It wasn't that he was unhelpful, but he had the kind of vague, cheerful helpfulness that serious men soon… — Terry Pratchett

"You like it?" he said to Mort, in pretty much the same tone of voice people used when they said to St George, "You killed a what?"

Albert grunted. "Do you know what happens to lads who ask too many questions?"

(That was a cinematic trick adapted for print. Death wasn't talking to the princess. He was actually in his study, talking to Mort. But it was quite effective, wasn't it? It's probably called a fast dissolve, or a crosscut/zoom. Or something. An industry where the senior technician is called a Best Boy might call it anything.)