Midnight at Saint-Vermeil Academy. The records-balcony hangs high above the dark, empty duel arena, shelves and ladders bathed in blue moonlight and warm archive-lamp gold.

Esme reaches the restricted ledger landing and reminds herself of the stakes: the Oath makes lies public, and the archive can expose her secret work if audited.

Esme discovers the archive lamp is already lit. Lucien sits in the chair she expected to use, reading forbidden-looking pages.

Esme steps into the lamplight and tries to make the encounter sound ordinary. Lucien does the same, with too much politeness.

Esme recognizes her own Marrante prose among Lucien's pages but cannot admit it. The pages are marked for headmaster review.

Lucien brings up V. Marrante by name as an anonymous writer. Esme must react without admitting recognition.

The conversation settles into a verbal duel. Lucien asks if Marrante watched his duel in person.

Esme explains the evidence in plain tactical terms, revealing how sharp her eye is.

Lucien asks if Marrante admired him. Esme answers with a truthful evasion.

Lucien notices Esme hiding something. She redirects with procedure and the Oath settles, but the danger has been established.

Lucien begins reading lines Esme wrote for his memoir, lines he knows he never said.

Lucien reveals the trap: he never said the elegant lines Marrante gave him.

Lucien frames the moral trap: is Marrante a liar or a savior? Esme cannot choose either cleanly.

Lucien hears the personal weight in Esme's answer and presses gently. Esme admits only what the Oath allows.

Sister Maelle arrives, cheerful and bureaucratically alarming, and nearly exposes Esme's habits.

Maelle clarifies the chair comment, while Lucien quietly connects Esme to the balcony.

Maelle notices Lucien has pages from the restricted review stack. This confirms they must be returned before dawn.

Maelle explains the pages will be locked away at morning, raising the urgency around Marrante's drafts without exposing Esme.

Maelle leaves to fetch the lockbox, accidentally giving Esme and Lucien one more moment alone with the manuscript.

Alone again, Lucien uses the forgotten page to ask one more dangerous question.

Lucien returns the draft toward Esme instead of the shelf. Esme cannot grab it too quickly without revealing herself.

Their fingers almost touch around the page. The Oath remains clean, showing the danger is not touch but recognition.

Lucien names what he has understood without saying the secret aloud. Esme refuses to confess, and the Oath lets the refusal stand.

Lucien leaves without an accusation. Maelle's keys approach off-panel. Esme remains on the balcony with the page, realizing he has not proven her identity yet but has found the next question.