Due to my great injury, my two-day vacation was extended to one week. It was rumored that Luhan had attempted to get a month for me but was denied as the King had an important mission for me.

Sigh… Luhan, you really are a nice guy!

I added the low fat milk to the paste mixture and mixed it in carefully.

Hmm… Ok, looks just about done to me; I should be able to apply it on now. After the long fight yesterday, I should have immediately done my whitening routine that night, but was unable to due to me collapsing from excessive blood loss. When I had woken up this morning, I had nearly fainted once more when I saw myself in the mirror. My beautiful creamy white skin had darkened to a honey golden color!

"K-Kris! What are you doing?" Luhan had suddenly come into my room and was now staring at me in shock.

I've just finished whipping up my whitening mask and am going to apply it to my skin… I thought distractedly, looking down at the scoop of whitening mask I had in my hand.

Why is it that the one time I forget to lock my door, Luhan forgets to knock before entering?!

But luckily I have yet to apply the paste! Or else if Luhan had seen a paste covered me, he would have mistaken me for a rotting living dead and immediately drag me off to Suho.

"You've just lost a lot of blood yesterday and should be resting! What are you doing out of bed?!" Luhan hurriedly pushed me back into my bed and tucked in the covers around me firmly.

I rolled my eyes at this. Oi! I'm still holding a pile of paste in my right hand!

"Kris, what are you doing with this paste?" asked Luhan as he stared perplexedly at the paste in my outstretched hand.

Luhan looked at it and thought for a moment, before turning to smile at me, "I understand now. You're hungry, aren't you?"

…How did he get to that conclusion? Does that pile of paste even look edible?!

"Eating this will make you sick." Luhan scolded as he swiped the pile of paste from my hand and threw it back into the bowl. He then proceeded to take the bowl away with him as he left. "I'll get something for you from the kitchens."

Hey, hey! I have no objection to you bringing me something to eat, but where do you think you're taking my whitening paste to?

When Luhan opened the door, he was startled by the person standing outside and dropped the bowl of paste…

My five days' salary! Nooooo---!

I leapt from the bed to save it but couldn't reach it in time…

Luckily, the guy standing outside the door calmly caught the bowl. He was black haired, black-eyed, and clothed in black. Giving out a heavy and depressing feeling, the terrible and fearsome Water Knight stood at my door.

"Water Knight, may I ask what business you have here?" asked Luhan warily. 

Oh, I did mention this before that nobody else knows about our friendship but the both of us. On the surface, we still dislike each other and fight like cats and dogs.

It seems that I'm the only one on the Warm-Compassionate Faction who actually likes him. The rest are still wary of him and avoid him whenever possible. I guess the brainwashing since we began training was rather successful.

The Water Knight merely stood there expressionlessly, looking rather intimidating. In his uniquely deep voice, he answered, "I'm here to tell The Flight Knight about the King’s mission for him."

The nice and kind Luhan could never hope to stand up against the Water Knight's daunting presence. He turned to me forlornly, "Kris…"

I had felt rather dizzy after my earlier burst of action, and sank down slowly and gracefully onto my bed. "Telekinesis Knight, since this is an important mission entrusted to the Flight Knight, this Flight Knight accepts it."

"Well… all right." Luhan said reluctantly, before he closed the door behind him.

Suho followed to lock the door, ensuring that we would not be bothered by anyone else.

He then went directly to the point. "The King is rather concerned about this incident. He wants you to secretly investigate the events surrounding the Grey Knight. You're given one week to do this," he said, as he put down the bowl and sat down.

I knew it! I knew it was too good to be true. There's no way the King would have willingly given me a whole week off…

"I don’t understand why is there a need to send me to investigate?" I asked.

I was rather bewildered. The King was a slave driver who exploits every man power available but this is a little too much! My recovery abilities may be pretty good, but I did bleed all over the streets just yesterday. I need at least three days' rest to get back to my optimum condition. If the matter was so urgent, why didn't he assign the task to any one of the other EXO Knights?

"The King is not interested in the outcome of the investigation. Once you've found the culprit, you need only report it to me," said the Water Knight with a severe look in his eyes. This stern look was not directed at me, but at the unknown culprit.

Ahh…The Flight Knight is to secretly investigate the matter, and the Water Knight is to secretly deal with the criminal. Looks like this matter wasn't as simple as I thought.

For a while he was silent, looking at me, waiting.

Knowing what he was silently asking, I told him all about my visit with Taemin and the following incidents thereafter.

Of course, no one is supposed to know that the necromancer and I are in cahoots… oops! Sorry, I mean - that we are acquainted with each other. However, Suho is my best friend and I've never hidden anything from him, so naturally he was aware of Taemin's existence.

After listening to my story, Suho kept silent, deep in thought.

“After receiving D.O.’s report yesterday about you explaining on how the Grey Knight’s spirit is just using a human body to possess and take over, I invited a sketch artist to draw the face of the human the Grey Knight possessed yesterday morning since D.O. said that the Grey Knight who injured you yesterday was the prisoner who got away.” He notified as he took out some papers before giving them to me, “Take a look at it.”

‘Ooh, good looking guy.’

I tilted my head and asked, “Who is this?”

“He’s one of the two knights pledged to the Weston Family and is under the orders of Baron Weston’s third son. The third son, his allegiance is to the crown prince Jonghyun.”

I, too, became silent before asking hopefully, "You sure it's Baron Weston’s third son and not anyone else?"

The question I really wanted to ask was, 'is the crown prince really the culprit between all this?'

"The crown prince… what does he know about the Grey Knight? Is he after the throne?" I muttered strangely. This just didn't seem like something the responsible and kind crown prince would do.

The room suddenly grew quiet and oppressive. If it really was the crown prince, what could we even do about it? Even if there was irrefutable proof that the crown prince was guilty of ordering a dark mage to summon a Grey Knight, could we really send the country's only heir to the guillotines?

I was so deep in thought when I asked, “Does the King know about this?”

Suho shook his head and answered, “No, I haven’t presented him this sketch yet. Right now, his only concern is the Grey Knight and to vanquish it indefinitely.”

I nodded, again, deep in thought… My wound was completely healed thanks to Lay, but he told me to rest for a few days to fully recover.

Sigh, right now, all I wanted is to rest here in my room and not smile my fake smile, eat D.O.’s self-made desserts, and drink apple wine from my wine cellar…

I resigned and got up from my bed, went over to my wardrobe and took out my cloak. It’s better to start the mission early and be done with it and rest for the next 6 days.

“Kris, where are you going? You still haven't fully recovered--" Suho had stood up too, looking disapprovingly at me.

"I'm going to see Taemin." I interrupted him.

"You-” Suho was getting angry.

'Oh, dear!' I thought nervously. Have I angered the Water Knight again?

“I said you haven’t fully recovered yet and your mission didn’t state that it has to be carried out now.” He said with a stern face.

I felt a little nervous, because in the past, this best friend had agreed to all my demands - among which many were rather random and unreasonable - with no questions asked. Taking my place in fights, helping me to investigate a case, helping me to get even with someone… Yet now he keeps quiet…'Oh dear, I really shouldn't have angered him,' I thought.

I grabbed the cloak, deciding to discuss the events with Taemin, and responded mockingly, “Don’t worry, I’m the Flight Knight, I’m hard to kill.”

Fortunately, Suho was more forgiving than I thought. He shook his head as if to say, 'What can I do against you?' before he replied, "Okay, but I don’t want to see you back here bleeding all over again or else, I won’t let the Heal Knight heal you this time."

Hmph… as if I didn’t learn any healing spells from Lay, although I could only do intermediate spells.

I sighed and chuckled, "very well," before I put on my cloak and left my room.

Again, so little interaction with the main characters, just between Kris, Suho, and Luhan;

but I'll try adding more EXO characters that haven't been introduced yet in the near future.

Thanks for reading guys ^_^

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