After the performances, Luzia is herded with the guests into an immense candlelit hall for a lavish, theatrical feast. She eats pork deliberately to reinforce her public Catholic persona, drinks only fennel water, and sits silent between Don Víctor and Hualit while entertainment continues between courses. She notices Fortún Donadei also barely eating, and she still does not see Santángel among the diners.

When the women are finally allowed to retire, Hualit escorts Luzia to assigned rooms in the same wing, away from Don Víctor’s household, and warns her to be cautious because other competitors and the “Beauty” are nearby. Luzia is stunned by the luxury of her bedroom—Pérez’s labyrinth embroidered on the linens, a blazing brazier, and a dressing table stocked with cosmetics. Hualit introduces the maid Concha, explaining Concha is paid well by Don Víctor and will keep Luzia’s secrets from everyone except him.

As Luzia undresses, Hualit gently insists there is no going back for Luzia, only forward—either to glory or to execution. After Hualit leaves, Luzia jokes with Concha about Pérez’s vanity, but the mood shifts when someone scratches at the door and Santángel enters, sending Concha away.

Alone with Luzia, Santángel confronts her for deceiving him about reading, citing the letters he carried the day her magic injured them. Their argument exposes mutual resentment: Luzia condemns how men underestimate her, while Santángel accuses her of performing helplessness so well she risked becoming “nothing.” Santángel then offers truth in exchange for truth, admitting that in another life he would be called a familiar, that his gifts exist to serve others, and that he cultivates fear to survive; he presses Luzia to explain her magic and its sources, warning Father Neroni will interrogate her.

When Luzia’s frustration peaks, a scorpion springs from her silver hairbrush—an attempted assassination staged to implicate Santángel’s impresa, “El Alacrán.” Santángel calmly speaks to the scorpion and coaxes it onto his hand, noting the placement could have killed Luzia, then has her empty a powder jar so he can trap it inside. He explains the scorpion emblem was forced on him by the De Paredes as a warning, and he decides to report the attempt to Don Víctor and inform Pérez, promising that now that they know each other, they may achieve more with fewer lies.