Noon. Dahee receives a note addressed to Park Dahee and follows it to the forbidden library, candlelit and silent.

A vast gothic library with ladders, sealed shelves, and one long table. Caelum waits at the far end, sword laid flat before him, no guards.

They face each other across the long table, both measuring the other's knowledge rather than drawing weapons.

Caelum speaks with the unnatural calm of someone reciting a sentence carved into him; Dahee listens with horror.

Dahee calls the killings monstrous. Caelum reaches for the sword, then stops before touching it.

The library narrows around Caelum's confession. He does not cry; he looks too empty for that.

Dahee studies the tally notebooks and recognizes repeated romance-fantasy chapter beats as rules rather than coincidences.

Caelum tries to make himself less threatening by turning the sword toward Dahee. She refuses to let the gesture become romance.

The library clock strikes noon. They have twelve hours. Dahee takes command of the research path.

Dahee and Caelum work side by side at the long table, surrounded by candles, tally marks, and the sword set aside but still visible.