Three lavish gowns arrive for Doa Valentina in trunks marked with her initials, along with fine accessories. Valentina thrills at the luxury but worries about what it truly costs, especially with Don Marius still unsettled and working in the salon after the recent violence in the house.

Valentina goes to ensure Luzias clothing is in order for the coming torneo and finds Luzia staring warily at her own chest of garments. Together they unwrap three gowns for Luzia: a rust-colored day dress, a black velvet gown, and a severe black wool dress intended for performances. Luzia is disappointed by the plain, rough wool, but Catalina de Castro de Oro arrives to oversee dressing her.

As they lace and layer the clothing, Catalina explains practical realities at La Casilla: many contestants will bring servants, and while a shared attendant has been arranged, Luzia will be prioritized. When Luzia is finally dressed in the black wool, the effect is intentionally austere and unsettling; Catalina approves and frames it as a strategic personaLa Hermanitameant to forbid desire rather than invite it, a kind of armor for the performance.

Attention turns to Luzias cap and hair. Catalina and Valentina insist the cap must go, but Luzia resists, and the discussion grows sharp when Catalina challenges Luzias honesty. Luzia ultimately lets her thick curls down, remembering her mother and the Jewish past her desert hair connects her to, and feeling both exposed and handled.

Santngel appears in the doorway and, as Valentina and Catalina talk about cutting Luzias hair or shaving it for a wig, he intervenes. With a palpable, frightening shift in the room, Santngel warns them no one will touch Luzias hair and forces their compliance before leaving. Catalina moves on to practical solutions like a velvet cap or ornamentation, while the chapter closes on an ominous suggestion that this refusal may later prove fatal for more than one person.