The emperor’s not worried, but the eunuch is.

Elise’s original plan really was to let Luke and Aelia slowly grow closer.

But no matter how she looked at it, half a month had passed, and the two of them had made exactly zero progress.

Sure, part of it was because Aelia was too busy with work. But love wasn’t supposed to be like that. Wasn’t it supposed to make you lose your appetite and daydream even while working?

Elise wasn’t asking them to become some life-or-death romance. But with things this dead, were they trying to have a Platonic relationship or what? Even in novels, a Platonic romance still had letters and lingering glances. It wouldn’t be this bland and watery.

And the real trigger that pushed Elise past her limit was yesterday’s inspection.

First of all, she had to admit she’d been careless. Since they were inside the orphanage, with guards all around, she hadn’t stayed very alert. By the time Aelia got scalded by the hot water, only then did she react.

But at least she reacted.

Luke, on the other hand, had just stood there and watched the whole time.

No concern. No stepping forward to check on her. Not even the slightest change in expression.

Yes, Elise knew it was wrong of her to keep nitpicking Luke and demanding this and that from him.

But even taking ten thousand steps back, Luke was still Aelia’s future companion. Was it really okay for him to feel nothing when his companion got hurt?

Of course, it was very possible Luke hadn’t meant to do nothing. Maybe he’d just frozen up for a moment and failed to react in time. He was probably reflecting on it afterward too... but the chance to raise Aelia’s affection had undoubtedly slipped away just like that.

If Luke stayed this dense from here on out, then what?

Were they really just going to waste every chance to grow closer?

Were they really just going to sit around and wait?

But reality wasn’t a novel. The ones who waited and still ended up together were always the minority. More often, people simply missed each other and became strangers in the end...

No matter what those two were thinking, Elise was definitely panicking.

She decided to make one of them “awaken.”

And that was how Luke ended up hearing what she had just said.

(Lovebrain is seriously terrifying.)

Still, Elise’s move had completely blocked off Luke’s path of doing nothing.

But thanks to that, Luke had thought of a new way to disgust that trashy Saintess—

“Miss Elise... I’m not really sure what you mean?” Luke widened his eyes and put on a confused expression.

“Just call me Elise. No need to be so formal.”

Now that she had decided to turn Luke into her household’s future son-in-law, Elise instantly switched roles into their shared maid and military strategist. “Lord Luke, you like Princess Aelia, don’t you?”

“No, I—”

Luke instinctively tried to deny it, but Elise had long been prepared for his density. She immediately raised a hand and cut him off.

“There’s no need to say more. Bystanders see clearly while those involved are lost in the fog. You can keep lying to yourself, but that won’t change the fact that everyone else can already tell.”

(6.)

“Maybe,” Luke said, scratching his head. “But Her Highness Aelia probably doesn’t think of me that way...”

“No, I’m telling you very clearly. She does,” Elise said with absolute certainty.

(The kind where she wants to drive me away, right?)

“Really?” Luke showed an expression that was seventy percent joy and thirty percent surprise. But soon, he wilted like a deflated balloon. “But I really can’t tell at all. Elise, you’re just guessing too, aren’t you?”

“Lord Luke, girls won’t show this kind of thing so easily on their faces!” Elise put her hands on her hips. “If you want the relationship to go further, then the man has to be more proactive!”

“But wouldn’t that backfire? And can I really do it right? Like yesterday...” As Luke spoke, his mood grew heavy, and he looked off into the distance.

That melancholy gaze, that world-weary... oh, no stubble. Anyway, that expression of mature loneliness, mixed with guilt, self-reproach, sorrow, and a touch of reluctance, paired with that devastatingly handsome face of his—

It hit Elise like a shockwave and only made her more determined to help her young lady win this man over.

“Lord Luke, your performance yesterday really was a bit lacking. But Her Highness Aelia would never get angry at you or dislike you over something so small.”

“That’s good...” Luke let out a sigh of relief.

“But that alone isn’t enough!” Elise barked sharply, like a strict teacher catching a student slacking off. “What you should do is use this as an excuse to give Her Highness Aelia a gift, so you can express your feelings!”

This was actually a trick those spoiled noble boys who used to cling to Aelia had often used. To leave even the worst impression on her, they would come up with all kinds of absurd and ridiculous stunts.

Including but not limited to brushing against Aelia’s shoulder on purpose, suddenly tripping and bumping into her shoe, or sneezing from far away, then running over in a panic to apologize and say they wanted to make it up to her later.

Some of them couldn’t bear to sully even a single strand of Aelia’s hair, so they chose to make their move on Elise instead... and the result was that Elise blocked every last one of them. Anything they forcibly sent over got returned. If it couldn’t be returned, it was donated to the royal family.

But setting prejudice aside, it was actually a very effective method. Once there were more exchanges, and people became familiar with each other, then even if it didn’t develop into mutual love, the relationship would naturally grow closer.

True, Luke and Aelia had the chance of forming the Heroic Party together. But before the king gave the go-ahead for them to depart, an excuse like “future companions” simply wasn’t enough to close the distance between them.

The best proof was how Luke had previously tried to get close to Aelia by saying he was curious about the Saintess’s work.

“I understand. Then what should I give Her Highness Aelia? Gold and silver?”

“Her Highness Aelia would never be happy just because she received money.” Elise frowned slightly. The reason she hadn’t given him the answer directly was because she wanted to test whether Luke understood romance at all. To her surprise, his first answer was the worst, most vulgar, and most impossible one.

(That’s actually what she wants most.)

Luke held back a laugh inside. On the surface, he scratched his head, thought hard for a while, and then said, “Then... flowers? But that feels a little too cheap.”

“Cheap isn’t the issue. What matters is the thought. What matters is showing how much care the man put into the gift. But right now, I wouldn’t recommend flowers.” Elise instantly transformed into a professor of romance and began lecturing with perfect confidence. “Because with flowers, it’s not just about the type. It’s also about the timing, the setting, and most importantly, the atmosphere. For example, you could suddenly use magic to create a sea of flowers, then casually place a flower crown on Her Highness Aelia’s head and smile as you say it really suits her...”

“I can’t use magic to make a sea of flowers,” Luke said, in the most straight-guy response possible.

“Her Highness Aelia can!” Elise said, a little annoyed. “At that point, after putting the flower crown on her, you can look at her and praise how beautiful the flowers are, when what you’re really doing is praising her beauty.”

“What if she thinks I’m only saying the flowers are pretty?”

“That... probably wouldn’t happen, right?”

Remembering that Aelia was also a complete beginner at romance, Elise suddenly lost a bit of confidence. But as a love instructor, she couldn’t back down, so she immediately changed directions.

“You could also put on a nostalgic look and talk about some rare and beautiful flower from your hometown. Then say that one day, you want her to see it with her own eyes...”

“But what if the flowers in my hometown are super common?”

“Then point at the flowers from your hometown and use that as a way to talk more about yourself! The point here is to let Her Highness Aelia understand you better, while also hinting, ‘I like you and want to marry you and bring you home’...” The elf maid was getting so irritated by Luke’s inflexible blockhead that she couldn’t help stomping her foot.

“There’s so much to learn.” Luke showed the simple, honest expression of someone whose brain was just about to start growing. “But you said flowers aren’t recommended right now, right?”