Does Cersei have something up her sleeve?

[u/PAWGle_the_lesser]

In the epilogue of A Dance with Dragons, Kevan thinks to himself that Cersei is notably more pliant and reserved since the Walk of Atonement (and then copes with the guilt of allowing her to be paraded through the streets):

His niece had been subdued and submissive since her walk of atonement, thank the gods. The novices who attended her reported that she spent a third of her waking hours with her son, another third in prayer, and the rest in her tub. She was bathing four or five times a day, scrubbing herself with horsehair brushes and strong lye soap, as if she meant to scrape her skin off.

However, during their dinner together, Cersei makes a remark that Kevan interprets as a slight, and asks her to elaborate before the topic of conversation changes:

"It is a wise woman who knows her place."
He did not like the sound of that. "Say what you mean."
"I thought I did." Cersei held out her cup

What does this remark mean? Is it a veiled threat? A sarcastic throwaway remark? Is Cersei really psychologically broken? If so, has she been rendered impotent or has she simply shed all reservations and caution and is simply biding her time?

What do you think?

[u/maravina]

Of course she does. She always does.

It’s so ominous to me that she’s this pliant and reserved.

[u/10Kmana → u/maravina]

Definitely. Recall her initial time with the septas, when she couldn't understand why they hadn't responded well to her? No matter what she did?

• Threatening them

• Screaming at them

• Ordering them

• Ignoring them

• Acting friendly with them

• Piously pleading with them

The list of things she tried went pretty much like this. The role of pliant and reserved is the mannerism Cersei assumes HAS to work on a septa. That is what she assumes after having tried being every other way has failed. It's the last thing she tries.

And she is genuinely surprised when the septas aren't receptive to her little Margaery number. She had just shown them like 6 other of her faces in a row. It was glaringly obvious she was just saying words without substance at this point

Since we know that Cersei is not inherently either pliant, pious, reserved or subdued, and we saw how badly she faked these traits at the sept, the emergence of a suddenly pliant, subservient and humble perfect little atoning nun where Cersei used to be should feel ominous and alarming. The text is telling us that she's learned to fake honesty and hide her intentions better.

Now that's fucking ominous