Shiseo’s death is confirmed when his head is sent as proof. Kaine explains that Novis denies direct involvement and blames a supposed Eternal Flame faction, but he believes Novis is testing the other countries and New Paladia’s ability to respond. The timing ruins Kaine’s plan: the foreign attack warns Morrough too early, allows Morrough to gather forces, and leaves Kaine alive and still bound to obey orders.

Kaine insists Helena must still escape, though the plan is now riskier. Instead of relying on Shiseo’s arrival, Kaine will take Helena as far as possible, arrange a river ship, maps, transport, false papers, and passage through the ports toward Etras; Helena may need to reach Lila alone or decide whether she can manage Amaris. Kaine leaves to coordinate the response while Helena tries to build strength, and Atreus returns to Spirefell and prowls the house.

After Kaine briefly returns from carrying out orders, Helena finds him unnervingly altered and nearly in shock. Kaine says Morrough ordered him to make a public show of strength by slaughtering rows of prisoners, far more people than Kaine expected. Helena asks whether Ivy might still be able to help him, but Kaine shuts down the idea and leaves again, saying it is almost over.

Helena later feels the baby move for the first time and privately promises to protect the child. Kaine rushes in to reapply Helena’s nullium restraints before Stroud arrives. Stroud tries to argue that Helena should be moved to Central for closer management of the pregnancy, but Kaine uses his authority as High Reeve and accuses Stroud of worsening Helena’s health through dangerous interrogation methods, forcing Stroud to leave after only a perfunctory exam.

A newspaper then shows Kaine publicly exposed at the Institute, standing before rows of bodies, and later that night Amaris’s distressed howling leads Helena to Kaine collapsed in the courtyard. With help from Davies, the butler, and other servants, Helena brings Kaine to her room. Kaine is covered in blood but has no visible wound, his pulse is failing, and Helena, still cut off from resonance, finds his medical kit and injects a stimulant directly into his heart.

Kaine revives blind, disoriented, and neurologically impaired. He reveals that after Hevgoss announced an alliance with the Liberation Front and cited Kaine’s massacre as justification, Morrough punished Kaine for failure by ripping out Kaine’s heart and injuring his spine or nerves. Helena nurses Kaine through spasms and unconsciousness until his sight partially returns, but Kaine senses Morrough at the door and decides Helena must leave that night, even though the escape is incomplete.