In the aftermath of Queen Iris’s death in childbirth, King Edric holds his newborn daughter and hears his Silencer, Damion, report that he can detect no power in the child. The suggestion that the infant might be Ordinary horrifies Edric, who views this as a shameful contradiction of his status as a powerful Brawny and ruler of the first Elite kingdom.

Edric looks between the crying child and Iris’s corpse, fixating on the baby’s lack of power and blaming the infant for Iris’s death. He reflects on Iris’s rare Soul ability, which once soothed him, and contrasts it with what he sees as the baby’s weakness. Grief twists into contempt as he deems the child an embarrassment and a mockery of Elite strength.

When a Healer and an adviser tentatively object, Edric cuts them off and issues the order to “get rid of it,” explicitly condemning the newborn for killing his wife. He holds the child at arm’s length until his Mind Reader steps forward to take custody, and Edric transfers the infant into the Mind Reader’s hands with a tight smile and a fatal intent implied.

Edric then dictates the official narrative: the queen, he declares, died two years earlier giving birth to his son and heir, not today. He commands that everyone forget what happened, that records be sealed, and that the Ordinary child be disavowed and erased from history.

As the Mind Reader leaves with the wailing princess, Edric reiterates that the child does not belong to him and is already forgotten. He storms out, determined to preserve the kingdom’s image by eliminating both the infant and the truth.