Hera did not answer immediately, intentionally leaving a brief silence to make it seem as though she had carefully considered the matter. This would make her advice sound far more convincing.
This delay also made Harvey a bit more nervous.
After a moment, her lazy voice slowly echoed in his mind.
“It is actually very simple.”
Hera shared her insight. “First—you must make her realize that you are different from other human males.”
Harvey nodded seriously. “And then?”
Hera understood humans; she knew that although they were insignificant, their emotions were incredibly complex. The God of the Underworld was confident that her understanding could easily resolve Harvey’s dilemma.
“Blunt praise is the simplest method, but you already blew it just now.”
Harvey blinked, stunned.
“But I only said she was very beautiful.”
That was before he mentioned noticing her palms. How could that be considered blowing it? Did the Head Maid dislike being called beautiful? He couldn’t exactly call her ugly… no matter how ignorant he was, he knew that wasn’t the right answer.
Hera suppressed a laugh and continued, “That kind of crude praise is nothing new to human women.”
“What is truly effective is sincere emotion.”
“Emotion?”
“Exactly.”
Her tone was composed, as if she were conducting a rigorous analysis, causing Harvey to listen with increasing intensity.
“For example, what were you thinking just now when you were staring at her?”
“As long as you can express your attention to her, she will feel that you are truly noticing her. Naturally, she will become curious about you, which will open up a conversation.”
Honestly, as a god, she was actually solving relationship problems for her spokesperson. Hera felt she was being a bit too responsible. In truth, the Underworld was simply too boring; otherwise, she would never have responded to Harvey. She just wanted someone to talk to.
Hera said calmly, “Once the conversation starts and you spend a few days together, she will surely feel that she is special to you.”
Harvey fell into thought.
‘I see.’
As expected of the God of the Underworld; her explanation was so detailed. Following her advice, he organized his thoughts.
When Harvey looked at Evelyn again, she was watching him with a somewhat worried expression. Since she had told him to “calm down” earlier, Evelyn had noticed Harvey fall into a dejected silence.
She could feel his emotions dropping rapidly. It was like a sudden downpour being choked off mid-storm.
‘Is he sad because of my rejection?’
Logically, the pheromones she secreted should not have influenced Harvey’s original attitude toward her. It was even more impossible for a human male to actually calm down just because someone told him to. Usually, they would become even more excited.
If such a change occurred, there was only one possibility. Harvey already possessed a sincere feeling toward her that one only has for the opposite sex.
Thinking of this, Evelyn’s gaze became even colder.
‘To think he could hide his desire for me for so long. I wonder how much he has been suppressing it.’
She had to be more vigilant.
She watched until Harvey’s face turned red. His cramped, aggrieved appearance caused her to frown slightly. He looked quite pathetic.
…After all, she was the one who had first controlled his glands, triggering his awakening toward the opposite sex. His desire for her had only surfaced after that. If she thought about it that way, she had no right to loathe him. She didn’t even have a reason to question the purity of his feelings.
The rare trace of guilt in Evelyn’s heart grew a bit heavier. She had originally thought Harvey had developed feelings for the Eldest Miss; she hadn’t expected his target to be herself. Now that things had reached this point, she wondered how she should handle the aftermath.
Evelyn didn’t pass judgment on Harvey’s feelings, let alone respond to them. She simply felt—troubled.
Events had strayed from her original expectations.
“Harvey, you—”
“Th-that, Head Maid.”
Harvey suddenly spoke, interrupting Evelyn. Under her slightly confused gaze, he said with a serious face, “Actually… I have always been paying attention to you…”
“??!!!”
Evelyn’s pupils contracted, and she glared at him with irritation. She wanted to use this method to force him to back down. What she didn’t expect was that the boy, facing her icy gaze that practically froze the air, would actually continue to stutter through his words.
“Head Maid, you are always very serious and responsible in your work. Although your personality seems a bit cold, I know that you are actually a very warm-hearted person.”
Harvey felt his face burning, but fortunately, a cool breeze was blowing toward him. This was the first time he had ever shared his thoughts about someone so unreservedly. It felt incredibly awkward.
‘Is socializing really this exhausting?’
Evelyn was momentarily stunned. She looked at him, not quite reacting.
“And?” she asked coldly.
“Huh?”
Harvey blinked.
And what? He was finished. Was that not enough? Harvey scrambled through his mind to find something else to add.
“And… and…”
Since his prepared mental script wasn’t long enough, he frantically added one more line.
“And so, Head Maid, you are a good person.”
—
The air suddenly went still. The vaguely ambiguous atmosphere completely solidified in that instant. Even the gentle breeze blowing through the corridor seemed to deliberately avoid the space where the two stood.
The corner of Evelyn’s mouth couldn’t stop twitching. She stared at Harvey, the complexity in her eyes beyond words. Although she had never been pursued before, Evelyn instinctively felt an emotion surging in her chest.
In this brief lunch break, she had experienced emotional fluctuations she hadn’t felt in the past dozen years. Such a scene had never even appeared in the memories she had inherited. For a moment, Evelyn didn’t even know how to vent this feeling.
One more second passed.
She took a breath, the silhouette of her full chest rising and falling. On that usually calm face, a rare emotion finally surfaced bit by bit. It wasn’t shyness, nor was it confusion. It was the irritation of being pointlessly teased by someone.
She narrowed her eyes, her voice as cold as a winter wind.
“Harvey.”
“Yes.”
Harvey subconsciously stood up straight.
Evelyn stared at him, enunciating every word. “Are you playing with me?”
“I’m not!” Harvey shook his head repeatedly.
Although he didn’t know that Hera was already laughing in his mental world without any divine dignity, he could read the emotion on the Head Maid’s face. The Head Maid was very angry. And it was because of him.
The problem was—why did it turn out like this?
He had clearly followed the God of the Underworld’s advice and expressed his attention toward the Head Maid. Which step had gone wrong? Why was she angry?
Looking at Evelyn, who was still trying to suppress her rage, Harvey couldn’t help but swallow hard. The other person was an Ancient Fairy; if she couldn’t hold back and released magic at him… Lavia’s bedroom door was right behind him. He wondered if the Duke would have enough time to come to the rescue.
Thinking of this, Harvey steeled his resolve.
“I just want to be friends with you!”
The words fell. The corridor plunged into silence once more.
Evelyn stood there, motionless. She looked at the boy before her, who had an expression of someone prepared for death, her lips parting slightly.
How truly…
‘Stupid,’ Hera mocked mercilessly in Harvey’s mind.
This was the consequence of being disrespectful to a god.
The same realization caused the anger burning in Evelyn’s chest to stall for a moment, before turning into something even more uncomfortable. Because she could sense that he was serious. And pure.
Evelyn couldn’t help but close her eyes. When she opened them again, her expression had returned to its meticulous coldness.
“Harvey.” She spoke calmly. “Do not say such things ever again.”
Harvey was stunned. “Why?”
Evelyn clenched her fist. Without answering, she turned around. Her black skirt swayed gently with the movement.
“Because it is troublesome.”
She coldly dropped that single line and walked away down the corridor without looking back. She couldn’t stay here any longer. She urgently needed to find a place to vent her emotions.
Harvey stood there alone, looking in the direction the Head Maid had left, his eyes blank.
‘Did the Head Maid’s footsteps seem a bit heavy?’
After a while, Hera finally couldn’t hold back her laughter.
“Not bad,” the God of the Underworld commented cheerfully. “Your performance—the results were even better than I imagined.”