Grandmother's return frames a tense family meal: Valerie says she wants to go to the chapel with Grandmother, and relatives accuse her of scheming to abandon palace life and to drive Holly away. Parents and other family members berate her; Valerie briefly apologizes—"it's all my fault"—to calm Mother. At dinner a relative sneers the offered meat is "payment for your body," so Valerie refuses and flips her bowl. The family orders, "Pick up the meat and eat it!" Valerie's defiance holds, leaving whether she'll submit or be forced out unresolved.