On her day off, Evie encounters Jayne Fairmond in the village square, who is excitedly distributing wanted posters of The Villain. The poster's depiction is wildly inaccurate—showing an ancient man with a forked tongue, flaming hair, and an impossibly long beard. Evie plays along, feigning fear, and takes an extra copy with plans to frame it on her boss's desk. When Jayne insists King Benedict's benevolence is the reason women can work, Evie bites her tongue and walks away smiling.

Evie observes her father sitting happily with friends, looking healthier, with Lyssa clinging to his leg. Before heading home, she gives him the family coin purse at his request, though she's cut off before she can finish cautioning him. Walking alone, Evie reflects on magic—wondering whether powerful magic always consumes its owner, as it did her mother, and whether The Villain struggles similarly with his dark powers. She sits beneath a large tree in a daisy-filled clearing and mentally catalogues her problems: growing emotionally attached to her boss, the fact that he's the kingdom's most hated man, and that someone wants him dead.

The Villain startles her by appearing at the tree. Evie panics and shoves him behind it, worried he'll be recognized, but he calmly explains that King Benedict deliberately keeps his true identity and accurate appearance off wanted posters—Benedict wants their conflict kept private so he can eventually present The Villain's defeat as a heroic act. Trystan declares he'll play along with Benedict's game before ultimately taking the king down, unconcerned about morality or public opinion. Evie questions why Benedict only recently planted an informant after a decade of conflict, and Trystan speculates the king is waiting for the right moment to claim a hero's glory. Evie notes that Benedict is publicly popular and progressive, asking what started their war, but Trystan deflects with a deadpan joke.

Trystan then reveals the true reason for his visit: Blade found the name "Otto Warsen" etched into the dragon's collar, identifying the village blacksmith who crafted it. Whoever commissioned the collar in person either ordered the threatening engraving or the blacksmith was bribed to add it—potentially leading them to the traitor. Trystan asks Evie to introduce him as her employer seeking a rare blade. Evie is visibly shaken, revealing she used to work for Warsen before joining The Villain's employ. When Trystan asks why she left, she tersely says it was a "difference of opinion," but internally she seethes with raw anger and pain, wishing she could hit her former boss with a sledgehammer. Despite her dread, she leads Trystan toward the blacksmith's shop.