Mira needed that patch. Not for water physics. For the other bug. The one the official changelog never mentioned.
Below it, a prompt: delete_echo /permanent
Mira typed: list_echoes
She understood then. The patch wasn't a fix. It was a sacrifice. Every previous version of the Prince—every protagonist from every timeline, every alternate save, every forgotten playthrough—had been deleted to keep the water rendering smooth. And Samir, somehow, had wandered into the game's memory. He became an echo. A forgotten prince.