In Rahway’s Troubadour Inn, Royo watches an unusually stressed Aeri spiral after a tailor delay and, worse, the royal spymaster’s failure to arrive on schedule. After hours of pacing and anxious speculation, a red card is shoved under their door with a terse instruction that makes Aeri abruptly quiet: they must go upstairs.

Royo worries it is a trap, but Aeri insists they go. Royo arms himself heavily under his suit and follows Aeri to the inn’s top floor, where only a single suite sits behind double doors. A noble-looking man their age answers; Aeri introduces herself and calls Royo her “guardsmith,” and the man—Tiyung—lets them in without searching Royo.

Inside, Royo realizes they have stepped into high-level royal company: Prince Euyn is present (the supposedly dead prince known for massacres), along with Mikail, who is clearly the royal spymaster. A woman named Sora is also there, with Tiyung identified as her guardsmith; Sora dryly calls him more a jailor than a protector. Mikail admits their party was delayed by attacks on the way to the inn, then pushes forward, telling Aeri she must demonstrate her skills to Prince Euyn immediately.

Aeri requests a “hat” to simulate the fit of a crown, and Tiyung produces a distinctive black cap—revealing he is the southern count’s son. With Prince Euyn wearing the cap, Aeri demands a distraction; after refusing at first, Royo is pressured into juggling pomegranates while Mikail rearranges the group’s positions.

As Royo juggles, Aeri moves along the couch and, so fast Royo cannot track it, steals the cap off Prince Euyn’s head and transfers it onto Tiyung. Aeri declares the feat “simple,” leaving Royo stunned by how effortlessly and invisibly she accomplished the switch.