Catherine expects Narcisse's crucial vote to become regent for Charles, especially after he demands she leaves her servant lover, Christophe, for him. However the privy council postpones the vote, until Cardinal Morel presents Francis's blackened liver as supposed proof Catherine had the late king poisoned while out of his favor. Narcisse successfully steps forward as regent, denying to have staged it all. Bash and Delphine expect the heart-ripping killer to attack Greer's brothel, but he attacks Delphine, who is spared when she temporarily absorbs the killer's murderous instinct, but can't identify him. Mary nearly won Don Carlos for an engagement after a weird role reversal game, but he's made to retract and announce he's leaving for good, blackmailed by English ambassador Gideon Blackburn, who threatens to disclose to bigot king Philip Don Carlos's unspecified "dark secret". Mary learns that Don Carlos is a masochist who craves being tied on a 'horse' and flogged. Catherine makes Mary swallow her reluctance for Scotland's sake and secretly helps stage a private flogging session. Alas, Don Carlos rips loose when he spots the 'intruder', falls and cracks his skull, but survives and wanders out bleeding, about to faint again.
—KGF Vissers