Sets, Relations and Functions: JEE Main 2025 Mathematics question

Let $A = \{1, 2, 3, \ldots, 10\}$ and $R$ be a relation on $A$ such that $R = \{(a, b) : a = 2b + 1\}$. Let $(a_1, a_2), (a_2, a_3), (a_3, a_4), \ldots, (a_k, a_{k+1})$ be a sequence of $k$ elements of $R$ such that the second entry of an ordered pair is equal to the first entry of the next ordered pair. Then the largest integer $k$, for which such a sequence exists, is equal to: