[ Oh, he knows that tone about as well as he knows the (reluctant) smile: she wants to ask, but probably feels too self-conscious to. Does this even qualify as gossip, he wonders?

Well. At least this much is brand new information he knows for sure he can tell her without risking drastically altering the course of their history-- and it doubles as another harmless little indulgence, so: ]

Yeah, and I feel like you're gonna give me a weird look for it-- [ Because it is weird, both the revelation on its own and the fact that Shez has made friends with a former enemy -- one that he killed, no less, although this much hasn't come to pass from Edelgard's perspective. ] --but it's actually none other than the Ashen Demon. Crazy stuff, huh?