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So, under Vissegard's skeptical gaze—which he could easily guess was already running through countless scenarios in his mind, assessing whether his intelligence might become a threat to Cintra—Gustave hoped the Marshal wouldn't immediately realize just how adult his mind already was.
Though he accepted some degree of suspicion and would always deny being an adult trapped in a toddler's body, having Vissegard reach conclusions this early would be far too inconvenient for him. There is a huge difference between working with someone out of familial affection and working in a purely professional environment.
When someone admires him as a prodigy toddler, the bond formed lasts a very long time, because at the end of the day, they know he is still just a toddler, no matter how smart he becomes.
But in a purely professional context, knowing he was an adult would only inspire detached interest, which could lead to complications and even hostility later on. Because of this, he sometimes needed to act like a default cute toddler to halt—or even remove—suspicion that he possessed an adult soul.
For that reason, if the suspicion stemmed from fear—seeing him as abnormal, with intelligence growing by the second—he would accept it with open arms, because being feared for his freakishness and abnormality was far more acceptable.
But if that suspicion arose from the knowledge that he was an adult trapped in a toddler's body, it would not turn into fear but into disgust or repulsion, which would be far worse—something he did not want to happen.
Under Matta Hu'uri's sensual excitement—her thoughts racing through countless ways this soap could enhance her beauty, perhaps even using him as a research mule to create another product and launch her own business—Gustave shook his head, knowing he would never work with people like her.
For working with someone like her was akin to inviting a venomous snake into his enterprise empire—prone to selfishness that could hinder its rapid advancement. If she had even a fraction of Yennefer's trustworthiness—selfish, perhaps, but dependable in serious matters—Gustave would have welcomed her cooperation.
But considering that, in the Gwent card, she is essentially Carthia van Canten, and that it is far too exhausting to constantly engage in a battle of wits with someone untrustworthy—unless they were an enemy—he knew he would need to curb her excitement later.
So, apart from selling her soap at a friend's discount, he would never, ever compromise.
Under Haxo's gaze, filled with intellectual curiosity, Gustave assumed the man was contemplating the development of Cintra—perhaps even considering overworking him to accelerate its progress—much like Matta Hu'uri might have.
But unlike with Matta Hu'uri, whose untrustworthiness repulsed him, he accepted this willingly, ready to become their "research mule." After all, just like with Matta Hu'uri, he was the one who wanted to be a subtle, venomous snake.
A snake that would quietly influence the kingdom, turning it into a meatshield so that Cintra could become a Tank, capable of bearing the malice of the world—or even the multiverse.
And under Ciri's gaze, which constantly made him question why he had ever gotten close to her if he had to endure the torment of an annoyingly clingy little sister, Gustave found himself strangely unable to find an answer, for the warmth of her presence was enough to counterbalance the burden of this anger-inducing little pest.
Having finished creating the prototype of the magical beautifying soap with the help of his maids—who had just arrived once more—he immediately began work on his absolute defense gloves: mittens designed to protect the Regis ring, without a moment's pause.
"Come on…! Let's play together…! I've had enough of playing with Anséis and Villem…! I don't want to play with them anymore…! Hick, hick…! Before Uncle Ermion takes us to a hidden place…! Come on…!"
"I am sorry, Princess Ciri. Gustave wants to prepare and create mittens capable of withstanding the heat of lethal potions—like the lava‑hot temperature of a Witcher's Swallow potion. I realized that if Gustave doesn't protect his fingers while doing alchemy, I'll grow up with Rock Troll fingers."
"Waaaah!!! Gustave is no fun!!! In that case, hiyaaah!!! Bonk—ouch ouch ouch! My legs!"
Smirking at the sight of the little girl kicking the large alchemy brazier, Gustave quickly wiped the expression off his face and asked with concern, "Princess Ciri, are you okay? The brazier is made of metal and was just turned off. It's hard and still hot. You shouldn't have kicked it."
"Hmph! I don't care! Look, my leg is fine—no injury! Oh! Why didn't I think of this earlier? I have this! Hiyaaah!"
Fhwoom!
Like an Aard blast, the alchemy station was flung forward, bouncing across the floor and completely destroying the second experimental prototype of the soap. Gustave's eyelids couldn't help but twitch.
Inhaling and exhaling, he found her head a very, very tantalizing target to be smacked—but instead, he sulked and acted like a toddler, reminding himself that in just two more years he would be able to verbally annihilate this girl into oblivion. He only needed to endure. By then, he would have enough of an alibi to act exactly as he pleased.
"Princess Ciri, you shouldn't do that. Did you know someone worked very hard to create that alchemy station? A-and not only that, the s-soap extract Gustave made is n-now destroyed. I-I can't make it anymore…"
But it seemed his sad, crying method—meant to induce empathy in the little girl—was not working. He had forgotten she was called the little she‑devil for a reason. His blood rose, and her head became an even more tantalizing target to smack with every passing minute.
"Mhuahahahaha! Then does that mean we can play?! Come on, let's go to the garden before Uncle Ermion finds us! I don't care about the hidden place!"
Dragged by Ciri to the garden to play before Vissegard and Haxo realized what was happening, Gustave hurriedly handed the design to his maids so they could make crude stuffed mittens out of hard material to protect his fingers—before allowing the girl to drag him out to play.
They ran and played like last night, but this time, when the Castellan and the Marshal of Cintra caught up to them, Gustave couldn't help but sigh, the corner of his mouth curling up slightly. Knowing the two middle-aged adults would easily overtake them because of his tiny legs, he was suddenly blinked a couple of meters ahead by Ciri.
"Mhuahahaha! You will not be able to catch us, Uncle Vissegerd and Uncle Haxo!"
Seeing through his [Knowledge] ability the frustrated look on Vissegerd's and Haxo's faces—now a thousand times harder for them to catch the little devil—Gustave couldn't help but snicker alongside Ciri, knowing clearly this little girl would only become more of a menace as time went on.
But his snicker slowly vanished, replaced by a cold, hard look as he caught sight—through the corner of his [Knowledge] ability—of Vilgefortz's minion chanting a spell in Elder Speech.
Seeing Rience with one finger raised, lightning crackling in his right hand—clearly meant to stun Ciri—while molten lava gathered in his left—meant to obliterate him—Gustave shouted, "Big sister Ciri—duck!"
Crackle! BOOM!
Fwosh. Sizzle, sizzle.
Tumbling to the ground, having barely managed to dodge the spell, he caught sight—through the corner of his [Knowledge] ability—of Rience sprinting toward them. Seeing that Rience was still adamant about kidnapping Ciri in this mostly empty garden—and killing him to silence the eyewitness—Gustave locked eyes with Ciri and shouted, "Big sister, teleport us out of here!"
"O-okay."
Fhowm!
Falling to the ground and hearing surprised shouts and the drawing of swords from multiple angles, Gustave couldn't help but cough violently from the disorienting travel through the wormhole before finally managing to take in his surroundings.
After coming out of his disorientation and looking around, he was stunned to see Vesemir standing on the stairs. He then looked around further and became even more astonished to find many living Witchers of the Wolf School—plus Coën—present in the training ground. Vesemir, Geralt, Eskel, Lambert, Adon—minus Berengar—everyone was here.
Knowing that their senses were sharp, he immediately once again imitated the irregular heartbeat of a frightened toddler while mixing it with the calm, sharp mind of an adult using both of his abilities. The current scene before him—being stared down by many Witchers with drawn swords—forced him to do so.
"Sheathe your swords, wolves. They are just children."
"Tsk, yeah, they're children. But they are children with a large amount of Power, old man."
Seeing Lambert eventually sheathe his sword following Vesemir's instruction, even while his eyes remained locked on them with hostility, Gustave didn't deactivate his [Recall] ability but simply moved closer to Ciri, the latter hugging him tightly out of fear as so many cat-like eyes bore down on them.
So with the peculiar scene of six Witchers locking eyes on the two frightened children, each with a gait ready to pounce if the need arose, Gustave heard Ciri begin sobbing into his shoulder.
And knowing that she currently had no information about Geralt or Witchers—because her maids had not yet blurted out her birth origin, considering that Geralt had not yet arrived in Cintra this Belleteyn—he understood why Ciri, instead of being excited to see Witchers, was terrified.
Even the protagonist's father himself was unaware that the girl in front of him was Ciri, the Child of Surprise, judging from the question he asked with total, gruff normality.
"So what now? What do we do with them?"
"We wait for whoever is looking for them to come. They might be children from Aretuza or Ban Ard who accidentally teleported here."
So, just as Vesemir said, Gustave waited for the Ofir Rune Mage and his cryptographer relatives to come looking for them, not wanting to gamble with Ciri's teleportation ability when her mind was currently overwhelmed with fear.
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References may break immersion. Just go ahead to the next chapter.
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References
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Later, I will search for a reference. But basically, Witcher potions are extremely lethal—so dangerous that even holding them is very dangerous for ordinary people. That's why Gustave uses the alibi of creating mittens for his absolute defense gloves.
As for Rience being in Cintra, it fits because in the books Codringher states that Rience was a prisoner in Cintra's dungeon under Calanthe's rule before being released by Vilgefortz.
And there are two canonical events of Geralt meeting Ciri: one in Brokilon, and the other when Geralt goes to Cintra—exactly on Ciri's sixth birthday in the Elven calendar. The encounter I'm writing is simply an added event, taking place before Geralt arrives in Cintra for his and Ciri's first canonical official meeting.
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