Mm, it must be. She does not exactly look to be from a respectable home, either. I could smell the sulphur. It could be some kind of gil-digging strategy. Nevermimd her fixation with chests. She only comes up to here 「 gestures to his collar bone 」, probably feasting her eyes.

Mhmm—and so I am labeled a 'red flag' for knowing too much. People attempt to shame 𝘮𝘦 for being too well-informed, Angie. People have forgotten how to be curious.

The house is still in the 𝘴𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘴, Rufus. If she were smart and industrious enough to pull herself up by her bootstraps, she could have a full and decent life topside. The fact she prefers to argue and waste daylight instead of working? She is getting what she deserves.

「 Ooh——that's new information to him. He's slightly taken aback! He might be doing some critical thinking, even! 」 Ah. Would that have any relation to her knowledge of and distaste for the parasitic head of R&D?

Mm, no I cannot blame her at all. 「 A cautious bit of hesitation. 」 I am...too familiar with what he has done to his own child, let alone someone else's, let alone a girl. It is no wonder you tolerate her. Do you feel guilty, somehow?

That is a good way to sit with it. You have inherited a great number of cruelties, no? It was your blood, yes, but not your hands. I would not hold his sins too close to your chest. You could have only done so much; you can do far more now.

Good. I have told you this before, but if it is any reassurance, you are a better man than him. Not that the bar is very high, mind you.

He does not even turn at first, holding a finger up and out to the side as though to order pause. After a brief moment, he looks over his shoulder, a little too amused, "You know how to zipper merge. Do not look at me with that face."

After the tiniest delay, he DOES look up at her, quickly looking for key identifiers and finding...nothing. "Did you stop by reception for a visitor's pass? Do you which floor you are bringing that to?" They are questions rather than simple, polite acquiesce, but not hostile.