Use of という over に in this sentence


I've come across a sentence in a story and although I understand the meaning,
I still find that という for me is a construction that I often struggle with a
little bit.

On this occasion I'm wondering why という was used over に:

> 悟はカップを受け取って、何の気なし **という** 様子で尋ねた。

It probably doesn't change the meaning a great deal at all, but I was
wondering what nuance the author was trying to convey (if any) using という here.




「何の気なし **に** 様子で尋ねた」 does not makes sense to me at all and it is weird to
read. Another meaning you can decipher from `という` is `のような/のように`。 In this
particular sentence, it means `as if`, which `に` does not have the similar
meaning here.

