Sultan Mehmed races toward campaign season as palace politics flare: his resource push reshapes power, unity rises among beys and dervishes, but Gülşah Hatun and Bahar Hatun’s manoeuvres intensify the fragile rivalry between Mustafa and Bayezid. Vlad returns to Wallachia with brutal ambition, Bahadır Pasha’s rescue mission takes an unexpected turn, and alarming news from Radu reveals just how close the danger now looms.