Shera receives orders to forget about trying to kill Lee and instead take her sword. Figuring it would be easiest to flat out ask for it than to steal it, he makes the request, not realizing it is impossible for anyone else to wield. When sheathed, only Lee can draw it. When unsheathed, even partially, it's too heavy for a hundred men together to hold. Shera discovers that Lee's silver circlet is also enchanted--when removed from its owner, it returns magically the next day. Shera is miserable at having failed and seeks advice on what to do.The king wants to remove Magdonell as a threat without making the conspiracy public. For one thing, the fact that such a powerful noble is a traitor would throw Delfinia into chaos, and for another he has no firm proof other than a guard's word and the ramblings of the wise woman in Magic Town. He asks his cousin to escape from house arrest, seemingly against the king's direct orders, and take his knights to put an end to Magdonell. Baluro agrees so that he can clear up his family's shame, despite knowing he'll have to be punished afterward for the ruse to be effective.
Shera goes to his village, where he's told that all his previous orders had been a prank played by the clan's "holy spirits" rather than an official mission given by the village leader. The holy spirits are the ghosts of dead assassins. Shera grew up believing that killing people is an act of kindness helping them on to the next, more powerful level of existence. The village leader orders Shera to race to kill Magdonell before Baluro can. Unfortunately, Baluro makes a surprise attack and duels Magdonell before Shera can assassinate him. Baluro finds out that Magdonell hired the Farott Clan assassins, but the man dies and can't rescind the order.
Nashias and his knights come to Baluro's aid, saving him from Magdonell's allies. Shera meets up with another assassin, a young man who apparently knows far more than Shera does. The young man tries to kill Shera for interfering, but Lee arrives in time to save her "servant." Lee reveals Shera's true identity to Baluro and Nashias, swearing them to secrecy. Shera had been raised in such ignorance that he had never even heard the name Farott, he was just a killing tool. He wants to die from humiliation, but the holy spirits appear and order him to serve Lee. That gives him a reason to live. <Scene 8>
Baluro is sentenced to spend time in the North Tower, which has been renovated since Woll took the throne, and Nashias volunteers to join him. Their imprisonment is no hardship, because Lee frequently climbs the tower to visit them bearing gifts of food and things to pass the time. In a far off country where the head of the Farott Clan lives, it is reported that Shera's village was entirely destroyed by its leader, who feared that Magdonell may have compromised its whereabouts. The assassin who challenged Shera is sent to ensure that any survivors kill themselves as they were trained to do. He is intrigued by the idea of meeting Shera again. All Farott are warned not to mess with Delfinia's royal family.
Delfinia's neighboring countries are frustrated by Magdonell's failure. Their attempts to assassinate Lee have all been in vain, and they turn to seeking some other weakness to exploit. A woman named Latina Pess shows up at Coral Castle claiming to be an old friend of Woll's. She tells him that her husband, Viscount Endover, has died, leaving her with few resources. She asks to be Woll's concubine--a request he grants on the spot.