In the gentleman’s club, Paedyn and Kai realize the men hunting them are still searching the room. To avoid recognition, Kai keeps Paedyn on his lap at the gambling table and turns their disguise into a convincing performance of intimacy. Paedyn follows his lead despite resenting the role, and together they keep the pursuers’ attention from settling on Kai’s face.

As the men draw closer, Paedyn forces herself to keep pretending by touching Kai affectionately and acting absorbed in him. The act works: after watching them for a moment, the pursuers lose interest and move on. Kai finishes the card game, wins money, and casually leads Paedyn out of the club so they can escape without drawing notice.

Once outside, Paedyn and Kai walk for nearly an hour before feeling safe enough to relax. Their conversation turns teasing, with Kai praising Paedyn’s performance and provoking her about finding him attractive. Paedyn deflects with humor, but her comments about pretending all her life lead her back to thoughts of her false identity and the damage it caused, including her betrayal of Kitt.

While they continue on, Paedyn asks whether Kitt is worried about Kai, and the discussion shifts into blame and guilt over the deaths tied to both of them. Paedyn defends herself by insisting she never intended to kill the king, while Kai reminds her that she still did. When Paedyn throws his own crimes back at him, Kai reveals that he never intended to kill Paedyn’s father either: he was ordered on the mission, planned to leave without doing it, panicked when her father woke, and carried out the murder anyway. The confession unsettles Paedyn because it makes Kai harder to hate, but she ends the exchange by saying that hating him is still possible.