Aune glimpses Dauphine Mirelle in a palace gallery and recognizes the forced brightness around her attendants.

The confessional seal begins. The carved lattice and ritual candle create sacred privacy that has become a spy route.

Edran reveals he has petitioned to marry the dauphine.

Aune pushes for plain meaning, and Edran explains the court's political reason to accept.

Aune thinks of Mirelle's hallway smile and feels a sharp, unwanted jealousy.

Edran reveals that Mirelle knows part of his scheme and specifically asked him to use Aune's booth.

Aune names the problem: Mirelle has made her a piece in the game. Edran does not deny it.

Edran says he does not expect to return to Tarsen alive.

Edran explains that both Malrec and the imperial court may find reasons to kill him.

Aune tests whether his vulnerability is real or another tactic. Edran answers plainly.

Edran asks what penance she would assign him, shifting the power back to Aune for one dangerous moment.

Aune tries to speak the truth she wants, but the living Veil gathers at her mouth and stops her.

Aune redirects the unsayable truth into a penance: she demands the cipher key to Malrec's private journals.

Aune explains why curated confessions are no longer enough. If Edran wants to uproot Malrec, he must give her the root language.

Edran pauses long enough for Aune to fear she has reached the edge of his trust, then accepts with a bleak joke.

Edran promises the key. Their fingers nearly touch through the space beneath the lattice, but neither crosses the last distance.

Edran asks what she will do with the journals. Aune refuses to promise comfort.

Aune remains alone in the booth, holding the weight of the demand and the unsaid sentence between them.