James met with Aaron Warner and Juliette to process his difficulties with Rosabelle. He asked if Rosabelle’s habit of staring without speaking meant anything and, after Warner’s dry skepticism, admitted she had been repeatedly sanctioned, including six trips to the Emotional Garden in ten days. He described a fresh incident where Rosabelle put Jing in a sleeper hold during group therapy, claiming she was “helping” him return Elias’s slippers; Jing fainted before James intervened.

James confessed Rosabelle’s silence and scrutiny were consuming his thoughts, even affecting his sleep. He recounted that she laughed at him for the first time, which overwhelmed him, and that her improving health made her even more striking. Warner, sensing James’s emotions, questioned his fitness for the assignment and suggested reassigning Rosabelle to someone like Kenji, Samuel, or Hugo.

Pressed for results, James listed the limited facts he had gathered: Rosabelle’s mother was named Anna; both parents were dead; Rosabelle was twenty; she had a sister seven years younger; and she had been engaged to a man named Sebastian, likely via an elite betrothal. Warner then highlighted critical unknowns James had not answered, including details about the Nexus, Rosabelle’s sector, the scar on her forearm, her bruises, and why she hadn’t been told James’s identity before she killed him.

James argued he had been instructed to use a gentle, non-interrogative approach. As Juliette grew drowsy, James added that Rosabelle had asked practical questions about their world’s analog tech and specifically whether the Emotional Garden’s light was real. Warner and Juliette concluded she was assessing whether the facility sat underground, indicating preparations for a potential escape.

At that moment, Kenji contacted Warner with an urgent report: staff were concerned about suspicious activity in the hall outside Rosabelle’s room. Kenji relayed that new hallway camera footage suggested Leon was the aggressor. The chapter closed with James racing out as Kenji warned that Leon might be trying to kill Rosabelle.