Chapter 727: Lady’s Grace Orphanage

"Now let’s talk about your goddess."

Noah’s face tightened.

"Why do you serve Victoria Vorhelm? Where did she find you? How many others like you work for her?"

"I’m not telling you anything, if you want to kill me, just do it." His answer was weak, but there was no hesitation in it.

Lian remained silent for a moment.

"Noah, I’d rather not make this conversation more difficult."

The young Frenchman looked away.

"The Goddess’s will—"

"Yeah, I heard."

He raised his right hand, and a very thin thread of Eclipse Energy formed between his fingers.

"Then I’ll have to try another method."

The energy entered the structures inside Noah’s body, at first, only a sharp burning sensation appeared deep within his chest.

But before he could react, the pain spread through the energy pathways in his body.

He held his breath, his fingers gripped the bedsheet tightly, and the muscles in his arm contracted without his control.

He tried to move away from the bed, but his movement was limited to a short and uncontrolled jerk.

The pain was different from ordinary injuries.

He felt as if something inside his body was slowly breaking down structures that had been healthy until that moment.

Lian was slowly breaking down all the structures inside his body, this was different from any pain he had ever experienced, this was a pain spreading through his entire existence from inside his body.

Every corner of his body, every structure that kept him alive, was being broken down, and the pain was beyond anything he could imagine.

He tried to breathe.

But every breath was interrupted by a painful contraction.

His jaw trembled, and his teeth clenched together, he lost his focus on Lian’s face, and for several seconds, he could only see unclear lines in front of his eyes.

"How did you enter Victoria’s service?" Lian asked calmly.

Noah tried to answer, but the words were lost between his broken breaths....finally, he said in a trembling voice.

"I won’t... tell..."

Lian reduced the energy pressure, and the pain decreased for a moment.

The young Frenchman breathed rapidly, his entire body was trembling, and drops of sweat had appeared on his forehead.

Young Vorhelm looked at him.

"You’d better think again."

Noah stared at him for several seconds and then shook his head with difficulty.

This time, Lian said nothing, he only activated a small flow of Eclipse Energy again.

Noah’s body immediately reacted.

The muscles in his legs contracted, and his back rose from the bed, his right hand instinctively moved toward his chest, but his fingers were trembling so badly that he could not grab anything.

This time, the pressure was stronger.

The pain was not limited to his body; it was also disturbing and targeting his consciousness and soul.

His organized thoughts fell apart one after another.

’I have to resist.’

’My lady’s order...’

But even completing this thought had become difficult, a few seconds felt like an extremely long time to him.

He wanted to ask Lian to stop, but he could no longer put the words together properly.

Finally, a broken sound came from his throat.

"Enough..."

Lian stopped the energy.

Noah fell back onto the bed and spent a few moments simply breathing.

"Can we talk now?"

The young Frenchman nodded with difficulty, and several seconds passed.....then he said in a rough voice.

"I... came from an orphanage."

"An orphanage?"

Noah closed his eyes.

"Lady’s Grace Orphanage."

Lady’s Grace Orphanage.

Lian repeated the name in his mind, however, he had never heard of such a place before, although that was natural, since this boy was European, the orphanage should also be somewhere in Europe.

Noah stared at the ceiling for a few moments and then began speaking.

"When I was a child, monsters attacked our city."

His voice was still weak.

"My father tried to get us out of the house. My mother also..."

He paused, and his fingers tightened around the bedsheet again.

"The last thing I remember about her is that she was holding my hand and running." He blinked.

"When I woke up, neither of them was alive anymore...I wandered among the ruins for several days, then they found me and took me to the orphanage."

His gaze changed for a moment.

"They gave us food there, we had clothes, we had places to sleep, they told us that the Lady had saved us."

"And what did they want in return?"

"Loyalty." Noah answered slowly.

Lian leaned forward slightly.

"How?"

"When we entered the orphanage, we had to give up our previous family names, they said our past lives were over, and from the day the Lady saved us, we had been born again."

He looked at his own hands for a moment.

"Every night, we had to pray to the Lady, and every year, the children who showed the most loyalty were allowed to receive a letter from her."

"Did Victoria write the letters herself?" Lian raised an eyebrow.

Noah paused.

"I don’t know."

"Interesting, continue."

The young Frenchman swallowed with difficulty.

"We had to watch each other, if someone said anything bad about the Lady, we had to report them."

"Even your friends?"

"Especially our friends."

"Have you ever reported anyone?" Lian frowned slightly, this orphanage practically sounded like an insane cult that placed loyalty to that woman above all human relationships.

And they were trying to brainwash the children, practically making them believe that compared to the Lady, all relationships, friendships, and love were meaningless and worthless.

Noah lowered his gaze, and it took several seconds before he answered.

"There was a boy... almost my age."

His fingers trembled on the bedsheet.

"At night, he talked about his mother, he said he still remembered her voice and that one day he would go back home, I told him he shouldn’t talk about the past, but he wouldn’t listen."

"What happened next?"

"I reported him."

There was a short silence.

"The next day, he was gone, when I asked where he had gone, the instructor said the Lady had saved him from his wrong thoughts."

Lian did not take his eyes off him.

"And what did you think?"

Noah pressed his lips together.

"I was happy."

His voice became weaker.

"I thought I’d done the right thing, they even praised me."

For a few moments, the room fell silent.

Lian slowly leaned back in his chair.

So from childhood, they even destroyed the trust between the children themselves, and at that moment, an unpleasant comparison came to his mind.

White Oblivion erased the memories of living beings to turn them into slaves.

Victoria did not even need such power.

She removed the children’s pasts from their lives, destroyed their attachments, and made herself the only source of safety and value in their minds.

In the end, the children not only obeyed her orders, but also considered that obedience an honor.

’My dear stepmother....you’re really more interesting than I thought.’ His eyes became colder.

"What happened after you grew up?"

Noah raised his gaze.

"They examined our talents and classes, some were chosen for administrative work, some for protection, and some...for special missions."

"Like you?"

Noah nodded.

"My main class is Assassin."

Assassin.

Lian remained silent for a moment.

Now, many of Noah’s behaviors throughout the journey had taken on a new meaning.

His constant kindness, his ability to get close to others without making them suspicious, and most importantly, the strike he had delivered from behind.

Noah continued.

"They taught us how to gain other people’s trust, how to gather information, and how to wait for the right moment."

"And I was one of those targets." Lian looked at him for several seconds.

Noah did not answer, but his silence was enough.

"Where did the trained people go afterward?"

"Some were sent on direct missions, and some were taken by groups that even our instructors weren’t allowed to ask questions about."

"What groups?"

"I don’t know their names." Noah slowly shook his head.

He paused for a moment and then continued.

"I only remember that some of those who returned later had many valuable items with them, even things that clearly had been taken from their previous owners."

Lian remained silent for a moment.

Wait.

Something formed in his mind.

The rumors he had previously heard about the Black Vultures.

A group known for murder, theft, infiltration, and criminal activities, even during the caravan incident, the attackers had used deception and staged situations to get close to their targets.

And now, there was an orphanage that trained children to gain trust, infiltrate, and assassinate.

These methods are too similar.

Of course, there was still no evidence of a direct connection between Victoria and the Black Vultures, but he could no longer ignore these similarities.

’I hope that woman really hasn’t gone this far.’ He sighed inwardly, but he knew it was very possible.

He looked at Noah again.

"What happens if your mission fails?"

The young Frenchman remained silent for several seconds and then slowly answered.

"I’m not allowed to return anymore."

"Meaning?"

His lips trembled, and he continued.

"Those who fail... are eliminated, some of the children I grew up with never came back after their missions, and their names were also erased from the records."

"And no one asked questions?"

"They said those children had betrayed the Lady’s trust."

Young Vorhelm remained silent for a moment and then asked.

"Noah, have you ever seen Victoria in person?"

"No."

"Not even once?"

"No... but the Lady saved us."

Lian looked at him for several seconds.

"So you’ve devoted your entire life to a woman you’ve never even seen in person."

"The Goddess’s will..."

"I know, it’s absolute." He finished the sentence and then continued calmly.

"But there’s something I don’t understand, if you’re so valuable to her, why does failing mean your death?"

Noah opened his mouth, but he had no answer.

For a moment, he tried to repeat the same familiar sentence; that the Lady was always right, and every order she gave was for the good of her children.

But this time, the words did not come out of his throat....