Yrene arrives punc­tu­al­ly for her appoint­ment with Lord West­fall and Cap­tain Nes­ryn Faliq, despite her late night with Princess Hasar and Renia. She reflects on her strained rela­tion­ship with Kashin, the khagan’s son, who grieves his sis­ter Tumelun’s sui­cide. Though Yrene feels guilt for avoid­ing Kashin, she remains resolved to focus on her own goals and avoid entan­gle­ment with the roy­al fam­i­ly. Her thoughts briefly turn to the oppres­sive con­di­tions in Adar­lan, con­trast­ing them with the fair treat­ment of ser­vants in the khagan’s palace, before she steels her­self to face Lord Westfall’s skep­ti­cism.

Upon enter­ing the suite, Yrene notices the ten­sion between Lord West­fall and Nes­ryn but dis­miss­es it as irrel­e­vant to her task. She lies about con­sult­ing her supe­ri­or, Hafiza, to jus­ti­fy her deci­sion to treat Westfall’s spinal injury. Despite his cold demeanor and appar­ent lack of hope, Yrene remains deter­mined to help him walk again, though she cau­tious­ly avoids mak­ing promis­es. Her focus is clin­i­cal, but she bris­tles at Westfall’s silent scruti­ny, par­tic­u­lar­ly when his gaze lingers on her scar.

Nes­ryn, though com­posed, reveals her rest­less­ness and con­cern for Westfall’s recov­ery. Yrene explains her expe­ri­ence with sim­i­lar injuries but empha­sizes the unpre­dictabil­i­ty of his mag­i­cal wound. The dynam­ic between the three is fraught with unspo­ken tensions—Yrene’s resent­ment of Adarlan’s cru­el­ty, Westfall’s guard­ed­ness, and Nesryn’s strug­gle with con­fine­ment. Yrene’s prac­ti­cal­i­ty clash­es with Westfall’s sto­icism, yet she refus­es to let his indif­fer­ence deter her from her pro­fes­sion­al duty.

The chap­ter under­scores Yrene’s inter­nal con­flict between com­pas­sion and self-preser­va­tion, as well as her deter­mi­na­tion to prove her skill despite Westfall’s hos­til­i­ty. Her inter­ac­tions with the khagan’s fam­i­ly and the Adar­lan­ian vis­i­tors high­light the polit­i­cal and per­son­al com­plex­i­ties of her world. The unre­solved emo­tions between the characters—grief, guilt, and pride—linger beneath the sur­face, set­ting the stage for fur­ther ten­sion and poten­tial break­throughs in their rela­tion­ships.