[The bluntness of the statement might have been effective in another place and time; there was a period when they weren't completely at odds, Benedict and Alexandrie, but times have changed and so have they. His desperation to be liked, to be redeemed, has been wrestled into submission, kept in a controlled burn to be expressed out of sight or mind of anyone who matters.]

Consider that it's none of your business, [he says with a careless, tired levity,] and never has been.