Euyn waits in a torchlit corridor beneath the King’s Arena for the horns that will signal the two-minute warning, convinced that King Joon will be dead by then and that Mikail will crown Euyn in the royal box. The roaring crowd above feeds Euyn’s belief that Yusan’s bloodlust will accept a new ruler, and Euyn fixates on becoming “Yusan” itself.

As time drags, Euyn’s confidence frays into anxiety. Euyn debates whether rumors about the etherum crown turning thieves to ash are only myths meant to deter theft, then worries about the thousand-year Baejkin reign and why no one has ever successfully taken the crown. Euyn fights the urge to flee, remembering the same instinct in the Tangun Mountain pass, but forces himself to stay so the capital will not collapse into chaos and so Mikail will not be suspected of taking the crown for himself.

Before the horns ever sound, Euyn feels a sword press against Euyn’s back from someone who approached without being detected. The attacker speaks with a muffled voice and orders Euyn not to move, confirming to Euyn that the assailant is a palace assassin.

Euyn looks toward the stairs for rescue from Mikail, Royo, or Ty, but no one comes. The absence convinces Euyn that the group’s traitor has acted and that Euyn has been betrayed.

Unarmed except for a jeweled ceremonial sword and knowing Euyn is outmatched, Euyn chooses compliance. The assassin says the orders are to take Euyn alive if possible and adds that Euyn’s “lover” wants a word, pushing Euyn to a sick realization: Euyn believes Mikail was the traitor all along.