also the perfect place to communicate with Lona. The men were coming closer to her faster which made her more concerned. She started walking faster to get away from the men. Until her body was slammed against a hard wall that actually didn’t turn out to be a wall but a really handsome tall man.

  A tall handsome man only had his eyes on the four men while walking towards him. His giant palm went on her shoulder and made her move behind him for protection. He made sure that Lithanya was standing behind him. The men were moving backwards to keep their distance from the man but the man showed no indication of stopping.

  “Why were you men following my wife?”, he had a really deep voice.

  Lithanya stared at him with confusion. “We didn’t know that she was your wife.”, two men answered.

  The man stopped in front of them with his hands in his black pants pockets. Lithanya was watching what the man was going to do with these men.

  “Next time, I find you following or doing inappropriate things to her, I’ll slice your hands and legs.”, he hissed.

  They stared at him with vicious eyes but they couldn’t do anything to him. Judging by his body and his fancy tunic, he was a really powerful person.

  “Come, love.”, he said, then walked back to the village.

  Lithanya didn’t know whether she should follow him or not because she never met him before. She had played her part if she didn’t want to get taken by these four men. She followed right behind him, covering her chest with the cloak.

  Lithanya and the man she just met were standing in a corner, facing each other. She had never seen such an extremely handsome man before, more handsome than Haoran. Especially those unique and exotic features of his fair manly face. Even though his body was covered with black tunic with golden mystical patterns and a plain black cloak, his massive muscles were standing underneath the tunic. His long pitch black wavy hair was left open with some of his hair tied in the back. His wavy hair gave him extra character and made him look so handsome.

  His light green eyes were looking at her from head to toe. “Where were you heading all by yourself in that dark place?”, he meant the back entrance.

  Lithanya remained calm. “I was curious about that place so I decided to walk there.”

  He chuckled softly. “Celestina is the most boring world here. You’re not missing anything here.”, he looked around the busy place.

  What a completely different response from this man compared to Shilin. “Thank you for saving my life.”

  He wasn’t going to let her go easily. “What’s a lower class person doing in Celestina?”, he asked.

  She was stunned that he could tell that she was from the lower class society. “Attending the academy.”

  He had a smile like a predator. “You’re part of the eldest child of the royal family.”

  His voice slightly sounded like a predator that made Lithanya’s stomach twist a little bit. “Yes.”, she still answered calmly.

  He came closer to her but she took a step back. “Which kingdom?”, he asked but she refused to answer. She didn’t know who this man was so she didn’t want to let out more information about because what if he decided to attack her kingdom. He sensed that she wasn’t going to tell him so he left it. “You’re welcome.”, he answered to her appreciation for saving her life. “You know what’s interesting.”, he looked at the dark scenery.

  “What is it?”

  He looked back at her. “That a lower class person is so adjusted to the upper class society. Shouldn’t you be terrified of us considering that we all have powers?”

  I was taught not to be terrified by anyone, including the people from the upper class society.

  “No, I don’t get terrified easily.”

  He raised a brow while moving to the other side to stand next to her. “Your height is hurting my ego a little bit. I’ve never met a woman who is almost the same height as me.”

  “It’s not my fault that I almost reached your height.”

  He glanced at her with the corner of her eyes. “I know but I’m still glad that you’re slightly shorter than me. So, my ego is only slightly hurt.”

  Lithanya shook her eyes. “Thank you again.”

  “Let me escort you back to the academy. You don’t want those men to find you.”, he offered.

  “No.”, she answered firmly. “I can manage.”, she looked at him.

  He looked back at her. “Since you rejected my offer, I’ll take my leave. Be careful next time.”, he was about to walk away.

  “Are you from here?”, she was curious to know.

  He stopped and looked at her with the corner of his eyes. “Am I?”

  She didn’t know how to respond to that. “You should know.”

  He chuckled. “No, I'm from Nymphaedra and Eldoria.”, he answered. “Enjoy the ridiculous academy.”, he finished talking to her.

  The man walked away from her to the dark place that was further away from him. Lithanya found the man interesting even though she only met him today. Unfortunately, this was the only time she was going to see him so she completely lost interest in him. She walked back to the academy while keeping an eye on her surroundings.