Rulu felt deeply unwell. He y in bed, hoping to fall asleep quickly and let sleep ease the discomfort in his head. But after lying down, the discomfort not only failed to subside — it grew worse.

  Rulu felt as though something inside his skull was swelling and expanding without stop. His head throbbed with agonizing pain, as though it were about to split open, while his eyes burned as if pierced by needles. He y in bed for two or three hours, unable to sleep at all because of the relentless pain.

  "What's happening to me? Why does my head hurt this badly? This has never happened before!" Rulu's mind was in complete disarray. He felt as though he had lost control of his own thoughts. Hallucinations began to creep in — strange images fshing before his eyes, faces cycling through expressions of ughter and rage. It was nearly enough to drive him mad.

  "Wait — it's that green-haired woman. It must be the strange Spiritual-power she gave me that's done this to me." It suddenly occurred to Rulu that before he had encountered the green-haired woman, he had never experienced anything like this. He suspected it was the power she had given him that had thrown his mind into turmoil.

  "That woman — that infuriating woman — you did this to me. Where are you? Come out!" Rulu smmed his fists against his own head, trying to beat back the agony. It did not help. If anything, the pain intensified. He colpsed onto the bed, curled his body inward, and wrapped his arms around his head, feeling his sanity beginning to fracture.

  Ding-dong. Ding-dong.

  Just then, the sound of the doorbell drifted in from the direction of the living room. Rulu jolted upright. As far as he knew, only he and Nana were aware of this house's existence. It was the middle of the night — who could possibly be ringing the doorbell now? Could it be the Sanctuary's forces, coming for him?

  Rulu dressed quickly and went to the surveilnce room, looking at the monitor screen. His expression went bnk. He sprinted up from the basement, reached the ground-floor house, and flung the door open.

  "I hear you've been looking for me?" A light, bell-like young woman's voice rang out from in front of him.

  With those words, a young woman appeared before him — draped in a bck outer garment over a white robe, with long, blue-green hair. Her face wore an expression poised somewhere between a smile and not, and her sharp eyes held Rulu's face in an unblinking gaze.

  "It's you — you wretched witch!" Rulu snarled. He grabbed the green-haired woman by the wrist and hauled her forcibly inside, then shut the door behind them.

  "What's the rush? Can't you be a little gentler? I did save your life once, you know." The green-haired woman compined, though she offered no resistance, following Rulu compliantly into the brightly lit hall.

  Rulu released her. He steadied himself, pressed a hand to his forehead, and fixed his gaze on the green-haired woman's fair face. "You… how are you here? Weren't you already…" He had been about to say she was dead, but then he recalled Prince Suwen's words — this woman could not be killed — and stopped himself.

  "You were going to say I was already dead, weren't you?" The green-haired woman rubbed the wrist Rulu had just grabbed, and said with an expression of detached indifference: "Unfortunately, I'm not so easy to kill. If I had truly died back then, it would have been a blessing for me."

  "Whether or not you died can wait. How did you find this pce? Have you been following me?" Rulu gathered his thoughts and asked.

  "I haven't been following you. I simply know where you are." The green-haired woman said, gncing around with curious eyes. "This house of yours is really quite nice — so spacious and bright. Could you show me to the bathroom? I haven't bathed in several days…"

  "Be serious with me. I have questions." Rulu grabbed her face in both hands and forced her to look directly at him. "What did you do to me in the underground tunnel that day? Why does my head hurt like this? Is this your doing?!"

  "Yes and no." The green-haired woman blinked, studying Rulu's anguished face with a measured look. "It seems the damage to your Spiritual-power is quite severe. What on earth have you been doing these past few days — running around recklessly using the power I gave you?"

  "So it is your doing!" Rulu put on a fierce expression and said: "Why did you do this to me, woman? Why would you hurt me like this?!"

  As he said it, the headache surged back. Pain broke across his face, his body trembled with involuntary shuddering, and cold sweat poured from his forehead.

  The green-haired woman let out a quiet sigh. A faint sorrow appeared in her eyes, and she said softly: "It hurts that much? Come — let me help you." She reached out toward Rulu's head with both hands.

  Rulu's instinct was to step back and dodge, but when he saw the sorrow in the woman's eyes something stirred in him, and he stood his ground, neither resisting nor pulling away.

  The green-haired woman pressed both palms against Rulu's temples. She gazed into his eyes with a look of quiet intensity. Rulu felt something being drawn out from deep within his mind. The swelling, expanding pressure that had been building inside his skull began to recede, his thoughts gradually steadied, and the turbulent emotions that had seized him earlier began to quiet.

  "There. That should hold for now. I'll do a deeper repair for you in a little while."

  About ten minutes ter, the green-haired woman spoke those words and lowered her hands from his head. Rulu let out a long breath of relief. The pain and discomfort had vanished completely.

  "I… what just happened to me? And what did you do this time?" With the pain gone, Rulu's mood had eased as well. He spoke to the green-haired woman in a calm, measured tone.

  The green-haired woman said with a touch of exasperation: "You have only yourself to bme. If you hadn't been using the power I gave you so intensely and so frequently, none of this would have happened."

  Rulu blinked. He thought for a moment, then said: "You mean that using the Spiritual-power to control others also causes Spiritual-power damage to myself?"

  "Of course it does. You didn't actually think you could use that power however you liked, did you? Every time you use it to influence someone else, you sustain Spiritual-power damage in return. The more often you use it, and the more intensely, the more severe the damage becomes."

  Rulu understood now. He said with a note of grievance: "If this power has such a backsh, why didn't you tell me from the start? When all is said and done, it's still you who harmed me."

  The woman's bright eyes widened, and she said with a trace of displeasure: "Now you're bming me? Have you forgotten — right after I gave you that power, I died. How exactly was I supposed to tell you anything?"