[he makes no move to duck out from under her hands, and stans quite still, although his posture does relax at her comforting gesture.]
[his first impulse is to say "no, you weren't", but he catches himself and just nods instead.]
Y-yes. I... I was taken quite off-guard. It is only that... ah, that I might ever be tasked with the rehabilitation of an individual such as this... I had never imagined it.
I have worked so very hard to put tyranny behind me, you see.