The discussion resumed the next day, lest it be delayed further if left unfinished.
Ett rested her cheek lightly against her knuckles, gaze lowered toward the spread of papers, though she was not reading them. Not yet. Her mind was still threading through yesterday's conversation, picking at the edges, testing what held and what didn't.
While her brain is in work mode, she'd better take advantage of it.
"Commander," she said, "yesterday…you asked how to determine how to choose a mstovaris."
Gammarad nodded, "Yes, Your Grace."
"And you've answered, physical skill."
"Yes."
"That is not wrong," she said. "Just incomplete."
Her fingers tapped once against the parchment.
"Strength produces obedient knights. Useful ones, even. But obedience is a liability when a person is alone."
She lifted her gaze, then met his.
"A mstovaris will often be alone." Well, based on movies. "They cannot rely on structure alone."
Did she say that right? Or wrong? "If they hesitate, due to unforeseen circumstances, they die."
"Gammarad nodded. "Then..what should we look for, Your Grace?"
Ett leaned back slightly, folding her hands together.
This was the part people liked to simplify.
Pick the strongest. The smartest. The most loyal.
It sounded clean.
But it's not that it's always right.
"Not all orphans are suitable," she said.
Gammarad's brow furrowed faintly.
"You suggested the bullied, the unwanted," he said carefully.
"I did," Ett replied. "But not only them."
Her lips curved just slightly, not quite a smile.
"Being overlooked teaches survival. But it can also teach resentment. Or fear, or dependence."
She tilted her head.
"A child who only learns to endure may grow into an adult who only waits."
And waiting was death in this line of work.
"So we choose carefully," she continued. "There are…types."
Gammarad listened, quite fixated.
"The first," Ett said, "are the watchers."
"Watchers."
"Children who observe more than they speak," Ett clarified. "Not because they are timid. Because they are thinking."
Her gaze drifted briefly, as if recalling something distant.
"They notice patterns. Who eats first? Who lies. Who is afraid? They remember small things without being told to."
She looked back at him.
"Those children do not need to be taught awareness. Only how to use it."
Gammarad nodded slowly.
"Yes, I have seen such children."
"Of course you have," Ett said lightly. "You just did not consider them useful."
A small pause, then—"The second are the adaptable."
"The ones who change depending on who they are with. Loud among some, quiet among others. Respectful here, careless there."
Like…Lativ. Yet, Gammarad does not want to say it lest Her Grace look at her in the eyes with a dead expression.
"They are often called…insincere."
Well… the boy… alright, maybe Lativ is different.
"Commander, do you have any thoughts?"
Gammarad shook his head waving the amusement sight out of his head, "Please continue."
"Those are the ones who survive anywhere," she said.
Because they already understood something most people didn't. Gammarad knows that.
"And the third, Your Grace?"
Ett's fingers stilled.
"The ones who have already lost something."
Her voice did not soften, but it lowered.
"Not just parents, something…internal. Inside."
She tapped her chest lightly.
"Trust. Attachment. Expectation."
A pause.
"They are the easiest to shape."
That, finally, made Gammarad hesitate.
Just slightly.
Ett noticed this.
It's what she wants to see.
Gammarad may be big and bulky, curt in words, but like Butler Xiwen, no, maybe more soft than Butler Xiwen, especially for children. He has this sense of responsibility, no matter how much he controls his expression and words out of consideration for her and the bloody schemes they have, he is a soft bear inside.
The cliche that is never a miss.
Gammarad is just like that, known for liking to go to war directly, rather than what Akan or even Archeduke Froiz is doing.
"This is not kindness," she added. "Let us not pretend otherwise."
Her gaze held his.
"But this is not cruelty either."
That was the line she walked.
Not good.
Not evil. Well, a little bit.
Just...
Deliberate.
Yes, that's the word.
"If we do not take them," she continued, "someone else will. Or they will grow into something far less controlled. Or die."
Dying today when they can die tomorrow.
There is still a bit of difference.
Silence settled for a moment.
Gammarad inclined his head.
"I understand."
Did he?
Well, either way is sufficient.
Ett shifted slightly in her seat, as if her back was hurting.
Goodness, she's not old yet!
"Now," she said, "you asked about loyalty."
Gammarad straightened again. "Yes, Your Grace."
Ah.
This part.
People always wanted loyalty to be simple.
Earn it.
Demand it.
Inspire it.
Ett almost laughed
"Loyalty," Ett said slowly, "is not something you asked for."
"It is something you build…and something you trap."
Gammarad's expression sharpened.
Ett could already tell what's going through his mind.
Like, 'what do you mean?' for he inspires and takes good care of his knights. There is already an initiative to be loyal just because the knights are from this empire, but Gammarad helps them become more inclined.
"Gammarad, I give them three things," Ett continued. "Security. Recognition. Purpose."
She lifted one finger.
"Security, ah, that vocab didn't yet pop out in the dictionary."
Gammarad, "???"
"Let's say, assurance, recognition, and purpose. Much better."
"Assurance, they must know they will not starve. Not to be abandoned. Not to be discarded once they are no longer useful."
A second finger.
"Recognition. Not praise. That is low-class. Acknowledgment. They must know their action is seen."
A third.
"Purpose. Not vague ideas. Something concrete. Something they believe only they can fulfill."
Wow! She hasn't coughed yet. Good.
"Do that…and most will not leave."
If you don't use subtle brainwashing like old-school Adiand style.
"But that is only half."
Gammarad, who was silent, seems to be taking notes; she could hear him scribble quietly…fast.
"The other half," she said, "is consequence."
Not harsh.
Not loud.
But present.
"They must understand," Ett continued, "that betrayal is not worth it."
Her tone remained calm.
Almost conversational.
"Not because we threaten them constantly. That creates desperation."
Desperate people were unpredictable.
"Because leaving is more than staying."
Gammarad's voice lowered, "How?"
Gammarad felt his chest was being blocked by a strong force. Is this…how Adiand royals think? It's quite…they really are looking at their subject very differently.
Ett hummed.
"You let them build a life here," she said.
A pause.
"Then make sure that life cannot exist elsewhere."
"Well, as much as possible."
That is the simplest form.
Not chains.
Not fear.
Just—
Dependency.
"They will not stay because they are forced," she added. "They will stay because they choose to."
And that choice would always feel like their own.
"Then, Your Grace, does this mean if they wanted to visit their family, would this rule be broken?"
"That is for deliberation."
Ett uttered.
"The servants inside the palace have stricter rules. Letters could be done, yet for the safety of each person, that'll depend."
"I see."
Meaning, if on the knight's side, it's possible and more open to visits; however, that is something he'll have to work through for the sake of the secrecy of any information that is known only inside the royal's abode.
"I assume you have more ideas for this Commander."
Gammarad nodded, "Yes, Your Grace."
"Now, we also need those in the lights." That part, she had not forgotten.
The earlier discussion.
The gap.
"You mentioned disguise," Gammarad said.
"Yes."
Ett leaned forward slightly.
"Not all mstovaris should remain hidden. Some should be seen. Trusted and elevated."
"Would that risk being known?"
Sire Akan has this skill and is well known as His Majesty's advisor or the Empress Dowager. How could a newcomer attain such heights in just a short time?
"It would," Ett said simply.
"Then—"
"That is why we do not make them obvious."
"How would that be?"
Her fingers tapped the table again.
"A minor official. A clerk. A merchant. Someone with enough access to hear…but not enough importance to be watched."
She tilted her head.
"People tend to ignore what is always there, or seek it without thinking. That is the key. Not invincibility, but familiarity."
Not too prominent, yet never absent. High enough to look down, close enough to belong, and low enough to never be noticed as a threat.
"The shadows and the light must work together," she continued. "One gathers. One confirms. One moves. One remains."
Efficiency.
Even with fewer people.
"We put measure into what we lack." Ett is beginning to get tired after speaking, and even her mouth is nearing its cooldown.
Gammarad nodded.
"Yes..that would broaden our reach."
"Indeed."
Not perfect.
But functional.
Ett leaned back.
"For now, we do not need many."
"Then, how would it be, Your Grace?"
"Enough to try it." Hm, "maybe five."
Gammarad blinked, "Five?"
Ett's frowned.
"Do you think we can manage more?"
Gammarad hesitated for a bit.
"No."
"Exactly."
This was not an army.
This was a foundation. Besides, would those five truly become a mstovaris?
"Choose carefully. Observe them before approaching. I want to know."
"Yes, Your Grace."
Ett's gaze drifted briefly toward the window.
Black roses.
Still there.
Unchanging.
Rare.
Valuable.
Because they could not be replicated.
Her fingers tapped once more.
"And commander."
"Yes?"
"If they fail…we do not discard them."
Gammarad looked at her with a surprise expression before turning stone-cold again.
On the other hand, Ett's expression remained calm.
"We reassign them," she said softly. "Servants. Messengers. Lesser places."
She let the silence stretch.
"Why bury them beneath the imperial gardens, in hushed ceremonies… when the flowers are already in bloom?"
She had never walked those grounds, but she knew what lay beneath.
This time Ett coughed.
Hah, that's the limit of what she could say.
"Ehem. Besides, too much fear creates mistakes."
Look at how the story ended. If Ett dies, she doesn't want to die a brutal death.
Gammarad bowed his head, "Understood."
He lighered a moment.
Then, "I will plan immediately. Thank you, Your Grace, for your insights and time to discuss with me."
Ett nodded. No problemo, "Go."
"Yes."
When he left, the room fell quiet again.
She exhaled slowly, "….what a mess."
At her table, the ledgers gleamed with unspeakable light; well, it's her imagination.
Why?
Well…
Agriculture, military, intelligence, all of these proposals are incomplete.
And all of it…is fragile.
***
Guren, on the other hand, received the reports from yesterday.
There was a change.
Slightly.
Subtly.
But enough.
His fingers paused on a page.
Then turned it.
"That's quite ambitious," he murmured.
Yet it's fascinating at the same time.
Her mother could think of something that had never occurred to anyone before.
Why does it seem she's chasing time? She has never introduced tactics like this in many years.
Really odd.