A note from Carl's planning file lays out the team's current problem: the four ballrooms are controlled from a secure third-floor chamber with five soul crystals, and the main ballroom protections include spells that block casting, inventory use, and weapons. Carl wants someone to reach the control room and disable those protections without shutting off the goodwill overlay that lets guests interact across rooms. The group has been considering a Gideon-based distraction to pull guards away, and Carl also warns that Imogen may be taking the form of someone they know, prompting anxious comments from Imani, Elle, and Donut.

In the present, Carl realizes Queen Imogen is not Beatrice but appears to be Ifechi's twin sister, as Katia quickly confirms while trying to warn Florin. Donut reports that her plus-one token has been returned, and Carl deduces Britney has risen into the top 50 on her own, making her an invited guest. While Carl studies Imogen's soul-crystal necklace and the haunted look in her eyes, he feels relief that she is not Bea and immediate concern that Florin will not handle this well. When Carl tells Florin to withdraw because of their agreed rule about loved ones, Florin angrily refuses.

As the carriage approaches the castle, Imogen questions Carl about Britney's presence and about what game he is playing. Carl, terrified but trying to stay calm, admits he is afraid of her. Imogen says the Butcher's Masquerade is meant to be a pause from the world's ugliness, where all invited guests are under her protection, and then she explains the ritual's sacred history: Taranis and Apito once held a peaceful gathering for their divine family, but Yarilo broke the peace, was banished, and the night ended in slaughter. That disaster became the model for the modern sacrament, a ritual of forced goodwill and suspended violence.

Imogen then reveals the rule that matters most to Carl's plans. The Masquerade is not just a party but a powerful spell called The Butcher's Masquerade, cast only once in a host's life, with the guest list chosen by Apito herself. Because of that ritual, Imogen cannot harm the invited attendees before the party unless they openly attack first, and she says Ferdinand's earlier aggression was unauthorized. She openly states that she needs the party to end without violence so Apito will grant her a boon, but she also warns Carl that any breach of the peace seal will cause the offenders to be swallowed by the ground and cast into the Nothing.

When the carriage stops, Imogen makes the threat personal. She says Carl is allied with her mongrel half-sister and promises that if the ritual is disrupted and she is freed to act, he will be the first person she destroys. Imogen briefly raises her hand toward Britney as if to prove how easily she could kill her, but stops when the goddess's rules prevent it, confirming Britney's new protected status as a guest. Imogen departs in a magical scatter, leaving Carl with crucial intelligence but a grim new conclusion: before the party has even begun, the team's plan has become much harder to carry out. Shaken, Britney says Imogen reminds her of her mother.