Infiltration of Wyndham (2)

Wading through the flooded passage, Guts recalls his defining moments with Griffith and how the man's limitless ambition kept him from ever surrendering. The tunnel opens into a tomb buried deep beneath Wyndham, where two cloaked figures wait; Casca vouches for them as allies. When one recognizes Guts and lowers her hood, she proves to be Charlotte, accompanied by her trusted attendant Anna, revealing that the princess herself had been the band's informant.

The group presses on in search of Griffith, and Casca wonders aloud whether his torture has cooled his interest in Charlotte, catching herself in a flash of jealousy. She slips her hand into a startled Guts' grip, only to snatch it back when Charlotte turns to apologize for the ordeal her father ordered. Two sentries then stray in after hearing them, and as Guts and Judeau ready themselves, Charlotte steps between the party and the guards' torchlight, passing herself off as a princess out for a night walk while Anna buys their silence with a bribe.

The guards depart, and Charlotte, who has never lied so boldly, buckles from the strain and questions whether devotion to Griffith drove her. As they move on, Guts teasingly offers to hold Casca's hand; she shoves him off yet clutches his cape instead. The path leads to a towering, age-old structure called the Tower of Rebirth, said to predate Midland itself, with Griffith held in the dungeon at its base. When Casca prepares to send Charlotte away, Judeau quietly argues she would serve as a useful hostage, and Charlotte, overhearing, asks to come along of her own accord.