Crown ward house before evening. Narrow windows, iron beds, children in grey, and a keeper reading a royal transfer order.

A palace private-wing corridor outside the royal apartments. Nemi arrives in a too-large coat under guard, and Iseren sees her before dinner.

A side chamber near the private wing. Iseren reads the transfer note and realizes Liora has been left behind.

Caelan and Iseren speak just out of Nemi's hearing before the formal dinner summons them.

The fifth formal dinner begins in the royal banquet hall. The court is quieter than before, waiting for the next test.

Head Steward Galen announces the revised menu while Mael observes from the physician's station.

Behind the hall, black-gloved hands plate the revised central dish. The chef's identity is withheld for a moment.

The revised course is carried from the kitchen into the banquet hall under unnerving silence.

Noctan Vale presents the central dish himself, breaking the usual distance between kitchen and king.

Iseren begins the royal tasting procedure for the unregistered dish.

Iseren searches for recognizable poison signs and finds nothing where an aftertaste should be.

Four heartbeats pass. Iseren cannot give the four-finger signal because she cannot name the danger.

Iseren gives the only truthful report allowed by the rules: she has no named fault to report.

Mael asks for symptoms. The lack of symptoms becomes more frightening than pain.

Serapha uses the language of reassurance to force the meal forward.

Noctan politely describes the dish, making the clean finish sound culinary rather than suspicious.

Iseren thinks through the consequences. The unknown taste traps her between the king's life and her sisters' survival.

No one moves to eat. The whole hall waits to see whether Iseren will fall.

Caelan removes his glove, preparing to cross the forbidden distance between king and taster.

Caelan reaches across the royal dinner table and takes Iseren's shaking hand before touching his fork.

The pilot ends with Caelan and Iseren's joined hands between the unregistered dish and the watching court. The poison remains unknown.