Announcement

At 8 a.m. on the twelfth day, Halkenburg — inside Balsamilco — phones Benjamin from Tier 2: the funeral departs at 1 p.m., the will exempts the princes from attending, and 'Balsamilco' will return once Halkenburg's guards are disbanded below Tier 2. Benjamin acknowledges his brother's puppet without knowing it.

On Tier 2, Kaiser hosts the Fugetsu protection cell: the sleeping prince, Melody, and the beast-Kacho who frets that her own upkeep drains her sister. Kaiser's read on the funeral: grand, solemn, and to be survived before whatever comes next.

In Room 302, Camilla's captain paints on a new face, dons a maid's uniform, and joins the Nen class to curse Woble: a week's accumulation from a distance, five days with something Woble has used, instant if she can die looking into the prince's eyes. Room 1014 sees only a servant.

Kurapika opens the second round — demand doubled the roster — splitting an introductory class (Nen in two weeks) from a beginner class (one major principle per week), with aligned princes allowed one extra student each. Furykov calculates the effect: guards spread thin, military strength equalized, the contest turned defensive.

Kurapika lectures the class on why only one heir may survive: a vow-and-limitation engine in four stages — the prayer and pledge, the offering of the king's own bloodline, the ceremonial gathering of the fallen into a sacred convergence, and rule through the resulting power. The deliberately-left loophole: more than one survivor breaks the ritual.

Closing the lecture, Kurapika announces to every camp's observers that the Fourteenth Prince is not eligible to participate in the Succession Contest. In the bedroom, Oito lies awake, eyes open. The gambit lands one chapter before the reader learns what it rests on.