Kai waits through the opening of the Purging Trials’ first ball, which begins unusually with a banquet rather than only dancing. He watches the royal entrance of his mother and father, then the women enter one by one according to tradition. Kai escorts Blair, who had pressured him into attending with her, and joins the other contestants at the central table.

Before dinner begins, Kitt arrives with Paedyn. Paedyn’s silver dress immediately stands out against the expected green, turning her appearance into a bold public statement about her identity and recent notoriety. Kai is visibly affected by her entrance and watches the quiet interaction between Paedyn and Kitt from across the table.

During the meal, Blair mocks Paedyn’s dress and then insults her background in the slums. Paedyn answers with a cutting insult of her own, and Blair escalates by raising a knife toward Paedyn. Kai intervenes by using a Tele ability to force the knife back onto the table, stopping the confrontation before it becomes public violence. Ace then provokes Kai about the coming Trials and mocks Paedyn’s stated goal of survival, increasing the tension among the contestants.

To break the hostility, Kitt asks Paedyn to dance, and she accepts. Watching them waltz intensifies Kai’s envy, especially because he had privately taught Paedyn that same dance the night before. Kai tries to suppress those feelings by dancing and flirting with Blair and other women, but he cannot stop tracking Paedyn across the floor. By the end of the chapter, Kai recognizes that his attraction to Paedyn is becoming possessive, dangerous, and impossible to ignore.