Most of the students finished having their supper and were now sitting in their bedrooms. Stress had appeared in their bodies as they were now getting more homework and assignments that some of them were due in two weeks. As for some students, they were more interested in going to the tavern in the academy and also having so much fun.

  Yaithra was in her room after finding out that her name was on the list of students who would be participating in a case. But the problem was that she wasn't a student in this academy . She was just a right hand side for Lithanya. So, she didn't understand how her name got into the list.

  Lithanya was in her room, dressed up in a simple and comfortable dress. As she was about to walk to the door, the other door connected to Yaithra’s room opened. Yaithra came out of the room with some frustration.

  “Did you see my name on the list of cases?”, Yaithra asked firmly and with irritation.

  Lithanya stopped by the door but she didn’t face her sister. “I honestly don’t know what to tell you.”

  Yaithra walked further into the room. “Do you know who put my name there?”

  Now she faced Yaithra with a calm and innocent expression. “Yes.”

  Yaithra stopped right in front of sister. “And did you confront that person?”

  Lithanya took a deep breath then let it out with confidence. “Yes.”

  “And who was that person?”

  “Xiao Haoran.”

  Yaithra nodded. “Why is my name there in the first place?”

  “Because I confronted Mr Xiao last night about him participating in the fight. He was really upset about it so he reiterated by putting your name on the list.”, Lithanya explained.

  Yaithra shook her head out of irritation. “That’s an absurd way to get upset and he should be happy that you were helping him.”

  “Apparently, it’s a normal thing for men to fight with each other. And if Mr Xiao did disagree on a fight, he’ll be considered as weak. So, it’s an offense for a man to be called weak in Nymphaedra and Eldoria.”, Lithanya concluded the explanation.

  Yaithra rolled her eyes. “That’s so ridiculous. I’m going to talk to him tomorrow.”, she walked back to her room.

  “Please don't, otherwise it’ll make things worse.”

  “Don’t worry…”, Yaithra faced him. “I won’t make it worse.”, she almost slammed the door.

  Lithanya closed her eyes and shook her head with disbelief. She opened the door fully then walked through the wide gap with some irritation.

  The Sorceresses Inn was quite busy with customers, mainly by the restaurants. Lithanya walked into the building, her head and face covered with her black cloak hood. She was surprised to see so many people in the inn right now at this particular time of the evening. Now she was looking for Haoran but there were so many people.

  A man appeared in front of him with his head covered in a black cloak. “Princess Manrayar?”

  Lithanya stared at him for a moment from head to toe. “Yes.”

  “Please follow me.”, he said steadily then walked back further into the restaurant.

  Without hesitation, Lithanya followed the man while keeping her head down. She didn’t want anyone to see her since there were some students that she recognised in the restaurant.

  Lithanya was on the third floor where most of the beds were. She was curious as to where this man was taking her because she didn’t book any sessions at all. He stopped by the door that was right in the corner and waited for her to come closer to him. Once she was closer to him, he opened the door widely for her.

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  “This is for you, your majesty.”, he said and stood next to the door.

  Lithanya was skeptical to walk into the room because she didn’t know whether it was a trap. Plus, she didn’t know who this person was so she was unease right. She slowly started walking cautiously to the room with her hands together. When she stopped by the door, she popped her head through the wide opened door.

  Haoran was standing by the windows and was looking at the bright full moon. With full confidence, Lithanya walked into the room without feeling nervous.

  “Yaithra is upset with you.”, she said.

  The man closed the door behind her so they could have this discussion in private. “How come?”, Haoran asked.

  “Because she found out that her name is on her list and she isn’t a student.”

  His long straight black hair was moving gracefully along with the gentle breeze. “Why should she be made?”, he turned around slowly. “I’m doing her a favour.”

  Lithanya stopped in the centre of the room. “That’s not the point.”

  “Then what’s the point?”, he faced her.

  “The point is that she isn’t a student so she can’t be part of a case.”

  He nodded. “That’s true. But since she is enjoying attending lessons, she might as well be a student.”

  No matter how hard she tried to tell what he did that was wrong, he was never going to listen to her. “You can tell me about your friend’s plan to save the students and everyone else in the academy.”

  “This academy never used to be the same academy that it was before I left it. Everything was so strict and everyone was getting well educated. But that was when my friend was a deputy headmaster and doing most of the job. Until Shilin and his connections decided to get more involved into the academy. But Shilin started getting more involved when I left the academy. Then my friend told me that everything started going downhill and the academy was also starting to lose students.”, Haoran explained.

  Lithanya was putting all the information in her head. “Why did your friend try to save everyone in the academy?”

  “To stop Shilin and his friends from manipulating them. All older senior investigators who worked there for many years actually hate Shilin.”

  She was surprised to hear that considering that everyone looked like they liked him. “How come?”

  “Because Shilin stole the academy from someone that was once a brilliant headmaster.”, Haoran let out another huge development in this case.

  She looked so confused. “What do you mean? Emperor Huang didn’t create the entire academy by himself like he claimed?”

  “No, it was created by the first headmaster over four hundred years ago. The first headmaster was very good and everyone loved him as a headmaster. Until Shilin and the merchants quietly stole the first headmaster’s position. My friend started working when the first headmaster was still there. Shilin wasn’t involved too much because he was only interested in power. When Shilin found that my friend was making the academy better, that’s when Shilin got involved.”, Haoran walked towards the bed.

  Her ears couldn’t believe what she was hearing about Shilin. She never thought that Shilin was actually an evil person. “Where’s the first headmaster?”

  Haoran glanced at her. “I don’t know. Ever since Shilin and his friends manipulated everyone to go against the first headmaster, we never heard from the headmaster after he was forced to be removed.”, he answered honestly.

  She still couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “So, Shilin is actually an evil person.”

  He nodded. “Now you understand why your father doesn’t talk to Shilin anymore.”

  Only now she understood. “Is there a history book about this academy?”

  Haoran sighed. “If you’re looking for the real one, it must be hiding in a secret chamber. But if you’re looking for Shilin’s version, it’s The Tarot Library.”

  She was more interested in the real history book. “What’s your plan?”

  “We’re going to slowly start saving a few students at a time and take them to Zerrikania.”

  She tilted her head a little bit to the side. “Zerrikania?”

  “I’ll tell you later. That’s enough for today. Please be careful when you’re around Shilin.”, he warned her.

  “Especially with Yichen?”

  “Yichen doesn’t know all of this.”

  Lithanya nodded while staring at Haoran. “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  She walked to the door that was opening slowly and a new woman walked into the room. Lithanya immediately walked out of the room to leave Haoran alone with the woman.

  Lithanya came out of the building and was heading back to the academy. A man, covered with a cloak with his head covered with a cloak hood, bumped against Lithanya’s shoulder and a sly slotted a paper in her cloak. The bumped so hard that it made her turn around and look at the man who bumped her. She walked to say something but he was walking too fast. Eventually, she left it and continued walking to the academy.