[ It does sound odd, which gets Ciel's brow to knit together as he levels him an even, half-suspicious look. That's the sort of sentiment that Ciel expresses, so to hear it from Oz, he almost wants to focus on that more. It catches his attention out of paranoia, because no matter how long they're friends, there's still a part of Ciel that expects Oz to reveal one day that it was all a farce.

He pushes that notion away, though. Even if that were true, it's not the topic of their conversation now, so his gaze averts this his hands instead, and he lapses into a silence.

It's difficult for him to express, because what he wants to say is tangled up in so many emotions and traumas that they all get jumbled together. He doesn't want to speak to those, but it's hard to step around them. It takes him several, long moments, but what he ultimately says is simple. ]

She shouldn't know someone like me.

[ He says it coldly and resolutely, and though he doesn't elaborate on why that is, it's not hard to guess. It's the other side of the evil nobleman that Ciel presents himself as. Anyone that gets too close is likely to be destroyed, since that was his family's curse. Even though he doesn't have his status here or his demon, that feeling it something Ciel still feels as a deeply rooted truth. He would do anything to keep moving forward, and that didn't change here, after all.

It's a deep insecurity, and something very telling about how Ciel views himself, but that moment passes as he looks to his mug of tea instead. ]

If she doesn't remember, then I don't want her to. Not even a fraction of it under different circumstances.