... I am sorry that I was of no help. Perhaps you would not have been so disadvantaged, if I had not yet again fallen under someone else's spell.

[He shook his head.] Being brainwashed was worse. Having no control over what I was doing, no memory of my former life. The only thing that I wanted to do was... serve Kiyomori. There are few fates worse than death, but that might well be one of them.