Elara's gaze remained level. She did not raise her voice. She did not look away. The same clinical calm she brought to every calculation settled over her features.
"You asked for the difference," she said. "The difference is this: your base minds can say no, but they don't. They stay. They choose the structure even after they are told they may leave. That is not the same as the previous reign, where refusal was answered with disposal."
She paused only long enough to let the words settle.
"And also—fine. I agree to release them. All of them. Full legal status, no remaining chains, no private obligations to this wing or to me. But would you take guarantee for everything that happens after that decision? If they kill someone. If they riot. If the old hierarchies outside these walls decide they are still property and hunt them. If the empire loses the only trained units that have kept the northern border stable for a decade. Would you take the charge for those outcomes?"
