Spoiler On the Same Boat / Lies Become You / 한 배를 탄 사이

From what I understand (based on MTL)

Spoiler: The Pact

The FL and ML met briefly as children after the FLs mom died and she was considering jumping off a bridge. The ML was there (for an unknown reason) and stopped her. He promised he would come back and meet her again in 10 years.
The FL agreed and decided to survive so they could meet again.

 

Oh I see, ngl I thought it be dramatic lol, thank you though. I do hope she remembers. I wonder why she don't, maybe because of all the role acts she played she probably confused as just an other role

 

I also know the answer as to why she doesn't remember (though this just spawns more questions).

Spoiler: Lacey's suppressed memories

She does get her memory back!
Lacey starts having confusing memories/flashbacks of meeting Halid after arriving in Irina for the marriage and collapses after getting a partial flashback. Lacey recovers her memories after an earth mage, Shakira, helps her recover them. She remembers meeting Halid 10 years ago and their promise. Lacey also starts remembering things about her dead mother who was seemingly a powerful mage as well and said to be a 'mermaid'.

Shakira tells Lacey that her memories were altered/suppressed by another unknown mage, Lacey falsely remembered that it was the mistress of Fiore (the organization she worked for) who stopped her from jumping, not Halid. This was done while she was still living in Weldon where magic is mostly suppressed so Shakira speculates that it must've been a powerful mage and is surprised it was even possible in a country mostly cut off from magic.

It's strongly implied the person who did it is the creepy red haired man who trained Lacey to be an actress and seems to have a weird fixation on her. Why and how is still a mystery.

 

Oh that does spark more questions. So I'm going guess that

Spoiler

the mage also altered/gave Halid a memory of saving FL since apparently he wasn't the one who saved her.

Also thank you so much for answering my silly questions, I appreciate it

 

I'm pretty sure Halid did save her. In the recent mtl chapters being shared, Lacey gets her memories back and wonders why she thinks that the Lady saved her.

Also, I don't think the guy who brainwashed her (the red haired man who is brother to the red haired lady who was Lacey's boss) is a mage. It's possible to brainwash someone without magic. He's implied to have done it to many of the children/members of the ring (he's just particularly obsessed with Lacey). He could have brainwashed her using a mix of drugs and psychological stressors/manipulation (Lacey was already in a psychologically vulnerable state).

The main reason I don't think he's a mage is because of how shocked everyone is that Lacey, who was born in that (magicless) continent had magic (and the implication that people discounted her and thought Halid's claim that she had magic was hot air). This shows that her having magic is somewhat of a miracle (possibly tied with the story of the gods who came down to earth and started the Royal family of the magic-having continent). There is currently no indication that the redheaded brothers user pair are not natives of the magicless continent.

 

Yes. Halid did actually save Lacey (my wording in my original spoiler was unintentionally misleading, sorry!).

Basically Lacey was brainwashed to believe the mistress of Fiore saved her life and gave her a reason to live/survive, but in reality Halid was the one who saved her by making the pact with her. Whoever altered her memories didn't want her remembering Halid and wanted her to feel obligated to Fiore.

That's an interesting theory about the creepy red haired man! Another alternative to him being a mage is that he is using some kind of magic tool since it's established that some of those work on the magic-less continent.

It seems to me his manipulation of Lacey was a mix of magical influence and common manipulation tactics. A lot of Lacey's reluctance to get attached to Halid seems to come from stuff he taught her and put into her head. Either way he is undeniably bad news.

 

Volume 4 Chapter 06(2)
Okay I can't deny I find it kinda funny that this wedding tradition is literally to lock these two newlyweds up in a cave for 3 days after the wedding. That's a R15/R19 plot contrivance if I've ever seen one (not that I'm complaining)

There's definitely some plot going on about who drugged Nerys/Lacey and IDK how I feel about this priestess . Also Halid is definitely still keeping secrets.

 

Volume 04 Chapter 6(02) - part 9-12
OMG some of the implications about Halid's past here

Spoiler: Revelations about Halid's past/motivations

- The Priestess lady, Metis - implies Halid was responsible for her mother's death and she calls Halid 'a monster' and questions his sanity (what did Halid do????)
- Halid spent years in the temple because of uncontrollable/problematic/dangerous(?) magic?
- Meeting Lacey 12 years ago and making that promise might have motivated him to manage his powers through sheer willpower?? - Is this why he searched for her the way he did and cares so much for her??
- Metis and Shakira imply a former Crown Princess DIED?? (More info needed???)
- ALSO Halid pretended to drown to see whether Nerys cared enough to try and save him because he doesn't know if she's just acting or actually cares for him (this is scheming as hell but also kinda sad OMG)

 

Volume 04 Chapter 06(2)
Holy crap, did Halid just...?

Spoiler

Halid just used fire magic to burn someone alive! Wasn't Halid a wind mage?? Is he a wind AND fire mage????

Oh damn, those are some big secrets you're keeping there Halid...

Spoiler

- Halid's brother Prince Shrad had a servant who was a spy?/ likely responsible for drugging Lacey (And Halid killed her with fire magic)
- Halid is definitely hiding fire magic that he seals away with an earring (on top of his wind magic) - perhaps this is why he is a 'monster'?? I'm pretty sure it isn't standard to have two types of elemental magic
- Halid's former fiance died/was killed, possibly related to the same drugs that Lacey was dosed with before the wedding
- Halid did not tell Lacey about her purification magic and how rare and important that is
- Lacey now KNOWS that she has purification magic and that Halid is hiding his former fiance's death/murder from him
I can just see the misunderstandings coming...

 

I'm not that surprised that Halid has fire powers. I feel like it's being pretty heavily hinted at by the author that Halid and Lacey/Nerys are the incarnations of the sun god (Shirim) and sea god (Karim). The sun god in the stories came to earth as a hero who fell in love with and courted a sea nymph from the sea (with other versions telling of how he was seduced by the sea nymph) which is similar to Halid's role as a savior crossing the sea to find his princess consort. The key is that there are many parallels in the story of Shirim and Karim and the story of how Halid and Lacey/Nerys met.

If they are the incarnations of God's, a lot of things would make sense. Halid's uncontrollable powers that were suppressed with the lake, how his powers calmed down in the presence of Lacey/Nerys (his other half). Lacey/Nerys herself is also implied to have very strong powers having unconsciously let of a soothing water aura before she even knew she had powers on the ship. The magnitude of their powers would make sense if you think of it as the power of God's being contained in mortal form. Furthermore, both of them are the sole individuals to have sentient Teru.

What I am curious about is, if they are the incarnations of the sun god and sea god, I wonder why they're in the mortal plane again. Is it to have a tryst away from the eyes of the other gods again? Is this a cyclical thing (like in Egyptian myths and their cyclical nature). Perhaps the crisis of the encroaching monsters triggered the sun and sea god to come back down to help the mortals again but they are unstable when they are separate?

Quote from mtl above:
"...As you know, the story of the sun god and the sea god is the myth that underlies Irina. Shirim and Karim tricked the eyes of the world into making love on land, and in the meantime, they had four children. They were kids with water, fire, wind, and ground power."


I do think that calling the other girl Halid's fiance is inaccurate. They were never engaged. It was merely the girl herself and others around them who though Halid was "faithful" to her even while his thoughts were probably consumed with the goal of building up enough power to be able to cross the sea and meet his Lacey/Nerys. It's just unfortunate that enough people believed Halid and the girl would one day marry that they would target her. I do think that us as readers would be foolish to believe what Metis tells Lacey/Nerys (it's possible that the relationship between Halid and the girl was nowhere near appearing like that of lovers even to priests who took care of them and only appeared so to people who heard about them in distorted stories) since Metis has been shown to hate Halid and be quite malicious towards him.

 

Lacey is smart but also a really cautious person, this is a tricky combination when it comes to settings like this cause she could see Halid keeping secrets to protect her as much as keeping secrets to use her.

 

This is a really interesting theory! I'm not entirely sold on them being literal gods but there is definitely some element of fate and prophecy here and the parallels are definitely there and probably tied to the curse that Irina is currently fighting against. I also wonder how much Halid knew about Lacey at the start when they first met in Weldon (the magic-less continent). I still wonder why he went there. And I agree that Ashera/Asera, Halid's childhood friend wasn't technically his fiance, i definitely ended up simplifying the explanation a bit.

I'm also interested in the parallels being drawn between Lametis/Rametis and Lacey because it seems like it is a setup for Lacey being a chosen one or martyr much like Rametis was. It's pretty clear she is going to be the next incarnation of Rametis and Halid is worried about that happening.

I also wonder who exactly is responsible for the attacks against Lacey and Halid, since it seems they have been targeting him ever since his childhood friend was killed and what exactly they are after. At first I thought it might be Prince Shrad's faction trying to get him into power, but they also seem to have no qualms about potentially framing him for drugging Lacey. At this point it could be another member of the royal family who wants the throne or some outside party that wants power.

I'm also interested to see where this goes. The manhwa being called 'Lies Become You' is definitely becoming more and more fitting because both Halid and Lacey are deceiving both themselves and others. I'm starting to lean towards the idea that Halid is trying to protect Lacey but is also terrified that being honest will make her leave him, while Lacey is lying to herself about being able to leave him once this is over.

 

Both these last two parts get a bit spicy.
Volume 04 Chapter 07 (1) - We are checking back in with Fiore and theres a timeskip!!

Spoiler: Summary

- Checks in with Fiore, 2 years after Lacey left and the madam of Fiore gets a response from the magic artifact (the earring communicator) she gave Lacey at the start of the story (Does this mean Lacey will return to Weldon???)
- Goes back to 6 months previous in Irina (I'm guessing around 6 months before the expiry of Lacey and Halid's contract), so a year or more timeskip

 

Volume 4 Chapter 07 (1) - Part 5-10

Spoiler: Summary

- Lanahan and Sanahan found their missing sister! Their parents came forward with her after LaceyxHalid's marriage. Lanahan is angry at their sister and parents because they chose to selectively abandon her and her brother
- Lacey is moonlighting as a mysterious 'Priest of the Rain' who helps poor people in the slums and is testing out and refining her magic and purification ability - I'm glad she is actually training her abilities, despite Halid's reluctance
- It seems Lacey is still planning to leave because she craves freedom and I'm still wondering how this is gonna play out, she seems to be lining things up for her to leave
- Halid still hasn't opened up about the whole dead childhood friend/presumed fiance thing
- A mysterious female guest has appeared

 

I bring you a very awkward political lunch
Volume 4 Chapter 07 (1) - Part 11-15

Spoiler: Summary

- The guest is Marcera, the sister of Ashera (Halid's deceased childhood friend/assumed fiance) - for political reasons she has been sent to visit Surev and request that Halid fulfil the implied arrangement between their families by taking Marcera as a second wife (Halid is not interested in humouring this at all)
- Marcera is wary of Lacey but eventually gets charmed
- Marcera, Halid and Lacey have a tense meal together where Marcera tries (unsuccessfully) to appeal to her and Halid's shared past and brings up Ashera's death
- Lacey says something sympathetic to Marcera that she interprets as her being hostile about Ashera's death and Marcera freaks out, but Lacey (already aware of what happened to Ashera and Marcera's objective) stays calm and unruffled and embarasses Marcera by explaining that she misinterpreted her statement. Halid realises Lacey already knows about Ashera's death
- After lunch Halid orders everyone to leave - Halid and Lacey argue about Halid not telling Lacey about Ashera's death in advance and Halid wants to know who told her, Halid offers his version of the story, but Lacey declines, saying she already knows and subtly reminding Halid that she needs to know these things in advance to fulfil her contracted role and avoid falling into political traps (in reality she is trying to avoid getting more invested in Halid and thinks that hearing about this hard part of his life will make it harder to stay detached).
- The chapter ends with Halid speaking alone with Zephyros on the balcony, he knows what Lacey is doing, and that she fully intends to leave him once the contract ends

End of Volume 4!
That cliffhanger though...

 

Volume 5 Chapter 07 (2) - Part 1-6
The plot thickens regarding Marcera. And Nerys/Lacey takes a shot at the curse!

Spoiler

- Everyone in Surev is wary of Marcera and her attempts to seduce Halid and everyone is very concerned about Nerys/Lacey's calm reaction (Halid continues to treat Marcera coldly)
- Marcera and one of the priestesses notices Lacey is still wearing the contraceptive bracelets and wonders about it
- Lacey continues attending the poor in the slums that border the magic barrier with Sanahan guarding her and sees a mutant for the first time
- Lacey meets Marcera again and Marcera is acting differently than she did at the luncheon. She gives Lacey a Nerium flower, from the poisonous Oleander plant that can mean deception in the flower language, but Lacey isn't sure Marcera knows the meaning since it isn't practiced in Irinna. Lacey wonders whether Marcera is another person who is acting out a role
- There is distance in Halid and Lacey's relationship
- Lacey goes back to the slums with Sanahan, and with his and Nell's help they trap a mutant and she attempts to purify it of the curse

 

I'm starting to wonder if one of the mysterious enemies (the ones we saw talking about someone being on Halid's ship with a woman referring to someone as master while taking to "her child") can possess people.

 

We finally get an explanation of the curse!
Volume 5 Chapter 07 (2) - Part 7-12
I'm gonna break this TL;DR up a little

Spoiler: The Curse

- While purifying the mutant Lacey is given a vision of the past. There were once 4 kings/leaders of Irinna (water, fire, earth, wind) *cue Avatar the Last Airbender intro*
- The kings of Irinna waged a 100 year war against a large tribe and massive resentment built until Irinna won the war. Once the war was won however the kings of Fire, Wind and Earth went far beyond and tried to completely destroy the tribe - men, women, children, elderly - no one was spared. Some of them were horribly tortured, or forced to flee across the sea, many of them died attempting to escape.
- The 3 kings became drunk and monstrous on their revenge, until only one female shaman was left. She had witnessed the death of everything she loved and was filled with wrath. The kings came to kill her. But with her dying words and magic she cursed the kings. Her curse caused the dead to rise again and destroy the living. The three royal families of Fire, Wind and Earth were destroyed (leaving only Water the current ruling family). But even after the kings were dead,those who fell to the curse became mutated zombies and the curse continued to propagate endlessly until the present.

Spoiler: End of Chapter 07 (2)

- Lacey is jerked out of the vision of the curse and sees she has successfully purified the mutant and a lot of onlookers saw it
- It's hinted that the little girl from the slums (lily/liri?) is not what she appears and she tells Lacey to come find her later
- A very angry Halid appears on a giant Zephy and pulls Lacey with him and tells her she can't leave the castle again. They are flying on Zephy using magic but Lacey wants Halid to put her down. When he refuses she uses her Teru to escape his grasp and intentionally throws herself off of Zephy's back to the ground - cushioned by her magic. She passes out as the water surrounds her.
- Lacey is in weird liminal space but gets snippets of other people/places
- Igna's amethyst ring with the purification symbol is glowing, same with Nefer's purification artifact, and Caliph's artifact
- Rametis's staff in the water sanctuary is also glowing and there's a conversation between Metis and someone else in the water sanctuary where she implies this is something they have been waiting for and asks if Halid seems up to some unknown task:

Metis clapped his tongue disapprovingly.
<Whether or not we can deal with the monster with only two....>
<Will Prince His Highness turn a blind eye to the task?>
<He is a man who only moves according to his own greed. He wouldn't want anyone he cares about to get hurt. Even if it's the only way to save this country.>

But soon, a cool smile passed through Metis' mouth.
<But in the end, there will be no stopping it. As if no one had stopped my mother, as if he had been persistent. That's what fate is all about.>

- Then Lacey gets a vision of an odd blue haired man and women whose eyes change colour. The man is named Aegir (same as the dragon on the border, the 'transcendent'). The conversation is a lot to parse but its implied they knew all along who Lacey was and they are working towards some 'balance of the world' and that they've been subtly guiding things
- Lacey wakes up but then (unknown to Lacey) its shown who these two people are.
- They are both located in the Grandan Empire in the North-West. The woman is revealed to be 'The Witch of the West' and Aegir implies she guided Lacey's consciousness to show her those things as some kind of intervention
- Then they have this exchange:

"In the first place, he is, and she is an anomalous element. So the world won't say anything about this much meddling.”
"That's true. Each and every one of them is an 'unusual' that should have been excluded."”

Aegir smiled with a cool face that didn't feel any warmth.

"One should have died. The other, of course, was not born. Originally, their existence is a violation of the rules."
"Don't tell me you said that in front of the person concerned.?”
"I just told him the truth."

Oh, she's got her hair wrapped around her head. This is why Irinna's crown prince no longer received any contact or advice from them.

- Which implies that there is something anomalous about Lacey and Halid and that Aegir and the Witch were once in communication with Halid - What exactly does Halid know??? What do they mean they shouldn't exist??? I have a million questions
- Lacey wakes up at the castle - its morning and she finds Halid and Marcera in the garden. Marcera whispers something to Halid and then leaves and Lacey gets a dangerous vibe off her.
- Then Lacey tells Halid they need to terminate the contract (end of chapter)

Spoiler: Parts 1-4 of Chapter 08

This chapter is pure DRAMA and heartbreak... (I recommend reading it instead of the summary)
- Halid has a brief flashback? memory? that leads into the current moment.
- Through his POV we learn he knew about their likely fate but never wanted it to come to fruition
- Lacey asks him to end the contract so she can have her promised freedom. Halid asks if it was ever truly just a contract and whether it was much more than that for her as well. Halid has his back to her and cannot bear to look at her and see that she has a cold expression.
- He is expecting a cold response but instead Lacey starts crying and asks if he brought her here as a sacrifice to save Irinna and heaped affection on her so she'd love him. Halid tells her he never intended her to be a sacrifice but just wanted her love and hoped she wouldn't understand her own power for as long as possible.
- From his POV we know that he knew if her purification power had been discovered she would have been forced into sacrificing herself by the temple
- Lacey is angry because he knew the whole time and she has now been forced into playing another role she doesn't want when all she wanted was to be free from having to always act as someone else. She knows she can't truly be free living as 'Nerys'
- Halid holds her wrist. He is angry at her for being reckless. He tells her he knows she engineered the confrontation with the mutant and that the most important thing to him is her being safe. Lacey puts on a professional mask and tries to push Halid away calling him a 'client'
- Halid starts using his mana and tells her that their contract doesn't mean she should put herself in danger and tells her that he doesn't care how much she acts, lies or cheats as long as she isn't reckless. He's angry at her for putting herself in danger by confronting the mutant and the curse. He then lets her go.
- They separate - an emotional distance between them. He tells her that he doesn't know what he'll do if she runs away, but as she walks away Lacey thinks about the preparations she has in place for her exit

- In the aftermath Halid is talking with Zephy. When Zephy asks why he didn't just tell her from the start Halid tells him that he is sure that if he did she would have run away and that the contract was the only thing that kept her there. Zephy does not understand this human train of logic.
- Halid then says that now everyone will know that Lacey can purify the curse since the artifacts will have resonated and that it will be easy to identify Surev as the epicenter and Lacey as the new savior. He knows everyone will converge on Surev.
- Halid realizes that someone must've spoken to Lacey at the wedding and that person was likely Metis whose mother (Rametis) died (somehow in relation to him), which is why Metis despises him. (It took me a bit to realize that Metis's mother was Rametis (doh) and that she holds Halid accountable for Rametis's death somehow).
- Halid goes back to the palace trying to avoid Lacey on the way back and finds Marcera waiting for him. Marcera knows there are cracks in their relationship and that Halid is upset. Halid rebuffs her violently with magic but she persists saying that Lacey is just a replacement for Ashera and that she knows they are in it for mutual gain, that they have no future together. He can't be too violent because she's a guest. Knowing this Marcera gets close and wraps herself around him, trying to tempt him, Lacey sees this moment through the door and then leaves.

- Surev castle is buzzing with the news of the savior and warriors and important people are arriving from all over the country
- Everyone in the castle saw Halid bringing an unconscious and wet Lacey into the castle after the mutant was purified and assumes that it was her

Holy shit That's a lot to process... @Serphinalily you might be onto some thing with your theory
The next chapter is named 'End of Contract'
Damn these next few parts are so sad . We finally get a confrontation about (most of) what Halid was keeping from Lacey (and why) and the truth about her purification magic.
Well things are certainly going down now...

 

Volume 5 Chapter 08 - Part 5-10

Spoiler

- Nefer arrives at Surev in response to the signal/miracle/glowing jewels that Lacey set off when she purified the mutant
- She flirts with Simon and she nearly confesses before Simon steers the convo away.
- Through Simon and Halid, Nefer hears that Halid is planning to go to war against the curse and is incredulous
- Halid also tries to steer Nefer and other leaders away from the idea that Nerys is the savior and instead attributes it to the mysterious 'Priest of Rain' who is currently missing. He also lightly implies that Nerys is absent because she is pregnant to explain why she hasn't been seen recently
- Nefer's bullshit detector goes off because she is convinced Nerys has purification magic and also strongly suspects she is also the 'Priest of Rain'
- In response to her disbelief, Halid and Simon lock Nefer in her room, but Simon sends her a note saying he'll come to her and properly explain later, then Lacey's teru shows up in Nefer's room and asks for her help

- Halid and Simon are in the dungeon interrogating a woman, Marcera.
- She isn't cracking under their interrogation and Halid surmises this is because she is under the influence of 'parasitic' mind manipulation magic and that the person controlling her only periodically takes control of her body
- Turns out he sensed the same thing on her as he did on Shrad's maid and was monitoring Marcera to confirm his hypothesis, which she did when she confronted him after his fight with Lacey
- Halid alludes to some past event where he was the sole survivor of ?something?

- Halid goes to Lacey's room to try and speak with her but Lacey still has her walls up.

LOL. As tense as everything is I am not mad in the least to get some quality time with the Nefer x Simon side-couple.

Another plot-point you called @Serphinalily !

 

Aahhhhhhhh
Volume 5 Chapter 08 - Part 11-16

Spoiler: Spoiler Summary

The angst
- Halid asks Lacey to stay with him and asks why she wants to leave. He asks her if he hasn't given her enough, and that all he wants is for her to be happy, she stays silent and won't look at him or respond.
- She eventually tells him that all she wants is her promised freedom and that she can't be happy without it.
- She doesn't tell him any of this but - Truthfully, she loves him, and Surev and all of it, but she feels like an imposter, as if everything belongs to 'Nerys', the perfect wife she acts as, not herself. She feels she can never be herself living as Nerys. Her mind is made up.
- Halid is terrified she'll leave him and knows he isn't getting through to her, he says he'll protect her from the politicians and priests that are coming who will want to identify the savior
- Lacey thinks about how the castle is surrounded by military forces and how Zephy will be able track her through Nell and will make it difficult to escape
- Nell speaks to Lacey covertly and tells her that Nefer has made her decision to Lacey's proposal
- Deep down she wants to stay, but Lacey knows that if she stays with Halid both of them will inevitably be sucked into a grand cosmic fate that she has no desire to be a part of.
- Lacey falls asleep with Halid holding her
- 5 days later she disappears

- We catch up with Lanahan and Sanahan who are aware of all the strange things going on between Lacey and Halid, envoys from all over the country are showing up and Marcera mysteriously disappeared a few nights back
- Sanahan witnessed Lacey's miracle and thinks she is the savior
- Sanahan and Lanahan find Halid furious in Lacey's room, emitting so much mana it is hard to be around him, instead of Lacey being there Nell is in her place
- Halid demands they bring Nefer to him and asks Nell where Lacey went. Sanahan realizes that Lacey abandoned her teru, Nell, and fled without her

- Flashback to 5 days ago when Nefer was still locked up and Lacey contacted Nefer through Nell.
- Nell tells Nefer that Halid is monitoring Lacey and preventing her from leaving
- Nell explains that Zephyros can track Nell's location and vice versa, therefore Halid will be able to find Lacey if she takes Nell and explains Lacey wants to borrow Nefer's teru, which is a swift black horse
- Nell says that Halid is trying to protect Lacey from having to martyr herself and that Lacey knows that leaving is the best way to avoid that fate and that she needs Nefer's help to escape
- Nefer thinks about it and agrees on the conditions that
1. Lacey will make sure she stays stays safe
2. She guarantees Nefer's own safety for helping her
3. That she comes back
- Lacey agrees through Nell and Nefer lends her teru for Lacey's escape

- Nefer is in front of a furious Halid whose mana is out of control and he is demanding answers
- Nefer is protected by the amethyst ring Lacey gave her, which was given to Lacey/Nerys by the Empress and represents her authority
- Nefer tells Halid that if Nerys stayed she would be expected to stand by Halid and both of them would be expected to sacrifice themselves. She tells Halid she wants them both to live. She tells Halid not to look for her.

- Halid is reeling from her leaving him and is in shock
- Nell tells him Lacey left a message for him, that he won't have to pay her since she broke the contract early and that he shouldn't wait for her
- Halid is shocked she left Nell behind since teru cannot easily be separated from their masters and is surprised that she borrowed another person's teru to escape
- He realises she used an advanced mana technique to split her mana and maintain a connection to Nell from a distance so that Nell can't be used to track her location
- Halid desperately wants to look for her but Nefer warning to not look for her haunts him
- Halid is told that the Empress and Princes from all the other provinces have arrived for the grand battle against the curse they are expecting
- He decides that instead of tracking her down he is going to protect Irinna, and by extension protect her and goes to confront them
- As he greets them he is reminded of when he was a child and called a monster and Rametis stood up for him, saying there must be a purpose to him being alive with such monstrous power
- Halid proposes an all-out war in order to reach the epicenter of the curse
- When the priests and princes demand to know who the savior is he lies and says that it must be the unidentified Priest of the Rain and strongly implies that Nerys is resting and unable to join him because she's pregnant
- Halid reflects that Rametis gave him a reason to live as a child and sacrificed her last bit of mana for him by using some forbidden magic thing and that no one can really know what she did for him (MTL weird on this part) (it is also confirmed that this is why Metis hates him)
- Halid reflects that he needs to pay her back for saving his life and giving him that purpose and resolves he will do everything to save the world Lacey lives in, as long she doesn't have to be sacrificed