[There was so much to react to in that single message. The reminder of her greatest mistake in all her time here--she half expected him to reprimand her for that. Except...oh, yeah, she'd forgotten she'd gotten mad at him for the crack about ages then, too. Good. The more he was worried about not angering her, the less she had to worry about angering him.]

[It was a good system. It worked for her.]

...well, the "cruel" part is forever up for debate, considering some of the things she did threaten to pull.

Otherwise, you have a point. Or several points, I suppose.