Luzia continues being remade for court: she is taught banquet manners, how to sit and move in a corset and verdugado, and how to avoid drawing attention by speaking as little as possible. Perucho’s height-boosting chapines are abandoned when she cannot walk in them, reinforcing that her role is to look the part, not to shine through conversation or talent.

One morning, an orange-haired girl named Juana appears in the kitchen as the new scullion, and Águeda needles her while watching Luzia for signs of what she might become. Luzia feels the rumors about her growing beyond Casa Ordoño, and the attention both thrills and unsettles her, making the whole transformation feel suddenly real rather than like rehearsal.

Santángel arrives for their lesson and immediately notices Luzia’s distraction. Luzia confronts him about his confidence and the whispered claim that he is an assassin; Santángel coolly admits Víctor has cultivated “bloody” skills in him and frames it as the servant’s condition. Luzia presses whether her power is truly enough to win the Torneo Secreto or survive as the king’s champion, and Santángel cannot give certainty even as he insists her talent is more than a “scrap.”

Through Santángel’s thoughts and a recent exchange with Víctor, it becomes clear Víctor wants more than parlor tricks—he envies the Holy Child’s visions and worries Luzia’s miracles are useless to a king. Santángel argues Luzia’s magic could be militarized (ships, muskets), but privately recognizes her limits and the risks of staking everything on unpredictable power; nonetheless, as a captive, he chooses the selfish calculus of freedom and vows to make Luzia impress at any cost.

Luzia learns Juana was hired so she can devote herself fully to practice and prayer, and Santángel raises the larger political reality: if Philip chooses multiple champions, rivalry could become deadly. When Luzia asks how to know whether her power is angelic, Santángel warns the question is perilous—especially because Luzia is a conversa. He explains Víctor has already consulted a linajista to manufacture a “clean” blood history for her, but that entering royal service will invite scrutiny from the Church and Inquisition; Santángel’s closest gift of honesty is his advice to fear human ambition, not magic.