"Wait, this is my room." Rulu suddenly remembered something and stopped in his tracks. He turned back toward C.C. on the bed and said, "C.C., get up. This is my room. If you want to sleep, go sleep somewhere else."

  "Why be so petty? I'm already exhausted and don't want to move. You go sleep in another room." C.C. said this and pulled the bnket up over herself. It seemed she intended to take over Rulu's bed.

  "Don't push it — you think I really won't do anything to you?!" Rulu said to C.C. with a fierce air.

  "Good night, Rulu. If I don't sleep well, I won't be able to do your Spiritual-power repairs — and you'll be the one who suffers." C.C. curled herself under the bnket, only half her face peeking out, watching Rulu with a sly gleam in her eyes.

  "Ugh… Fine. You win!" Rulu was left completely speechless. He shot C.C. one st indignant gre, then left the room and closed the door.

  Since the other rooms hadn't been tidied yet, Rulu grabbed a bnket and y down on the living room sofa. After a tumultuous night, he was thoroughly worn out, and before long he sank into a deep sleep.

  The next morning, Rulu woke from his slumber. The first thing his eyes nded on was a somewhat unfamiliar female face. The young woman was sitting beside him, leaning over with both hands cupping his face, studying him with a peculiar gaze.

  "Ah!" Rulu was startled out of his wits. He cried out and leapt up from the sofa, colliding directly with the woman sitting there. With a loud thud, the two of them tumbled off the sofa together and fell to the floor.

  "What happened? Rulu, what's going on?" A flustered female voice rang out nearby, and with it, Nana came rushing out of her room and into the living room.

  What she saw were two young people tangled together on the floor beside the sofa. The male she recognized — that was naturally Rulu — but the green-haired young woman wearing Rulu's pajamas was a complete stranger to her.

  "You… who are you? What are you two doing?!" Nana stared wide-eyed at the green-haired woman and cried out in arm.

  "Nana, you're here…" Rulu gnced at Nana, and as he registered what was happening, he quickly pushed the green-haired woman out of his arms and scrambled to his feet.

  "Nana, let me expin — it's like this…" Rulu looked at Nana with a flustered expression, trying to crify the situation. But for some reason, his normally agile mind went completely bnk, and he couldn't get a single word out. He could only stand there in awkward silence.

  "Who is this woman — is she your maid, Rulu?" C.C. got up from the floor at this point, draping both hands over Rulu's shoulders and standing beside him, watching Nana with an odd expression.

  "And who are you? What's your retionship with Rulu?" Nana's brow furrowed slightly, her gaze sharpening with hostility, her tone unmistakably unfriendly. It was clear she had marked C.C. as a rival.

  "You're asking about our retionship? Let me think." C.C. pced her right index finger on her chin and tilted her face upward, looking thoughtful. "How should I put it — something like a lifelong commitment, I suppose?"

  "What?!" Nana startled. "Then… then you're Rulu's girlfriend."

  "Well… I'm not entirely sure myself. Why don't you ask him directly?" C.C. said with an air of total detachment, neatly tossing the problem over to Rulu.

  "Is it true? Is she really your girlfriend, Rulu?" Nana shifted her gaze to Rulu, pinning him with an urgent, searching look that made him feel an enormous pressure.

  Rulu had no idea how to answer. He scratched his head and said vaguely, "She's… someone very important to me. I need her to be by my side. It's something like that."

  "So it really is true. If you had a girlfriend, Rulu, why didn't you ever tell me?" Nana gave him a reproachful look, her heart full of something she couldn't quite name.

  "It's actually quite complicated, and it's not what you're imagining, Nana. Please don't be upset." Rulu looked completely at a loss, doing his best to expin.

  Nana's expression fell. "Why would I be upset?" she said quietly. "You're free to do whatever you want, Rulu. It's not my pce to interfere in your life. After all, I'm just…" She left the sentence unfinished and turned away, walking quickly back to her room and closing the door behind her.

  "What's the matter with her? She looks like she's upset." C.C. watched Nana's retreating figure with a thoughtful expression.

  "This is all your doing. You've really gotten me into trouble this time." Rulu shot C.C. a fierce gre.

  C.C.'s brow arched. "Why are you bming me again?" she said, displeased. "I was doing something important just now — I was repairing the damage to your mind."

  "You didn't have to do it while I was asleep. You nearly scared me to death."

  "You don't understand — doing the repair while you're sleeping produces the best results. If you'd rather I not, that's fine. You'll be the one suffering in the end."

  Rulu let out a deep sigh, unsure what to say to C.C. Finally he gave up and said, "Fine. What's done is done — there's no point going on about it. Go put some proper clothes on. Running around in pajamas is no way to be."

  "But I don't have any clothes to change into."

  "What a hassle…" Rulu gnced at Nana's closed door, thinking he might borrow some clothes for C.C., but he worried it would only upset Nana further and abandoned the idea. He went back to his own room and retrieved a gray jacket and blue trousers for C.C. She raised no objection to wearing his clothes and put them on as soon as she took them.

  A little while ter, Rulu went to Nana's room and expined that C.C. was a friend he had known a long time ago — before he ever met Nana — with whom he had lost contact, only to cross paths with again unexpectedly the night before.

  He told Nana that C.C.'s entire family had perished in the war, that she had no home to return to and had been wandering ever since, and that the Sanctuary's people were hunting her. He wanted to take her in and let her stay here as well. As for the incident that morning, it had been a complete accident, and he hoped Nana wouldn't hold it against them.

  After hearing Rulu's expnation, Nana's irritation quickly faded. She even felt sorry for C.C. She agreed to let her stay, and personally made breakfast for three, inviting C.C. to the dining table in the main hall to share the meal together.