During the silent carriage ride home, Evie spots a masked figure walking through the trees wearing the mask bearing King Benedict's emblem—the same mask the interns had found near the explosion site. Without hesitation, Evie leaps from the moving carriage and sprints after the figure, ignoring The Villain's furious shouts behind her. She tackles the spy to the ground, and they wrestle until Evie yanks the mask free—only to discover that the person beneath it is Becky, her workplace nemesis.

Evie is stunned and initially suspects Becky of being the spy. However, Becky vehemently denies it, and The Villain, catching up, seems unsurprised. He reveals that he understands what Becky was actually trying to do. Becky explains that an intern, too frightened to report to The Villain directly, had left the mask on her desk. Rather than turning it in, Becky hatched a desperate plan: she intended to pose as one of King Benedict's guards, use a map stolen from the cartography closet, and infiltrate the Gleaming Palace to find a rumored cure for the Mystic Illness. This revelation explains the mystery of the third key to the cartography closet.

Evie is skeptical that any cure exists, but Becky's raw desperation and pain are unmistakable. When Evie presses her, Becky reveals that her grandmother suffers from the Mystic Illness. The Villain confirms Becky is being truthful, and Becky surrenders the mask to him, apologizing for her foolish plan. The Villain tells both Becky and Evie that if concrete evidence of the king harboring a cure ever surfaces, he will retrieve it—for both of them.

Evie and Becky share a moment of unexpected vulnerability. Evie admits her father has the Mystic Illness, and Becky reveals her grandmother does as well. They express quiet condolences to each other before agreeing they dislike having something in common and vowing never to speak of it again. The three of them return to the carriage, with The Villain preparing to take Evie home and Becky back to the manor.