Damien pulled his brows together, "Yes, I heard that I was adopted when I was just a baby. And even I don't know who my birth parents are."
Irene asked thoughtfully, "Aren't you curious who your birth parents are?"
Damien shook his head, "I am curious but not to the point that finding out about them is a top priority mission for me. If I get a chance to find out about them, I will take it. Otherwise, I would let nature follow its course."
Irene narrowed her gaze, "Seems like you are not too keen on finding your parents, unlike most who would do almost anything to find out who their parents are. Is it because you are angry that they abandoned you?"
Damien softly chuckled, "Senior, do I look like I am angry at them? If they truly wanted to abandon me, why would they entrust me to a trustworthy person like my adopted father? I am sure they must have faced some huge troubles, and having no choice, they had to drop me off at a safe place. Anyways, whatever the reason may be, I neither hate them nor hold any longing towards them. Besides, how can I hate or like someone without even knowing them or seeing them?"
Irene had an approving look as she nodded, "You are indeed different from other youngsters. Had it been any other youngster in your shoes, most would have definitely held some resentment and longing for them. In fact, for some, it would turn out to be an inner devil in their hearts if they never find out who their parents are. But I am sure your parents are extraordinary for them to give birth to an extremely talented son like you."
"Probably," Damien said with a glazed stare.
Irene continued, "But shortly after your adoptive father passed away, you went missing from the Ward Family along with your adoptive cousin. And you ended up as a slave in the Dark Sky Guild. That's where you met Lily Rong, right?" Irene prodded.
'Wow, they even found that out.' Although Damien expected them to find that out in due time, he didn't expect them to learn about it so quickly. After all, no one in the Dark Sky Guild even knew his name, nor did they have any proof that Lily Rong was there.
Damien didn't know if there were others in the Rong Empire with the same name as his. But he was sure that the information gatherers in the Forsaken group had already filtered out which family he belonged to by merely checking in which family he was missing.
That's how they knew he was from the Ward Family. But he couldn't still understand how they knew he was kidnapped and sold into slavery.
Damien guessed that the only way they could find out was that they somehow found the bandits who kidnapped him and questioned them.
But that seemed so far-fetched as they wouldn't even be able to question Elder Faust since he had killed him.
And he thought that the Forsaken must have guessed that Lily Rong was there in the Dark Sky Guild as there was no other way he could have gotten saved.
Damien said vaguely, "Well, if I did?"
Irene said with a meaningful smile, "Then the Celestial Princess must be truly a saintess to rescue you from such a horrible place. I had heard she didn't have an easy life inside those palace walls. As you were her personal servant, she must have confided in you, right?"
Damien wondered why some people in the Forsaken had the notion that something was going on between him and Lily Rong.
He asked himself if he was that outstanding for the Celestial Princess to find it impossible not to fall in love with him.
Damien calmly said, "Everyone has their fair share of problems in their life. I was merely her personal servant, nothing more and nothing less. All she tasked me with was to look after her garden. I don't see why she would confide in someone like me."
He continued, "With all due respect Senior, I don't see how this is all-important. I thought your people only needed my help and not my background."
Irene lightly chuckled, "Not at all. This old woman was simply curious, that's all. No need to think too much about it. But I know you joined because you have something against the Xeton Empire...so I couldn't help but guess the reason."
Damien didn't say anything. He knew that indirectly he had conveyed that he had some kind of hostility against the Xeton Empire by joining them.
Otherwise, no sane person, no matter the potential rewards, would go against the strongest empire just to have a good chance at dying.
But Damien had no choice as he didn't have time to play hard to get. If he pushed it too far, then it would only be detrimental for him.
She stopped walking as she faced Damien and said, "Now, let me officially initiate you into our organization. You are ready, right?"
Damien nodded, "Okay."
Irene slowly raised her hand and touched Damien's glabella. Within just a moment, Damien could feel some sort of seal binding around his soul plane, but nothing else happened.
He opened his eyes and said, "That's it?"
Irene faintly smiled, "Of course. Now I officially welcome and thank you for being a part of our cause."
Damien slightly bowed, and then he said as he glanced at Valentina, "Senior, I also want you to place a seal on her as well."
Irene nodded and looked at Valentina. She still didn't forget the bizarre thing that happened when she tried to probe her soul.
However, she decided not to mind it and sent a wisp of her soul energy towards Valentina's glabella. She did not try to place a seal on Valentina by touch as she thought Valentina wouldn't like it.
After all, ethereal beasts didn't like to be touched by strangers.
However, just as Irene's soul energy came near Valentina's forehead, she hissed and glared at Irene.
Damien patted her head and said, "It's fine. She won't hurt you."
Valentina seemed to calm down after being reassured by Damien and closed her eyes.
Luna abruptly said in his mind, "You don't need to bother with the soul seal. I can easily remove it."
'Ah, of course.' Damien thought how he could forget that Luna could easily remove these seals.
He gestured at Irene and said, "Senior, I think she will be fine without a seal. It seems like she doesn't like it."
Irene nodded as she dispersed her soul energy, "Then we are done here. Anyway, ethereal beasts don't need that seal. I thought I could put you at ease by placing a seal on her."
After a moment, Damien asked as he narrowed his gaze, "Since I joined. can I now know about the secrets of the Xeton Empire now?"
Damien thought that now that he was officially part of their cause, they would be more open to disclose some information.
Irene faintly smiled, "Patience, child. I am sure my grandson, Triton, has told you that we will tell you everything you need to know after you spend some time working for our cause and seeing how sincere you are about your promise. We showed our sincerity by giving you a Rank 7 Pill. Now it's time you showed yours."
'This granny surely knows her business.' Damien sighed inwardly.
Damien knew that he couldn't push them too much without proving himself. They had already given him a Rank 7 Pill for free. If anyone else knew about this, they would surely think the Forsaken went mad to gift a Spirit Ethereal Realm youngster with a Rank 7 Pill.
Irene walked past Damien and said, "Don't think too much about things. Whatever the reason you have joined us, be it for the information or the pill, you will know about things when you need to. I will continue my walk here. You can go back, and the spatial ethereal formation is already active to take you back."
Irene slowly walked away, leaving a thoughtful Damien. He clicked his tongue, thinking that he might have come off as too desperate about learning the secrets of the Xeton Empire but thought that it didn't matter anyway.
He already knew that Irene and the others must have caught on to the fact that he probably joined the Forsaken for the information about Xeton Empire's secrets and that his intentions for joining the Xeton Ethereal Foundation may not be purely for studying.
He thought that he must have already given away his intentions when Triton suggested providing him with the information about the Xeton Empire's secrets.
He remembered that he didn't seem to say that he wasn't interested in learning about the Xeton Empire's secrets. Since why would a regular disciple join the Forsaken just to learn the Xeton Empire's secrets unless they had some other plans?
But Damien knew that he had no other choice and might even be wasting away the opportunity if he didn't give them leeway. He wondered the reason they were asking about Lily was whether they thought he joined their cause for her.
However, he didn't worry as there was no proof or anything and the idea itself seemed far-fetched.
Who would dare to believe that the Celestial Princess fell in love with her own personal servant?
They would rather believe she fell in love with an illustrious prince than that.
He slowly walked back towards where he came from as he immersed himself in his thoughts.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢