Chapter 579: The Truth Behind the Vision

"I deserve the apology?" Orion asked Noctis, his brows furrowed. "Now, you haven’t done anything to warrant an apology to me. Why would you think I deserve it?"

*I am unable to give you the answers you seek.*

"So? Personally, I don’t see how that should be a reason you should be apologizing to me," Orion told him. "It’s not like it’s your fault that you cannot tell me anything."

*But it is a fault of mine that I am in the situation where I cannot tell you anything.*

Orion paused at those words. There was something about the way Noctis spoke that put him on alert.

"Did you offend the goddess, and that’s why she put this restriction on you?"

*Something along those lines.*

"That’s weird. I can’t imagine you getting on the goddess’s bad side. That’s supposed to be reserved for me. What exactly did you do to make her annoyed enough to place a restriction on you?" Orion asked him.

Noctis was quiet again.

*I cannot tell you.*

"The restriction?" Orion asked.

*Yes.*

Orion nodded. "Well, I’m not sure I have the time to focus on what you did to offend the goddess—even though I’m curious—but anyway, I’m certain whatever you did doesn’t even come close to what Dolion did."

Noctis didn’t reply to that. There was no reason to, after all. With time, Orion would find out the sins he bore. The reason for the restriction.

Though Noctis could only imagine how hurt Orion would be when he found out.

Only time would tell, though. Orion and Sophia were, after all, closer to the answers they sought.

And unlike the last time, Noctis hoped that the goddess’s plan would work—and that things would end once and for all.

---

Orion made his way to the dungeons to meet their captive. He had not asked all the questions he wanted to ask after all—or rather, he had not been done asking them before Sophia had collapsed.

But now, given the information they had about the corpse plant, he was going to finish the interrogation.

And he hoped they could get answers quickly, so that Sophia could stop overthinking.

Perhaps she was from the west. Perhaps the plant used was from Victoria’s gardens. But it was all still a hypothesis, and until proven, it would remain one.

---

Meanwhile, Caspian and Daniel were in the library—specifically in Eldric’s office.

Joseph had informed them Eldric wasn’t in and that perhaps they should return at a different time, but the two men did not care. They had told Joseph that they did not want Eldric present with them, and that they had come to check something.

Hence why they were now in Eldric’s office, holding a parchment between them.

Daniel tilted his head, a frown on his face.

"I’m still not seeing anything that strikes me as familiar about the woman," he said, looking at the drawing.

"Look better, old man," Caspian told him with a growl.

"You are older than me," Daniel pointed out.

"It doesn’t change the fact that you are old too. Look again. There must be something about this woman that looks familiar, right?" Caspian asked him.

Daniel looked back at the drawing, taking in the features. In the drawing, the woman’s hair was coloured black, flowing freely, and she had a delighted look on her face.

Daniel paused.

He had seen that look before.

He leaned closer, as if the more he examined it, the faster the answer would come to him.

"You recognize her?" Caspian asked.

"There’s something familiar about her," Daniel said. "The look on her face. I don’t know how I missed it, but I think it’s something I’ve seen before. It’s quite blurry, though."

"That’s it," Caspian exclaimed. "There is something about the woman. And perhaps if we can find out who she is, we could understand why she’s in the drawing."

Daniel nodded, trying to piece things together.

Black hair... a delighted look on her face.

Why did she look so familiar to him? Why could he not place it?

Perhaps the incident with the enclave—when they had burned down their pack and killed their members—was interfering with his memory.

He paused.

Maybe the woman was from the west. Perhaps he had seen her then. The nightshade pack had been located in the west before the attack after all.

If it wasn’t during the enclave attack—

He paused again, trying to recall everything he could about that time.

He had been with Orion during the attack, getting him to safety. He could not recall any woman like this among those they had seen.

The people he and Orion had encountered were all men.

Could it be a traitor?

He shook his head. He had helped Orion eliminate all the traitors when they had settled in Nirvana.

Maybe it was before the attack, then.

He had been Alaric’s second-in-command, and they had met numerous people after all—some they helped from other packs, some during meetings...

Daniel stopped suddenly, his eyes widening in shock.

Caspian noticed immediately.

"What’s wrong? Do you recognize her?" Caspian asked. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"Fucking goddess tits! We should have known from the very beginning," Daniel said.

"I’m not liking the suspense," Caspian groaned. "If you recognize who this woman is, then just tell me."

"It’s the leader of the fucking enclave," Daniel said.

Caspian’s eyes widened, mirroring Daniel’s expression.

"The bloody fake Luna?"

Daniel nodded. "Yes. The bloody fake Luna. It’s Victoria."

"We need to inform Orion and Sophia," Caspian said at once.

Daniel nodded. "If Oculum had a vision with this woman in it..." He shook his head. "I don’t even want to think about it. This cannot be history repeating itself. Another enclave attack?"

"Rather than speculating, let’s find the others, yeah?" Caspian said. "We need to inform them of what we just found out."

Daniel nodded and immediately rolled up the parchment. Together, he and Caspian left the library to find Orion.