Yeah, there's really no feasible way to swing 'here's some objectively terrible stuff that happened in my world' without it being taken as objectively terrible. It's a big part of the reason he kept it under a tight lock for so long, and he does want to keep the bits that he does let out as easy to swallow as possible. Whether that's something he can really succeed in doing or not is... unclear. We will see.

Right now, though, that extra bit of warmth from her smile is enough to help cleanse some of his worry that this whole incident may have somehow damaged their relationship.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to not worry," because there is some stuff that's buried pretty deep that would require a ridiculously high friendship stat to unearth - he wouldn't want anything particularly unsavory or gruesome getting to her by complete divine mistake. "But... we're friends." Definitely friends, so he should trust what she's saying. "That definitely makes it a lot less intimidating to think about."