Din, Ana, and Malo question Jari Pavitar in a trophy-lined side room. Pavitar repeats the same basic account of the tea as the other witnesses: the men drank together, Kardas served the king, and the king suddenly choked and died. Pavitar says he accused Kardas because imperial arts have already brought unnatural death to Yarrow, and he refuses to entertain the idea that the prince or any loyal Yarrow noble would commit such sacrilege. When Din asks about the king’s recent health, Pavitar insists the king had been strong, but Malo quietly signals that this is a lie.

Ana and Din press Pavitar on court politics. Pavitar says Darhi handles most Treasury negotiations, despises the pact with the Empire, and denies that imperials were ever allowed in the reliquary before the current crisis. He also rejects the idea that Darhi would deal with smugglers. When Din asks whether anything else strange has happened recently, Pavitar reveals that his prized hunting dogs died or sickened six days earlier, likely from poison. Instead of naming a human culprit, Pavitar points to the Shroud in the bay and blames it for blighting the land, exposing both his hatred of imperial influence and his willingness to explain material problems as sacred corruption.

After Pavitar leaves, Ana explains that she questioned him first because his hostility makes him easier to read: despite his prejudice, Malo detected only one clear lie, about the king’s health. Darhi then enters and gives a polished, controlled interview. He provides a written list of those present in the hall before the tea and repeats the same core sequence of events. Darhi suggests that servants might resent the court, but he rejects suspicion falling on the prince or Pavitar. Pressed about the king’s condition, Darhi reluctantly admits that the king had begun forgetting people and other things, though he insists the king still embodied ancestral wisdom. Darhi also explains Yarrow’s twin-heavy royal bloodlines, the many deaths and rivalries that result, and the succession system in which the reigning king chooses the heir, marked by silver regalia.

Ana then turns to Darhi’s work with Kardas. Darhi claims they discussed ordinary matters such as taxes, land ownership, and future revenue management, but Malo marks this answer as a lie. Once Darhi is gone, Ana urgently asks Din to recall exactly what he saw from Sujedo’s room in the Treasury tower, especially the southeastern view over New Town, the waterfront, the canals, and the Apoth works. That memory appears to confirm a new line of reasoning for Ana, and she decides that Gorthaus must be questioned alone because she now believes the engraver lied as well.

When Gorthaus arrives, Ana first explains how Kardas himself was poisoned. Ana says the killer tainted the king’s cup shortly before Kardas served it, intending to frame Kardas. Kardas then unknowingly picked up poison residue on his hand, and after the king’s death, the terrified official likely bit his thumb out of stress, ingesting a smaller dose that made him collapse later without killing him outright. Having laid out that solution, Ana pivots to accusation: she tells Gorthaus that she has been betraying both the Empire and Yarrow for the past two years.