"It's very well protected, yes. It's not bad, either. People can't attack you without finding you first." His voice is casual, as if he's talking about an everyday routine...and, well, for him, it might as well have been. "I assume you weren't nearly as fortunate, though. It sounds like you had a much harder life."

And then the other man continues, and he pauses.

"Do I, now?" He seems surprised, as much as Ekkehardt shows surprise (mildly, like most other things). "Well, I'll have to take your word for it."

(He pays attention to his image, what people are most likely to think of him, so it's not nearly as unexpected as he pretends it is. But it's still interesting to hear what people see in him; he has little interest in self-reflecting in that particular way.)