Wylan and Jesper take a crowded outbound browboat toward Olendaal, using the market line because Kaz believes they will draw less attention there than on a more comfortable route. Kaz has ordered Jesper to stay alert for Van Eck's watchers and told Wylan to buy supplies for auric acid, allowing a visit to Saint Hilde only if time permits. Wylan insists on going because he believes his mother is buried there and wants to say goodbye before leaving Kerch.

During the trip, Wylan and Jesper talk about Kaz's disguises, Jesper's avoidance of his father, and Wylan's memories of his mother. Wylan recalls how Jan Van Eck treated Wylan's inability to read as a shameful defect, sent Wylan away after Alys became pregnant, and arranged for Miggson and Prior to escort Wylan to Belendt. In the flashback, Wylan realizes the trip was a murder attempt when Prior strangles Wylan on the boat; Wylan escapes by diving into the canal and eventually finds refuge by disappearing into the Barrel.

After reaching Olendaal, Wylan reveals that the quarry errand was a lie: the mineral they need can be purchased at a general store, and Wylan only used the quarry as a pretext to get near Saint Hilde. Jesper and Wylan buy the supplies, accept a wagon ride toward the hospital, then change into respectable clothes and approach Saint Hilde using Kaz's cover story that they were sent by Cornelis Smeet on Jan Van Eck's behalf.

At Saint Hilde, Wylan and Jesper discover the building is not a church but an asylum. A nurse named Betje produces a file for Marya Hendriks, and Jesper reads that Jan Van Eck had Wylan's mother committed for supposed mental illness and obtained a legal transfer of her property and holdings to himself. Wylan realizes Van Eck has been paying Saint Hilde not for charity or grave maintenance, but for Marya's confinement and silence.

Betje takes Wylan and Jesper to Marya, who is alive, frail, and confused but still paints and remembers enough to mutter Van Eck's name. Wylan plays his flute for her, and she responds to the music. Before leaving, Wylan sees a closet full of Marya's paintings, including repeated images of a little boy with red curls and blue eyes, confirming that she has continued to remember her son.

On the road back, Wylan breaks down, blaming himself for his father's crimes because Jan wanted a new heir. Jesper rejects that blame, tells Wylan that Jan Van Eck is a monster, and reminds Wylan that Kaz intends to destroy him. The thought of taking back Van Eck's fortune and rescuing Marya gives Wylan new purpose, and Wylan and Jesper run for the boat back to Ketterdam resolved to help steal the money back.