The Baron Vladimir Harkonnen storms from his private rooms after surviving an assassination attempt. He confronts his guard captain, Iakin Nefud, for failing to monitor Feyd-Rautha and for failing to inspect the slave boy sent to the Baron. Feyd-Rautha arrives in haste, revealing by his timing that he has spies of his own watching the Baron.

The Baron uses the moment to punish Feyd-Rautha’s network. He orders Nefud to garrotte the slavemaster, then to kill the two guards who remove the dead slave boy’s body, framing the executions as discipline for incompetence while clearly cutting away Feyd-Rautha’s accomplices.

The Baron escorts Feyd-Rautha to his bedchamber and confronts him directly. Feyd-Rautha admits the value of keeping his own hands clean, especially because a Bene Gesserit Truthsayer could detect a lie if he denied personal murder before the Emperor. The Baron also mentions reports from Arrakis: the Fremen have a new religious leader called Muad’Dib, which the Baron dismisses as a harmless distraction Rabban should allow.

In private, the Baron reveals that the slave boy carried a concealed, shielded poison needle placed where the Baron’s hand would trigger it. Although the Baron secretly knows because Thufir Hawat warned him, the Baron lets Feyd-Rautha believe he detected the plot himself. The Baron then offers a bargain: Feyd-Rautha will stop trying to kill him, and the Baron will eventually step aside when Feyd-Rautha is ready.

The Baron says Thufir Hawat will watch Feyd-Rautha, explaining that Hawat’s hatred can be bent away from House Harkonnen and toward the Imperium. The Baron argues that Hawat, controlled by poison and antidote, may help place Feyd-Rautha on a throne by turning revenge against the Emperor. Feyd-Rautha recognizes both the opportunity and the danger, accepting the bargain while privately reassessing Hawat’s manipulations.

To ensure Feyd-Rautha learns the cost of failure, the Baron orders him to go to the slave quarters and personally kill all the women in the pleasure wing. Feyd-Rautha resents the humiliation and cruelty but does not refuse, deciding that he still needs the Baron for now while silently preserving his hatred for a future reckoning.