Bella ends Maddie’s tea party with Élan and tells Maddie that Apollo wants to see her in his study. Maddie realizes she has been shut out of meals with Apollo and the children for two nights, and she is troubled by how numb she feels instead of openly hurt. On her way through the house, she overhears two maids discussing her. They say Apollo has arranged a house and money for her in distant Estranvegue, that people no longer believe he will marry her, and that Chris’s distress proves Maddie cannot stay. Their gossip also compares Maddie’s place in the dower house to the way Apollo’s father kept a mistress, which makes Maddie suspect Apollo’s mother lived through a similar humiliation.

The gossip confirms what Maddie fears: Apollo means to keep supporting her, but not keep her with him. She then sees Christophe standing in his doorway and realizes he heard the maids too. Maddie asks him not to run, apologizes for hurting him, praises him as a good brother and a boy his father is proud of, and thanks him for tolerating her presence. Her words are final enough that she treats the moment like a farewell before hurrying away.

Maddie goes to Apollo’s study intending to ask Valentine to send her back to her own world. Apollo immediately apologizes for what he said after Chris ran away and admits he took his fear and stress out on Maddie. Maddie refuses to accept the apology as enough, says his cruelty was undeserved and unforgivable, and compares his pattern of hurting her and then apologizing to Pol’s abuse. She says Franka’s earlier attack forced her to see herself as a woman who has survived by offering her body, and she refuses to remain in Lunwyn as Apollo’s "whore," especially if Chris is being damaged by her presence.

Apollo rejects that view of her completely. He says Franka poisoned Maddie’s thinking, insists that Maddie enriches his life and Élan’s life, and argues that Chris is reacting to renewed grief for his dead mother, not to some failure in Maddie. Apollo admits he mishandled both his son and Maddie, says Chris needs care, and says Maddie is shattered by her past and must be treated gently. He then tells her plainly that he loves her and wants her to be his wife. When Maddie questions why he could love her, Apollo answers by naming her resilience, courage, and kindness: she challenged Meeta, helped him in battle, withstood Franka, and still showed up for Élan’s tea party even when things were strained between them.

Once Maddie reveals that she heard about Estranvegue from maids, Apollo presses for details, but the emotional center of the conversation has already shifted. Maddie admits she no longer wants to return to her own world and confesses that she loves him too. Apollo vows never to speak to her that way again and says trust must now be earned. Because Chris overheard the gossip and Maddie’s words to him sounded like goodbye, Apollo decides Maddie should return to the dower house for now while he gives Chris time and slowly helps him adjust to her presence. He promises to come to her later so they can talk further, and before she leaves, he kisses her and asks her to remember it as the first kiss they share with their love fully spoken on both sides.