Besides, if he were within his former reality, the person walking beside him now wouldn't even exist.
It wasn't that she was a romantic partner, or anything like that, but she was... a friend. Friendship was, as odd as it may have sounded, not really something he was permitted to have in his past life. Servants, underlings, allies,
yes, but not really
friends. He didn't even have much of a family, given that his family were his superiors, for the time being.