Even a master-class mastermind like Augustus Alexander is, at the end of the day, human and not a cabbage or something. (Humans make mistakes, and are allowed to. Cabbages must be perfect or they are discarded.)
I think Gus sees what Madeleine, Bridget, and Masahiro do not: that they have awakened a sleeping dragon and filled her with a terrible resolve.
Where she goes from here... well, I suppose that remains to be seen, no?
I think I can guess what you are referring to... But beyond that, the "Bettina & dragon" connection is sort of interesting for me because of another (far) future story idea...
Without knowing what his goal is I can't guess exactly how badly Augustus erred, or how. It did strike me as more reckless than careful to start picking fights between different people unless that directly accomplishes the goal though, if for no other reason than the damage to his reputation and trustworthiness among those who know what he did.
On the other hand, one of the three main targets was dead before the scheme ended, and a second committed suicide by civil war not much longer after that, so perhaps one survivor with a grudge qualifies under acceptable losses?
There is a precedence for Gus screwing up in a big way though. I mean, one of his "3-dimensional chess games" ended with an even worse outcome for himself...
Next page is the last story page.