Arven raised his brow — she'd been deceived? Did she mean by him? With no pretence that he was looking at the exhibits instead of her, Arven gazed down at her inquisitively, but clarification did not come. But as she spoke further, he came to realise that Miss Backus was not accusing him of deceiving her, but somebody else. He did not know who, but... he could make assumptions based on what she'd told him about her family.

"There is no need for apologies, Miss Backus. On the contrary, it was your openness, your willingness to emote, that made you so admirable and memorable. Of course I'd like us to be friends". He took her hand to shake — and given that he'd found himself illicitly alone with an appealing lady who'd he'd somewhat "corrupted" with his ideas, it was his wild instinct to kiss her hand — but he resisted. For he did not want to encourage certain feelings in a young girl who, in his opinion, needed space to find her own path.

"You are always welcome to write to me, should you wish to offload otherwise constrained thoughts. If there exists a way to slip letters past your handlers", he added darkly.