Chopin Ballade No. 1 questions and woes

New to Tonebase. Garrick Ohlsson's tutorial is awesome!

Today's problem is addressed to those familiar with Seymour Bernstein's and Mauricio Poli's and hopefully others' opinions of Chopin's markings.

                                                                                                                (source: Tonebase)

The accent in question is above the a♭/e♭ in the quaver (eighth note) in R.H. It's not on a crochet (quarter note) where I thought the melody would be. Paderewski (1949), my childhood edition, was also puzzled. But urtexts agree with Tonebase, it's supposed to be there. So what gives?

-->Is the a♭ eighth-note supposed to be voiced, making this measure even more crazy syncopated? (I haven't found a recording that does this.)

-->or is it an indication to play the a♭ and "ghost" the e♭  (the harmony notes that are not part of the broken octaves)? (a propos, Garrick Ohlsson mentions to try practicing just broken octaves.)

LMK what I should do, or if there is a third interpretation...

Apologies in advance, more non-urgent questions to come