... huh. It actually hadn't occurred to him that he was the misstep. "I wasn't distressed," he says, numbly.

Should he try to explain? To brush against a little of his thinking? Would it serve a purpose, when the only effect of it all appears to have been to spawn this damned Palace? He thinks not. "I suppose I—misstepped too. With you," he clarifies. It's an apology, of sorts.