Jiang Zheyu and the female lead shook hands, then both let go.

"Prince Yu, I’m going to go familiarize myself with the speech." Yan Luo seemed unwilling to say much more to Jiang Zheyu. After the handshake, she turned, walked to an empty seat, sat down, and began staring intently at her Light Brain.

Even someone as dense as Jiang Zheyu could feel the female lead’s coldness toward her.

’Did the female lead recognize me? There’s no other way to explain why she’s being so cold.’

But the female lead’s mention of a speech made her quickly turn to Jin Yu. "Prince Yu, do we need to prepare a speech to go on stage?"

’No one told me! I haven’t prepared a speech at all!’

"You don’t need to prepare one." Jin Yu’s gentle gaze fell upon her, reassuring her. "When the time comes, just stay by the Star Emperor’s side, Zheyu."

Jiang Zheyu was truly relieved to hear she wouldn’t have to speak.

"You should rest here for now, Zheyu," Jin Yu added. "I’m going to check on things up front. I’ll come get you when it’s time."

Jiang Zheyu nodded. "Alright."

So, Jiang Zheyu poured herself a glass of warm water in the spacious lounge. Remembering there was someone else in the room, she poured a glass for the female lead while she was at it.

Jiang Zheyu didn’t say anything, simply placing the glass of water next to the female lead out of courtesy. ’As a reader, I actually quite like her.’

"What’s with the act of kindness?" Yan Luo lifted her gaze slightly to look at Jiang Zheyu, the ridicule in her eyes now completely unconcealed. "Have you forgotten that you attacked me with your spiritual power in the arena?"

Jiang Zheyu paused, looking at Yan Luo. "You knew it was me that day?"

Yan Luo shot to her feet, looking down at Jiang Zheyu. "That’s right. And I have you to thank for it. Thanks to that spiritual power attack of yours, I was inspired to develop the reagent that lowers the Beastification Value."

Jiang Zheyu’s mouth twitched. ’She was talking complete nonsense. In the novel, no one attacked her with spiritual power, and the female lead was perfectly capable of developing the reagent to purify the Beastification Value on her own.’

’So, is she complimenting me or mocking me?’

Standing, the female lead was half a head taller than her. Since she was standing so close, Jiang Zheyu had no choice but to look up at her.

Once she realized this, she silently took a few steps back and looked at the female lead. "You kicked me back then, too. My arm was bleeding all over the place. I’d say we’re even."

Yan Luo just shot Jiang Zheyu a cold glance before looking away, seemingly unwilling to speak to her any further. Or rather, she disdained to waste her words on a weak, useless female like Jiang Zheyu.

’A minute ago, I still liked the female lead. Now, not so much.’

In this interstellar era, a female’s social status was determined by their Spiritual Power Level. The female lead, however, was born without any spiritual power. Because of this, she suffered greatly as a child. She was insulted and bullied by females with high Spiritual Power Levels. It was precisely because of this hatred and abuse that she swore she would create a reagent to lower the Beastification Value.

’Jiang Zheyu could understand why the female lead was prejudiced against females with high Spiritual Power Levels because of her childhood trauma. But who was there to understand her, Jiang Zheyu?’

In the novel, it seemed every female with a high Spiritual Power Level that the female lead met was a vicious sort. Because of that, Jiang Zheyu never felt there was anything wrong when the female lead punished them. In fact, she found it quite satisfying to watch the female lead put the females who had bullied her in their place.

’It wasn’t so great being cast as the vicious female, though.’

’Whatever. It’s better to just stay away from the female lead.’

A sharp, piercing pain suddenly shot through Yan Luo’s head. She staggered violently, slamming a hand on the table to steady herself. In doing so, she knocked over the glass of water. It crashed to the floor with a loud BANG, shattering into pieces and splashing water everywhere.

One hand braced on the table, the other clutching her head, her expression was one of pure agony.

The loud noise startled Jiang Zheyu, making her jump back. Seeing the female lead’s pained expression, she said woodenly, "Don’t try to pin this on me. I didn’t do anything."

’Besides, I remember the female lead not having this kind of personality.’

’She isn’t the type to deliberately hurt herself just to frame someone else.’

"Hah. Your last spiritual power attack left lasting trauma in my mind. Are you satisfied now?" Yan Luo stared at her, her eyes cold.

Jiang Zheyu paused. ’So it really is because of me. She’s not trying to frame me.’

"Let me take a look." Jiang Zheyu could heal damaged spiritual power. Although the female lead had none of her own, her mind had been injured by the attack. Jiang Zheyu wanted to see if she could heal it.

As she spoke, she stepped closer and grabbed the female lead’s wrist. Yan Luo shot her a cold look and jerked her wrist, trying to fling Jiang Zheyu’s hand away, but her arm froze mid-motion.

Jiang Zheyu blinked. ’The female lead’s reaction was so strong, it startled me. Luckily, I have spiritual power. She can’t move now, can she?’

’Just give in quietly!’

"Let go!" Yan Luo bit out through gritted teeth.

She found she couldn’t move and realized she was likely being suppressed by this female’s spiritual power.

The awful memories came flooding back.

Several females with spiritual power had surrounded her, suppressing her with their power before torturing her.

Her eyes grew dark and dangerously deep.

Jiang Zheyu faltered. ’Looking into the female lead’s murderous eyes really is pretty scary.’

Still, she held onto the female lead’s hand and closed her eyes, trying to see if she could discover anything.

Sure enough, within a sea of darkness, she found a cluster of sharp spiritual power, like shards of a broken mirror.

They were clustered right where Yan Luo’s head should be.

And indeed, that spiritual power felt familiar.

’They were the residual fragments of spiritual power from her own attack!’

Jiang Zheyu’s heart suddenly began to race. ’She... she could actually see spiritual power!’

She tried to retract the spiritual power. Just as she’d hoped, the sharp, mirror-like shards of energy slowly softened before finally dissipating.

After all the sharp spiritual power fragments had dissipated, she opened her eyes to see a look of confusion and doubt on the female lead’s face.

Yan Luo was confused because her headache was truly gone.

Jiang Zheyu silently let go of Yan Luo’s hand and took a few more steps back. Once there was some distance between them, she released the spiritual power that had been suppressing the female lead.

Yan Luo frowned slightly. ’Her headache had vanished surprisingly fast today. Usually, the pain lingered for quite a while.’

However, she refused to believe it was Jiang Zheyu’s doing. She could only attribute it to the headache being strangely brief this time.

"Are you okay now?" Jiang Zheyu asked quietly.

Yan Luo just frowned and glanced at her. Without a word, she sat down quietly and closed her eyes to rest.