"Oh," Alfred said, caught off guard by this interruption. He might have thought it disrupted the momentum he was trying to build, but that would have required him to have been building momentum in the first place, which was difficult when he still didn't know what he was trying to say. If he'd been headed anywhere in a hurry, it was into another big pile of misunderstandings and hurt feelings. So maybe it was good, that she'd interrupted him.

"Yeah, sure," he said, glancing down at his own (mostly full) champagne glass and wondering if he should finish it off. He wasn't sure if she was drinking quickly or if he was drinking slowly, but it would have looked better if they'd finished their glasses at the same time — which, clearly, they hadn't, and Alfred didn't even really know how long her glass had been empty. Perhaps a more conscientious suitor would have noticed and already offered to get her a replacement. Perhaps Roslyn was already judging him for ignoring it.

Well, if Roslyn was already judging him for that, she would probably judge him even more for downing a whole glass of champagne in one go. He decided not to, but went off to fetch Zelda another glass all the same.

"So, uhm —" he started again, as he returned with a fresh glass. He had entirely lost track of what he'd been trying to say, before — but, again, maybe that was for the best, because it hadn't been going well. If he took a step back and thought about this again, what was he actually trying to say? How could he get the point across to Zelda when he couldn't really tell her any of the particulars?

"You know I'd never do anything to hurt you, right?" he said, looking up at her while he kept fidgeting with the stem of his champagne flute instead of drinking it. "And if I thought there was a chance something might happen that would — I'd never — I mean, I'd get rid of it right away. Whatever it was. No matter how important I thought it was. Because you're more important."