Cornered in Vincent's hidden study, Oraya rises from beneath the desk to face Raihn. He tries to strike a casual, teasing tone reminiscent of their early encounters during the Kejari, but Oraya refuses to play along. She confronts him directly, calling out the hypocrisy of claiming she isn't a prisoner while he locks her in her room every night and guards her from the adjacent apartment.

Raihn insists he is trying to keep her alive and that it is difficult work. He lets slip that he hears her crying every night, a revelation that humiliates Oraya and breaks an unspoken boundary between them. Despite her attempts to create distance, Raihn closes the gap and reaffirms the offer he made the night of their marriage—an offer of genuine partnership to build a new version of the kingdom. He admits he hates the castle, the crown, and the court, but not her, and confesses he doesn't know if he can succeed without her help.

Oraya's attention falls to Vincent's papers spread across the desk beneath Raihn's hands, and she feels the burn of her Heir Mark. She throws his earlier casual dismissal of Hiaj deaths back at him, and when Raihn tries to argue that the Hiaj never accepted her, Oraya erupts with the accusation she has been holding back for weeks: "You killed my father." The words silence Raihn completely. Nightfire smoke curls around her fists as she nearly breaks down.

Raihn approaches slowly and offers a raw, seemingly sincere apology. Oraya recognizes his honesty and recalls how meaningful his earlier apologies once were to her—and how Vincent's own final apology changed nothing. She tells Raihn flatly that he would do it again, and he can only respond that he is trying to save many lives. Though Oraya privately acknowledges the impossible position Raihn is in, she also recognizes her own obligations to the Hiaj people who depend on her. She views Raihn's talk of a new kingdom as empty words, especially after watching him perform for the very court that abused him. She demands to be taken back to her room, and Raihn silently escorts her there without further argument.