Elise quickly got up to her feet. "I told you that I'd be the one who'd take care of the mugs, Loriel. You want me to make sure things are clean, right?"

"Ah, don't worry about it." Loriel chuckled. "Tonight you are my GUEST. We can talk about the arrangement tomorrow. Will that be okay?"

"But..." Elise wanted to say something but she was at a loss for words.

The woman really wasn't the argumentative type. She also already considered that it wasn't a good thing to disagree with the man who had decided to take her in.

He'd show her the place where she'd sleep and make sure that she felt safe and secure in his home. Loriel had no desire at all to have this kind of employer and employee relationship between them.

At the very least, he wanted them to be friends first.

Elise smiled and eventually nodded. "Okay, thank you very much."

Once again their fingers brushed together as he took the mug away from her. Loriel focused on getting himself to the sink, but then Elise followed him.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to follow you around and see how you do it?" Elise said with her melodious voice.

Loriel smiled and nodded. "Sure. I don't mind."

He assumed since Elise seemed to come from a sheltered background, perhaps she was not used to doing house chores and now feeling nervous about how to do things correctly?

Loriel could be proud that he was one of the few people who had this sophisticated AI household management system, thanks to his investment in the company that initiated it, Rhionen Industries.

Now, they hoped the final products could soon be launched globally and people in the whole world could take advantage of a seamless life with the technology taking care of all the heavy and not-so-heavy lifting.

To Loriel, washing dishes was part of the lifting and he was happy to demonstrate to Elise how cool the technology that he used in his home. However, tonight was not the time.

"Well, actually, this home has an AI system that takes care of most of my personal needs and it already knows my preferences. Now that you will live here too, we will need to teach it about your preference. I will show you how to use it tomorrow. For tonight, let's just leave the mug in the sink."

Elise nodded in understanding. "Okay. Got it!"

She didn't follow when Loriel brought the cups to the kitchen island and put them on the sink. Instead, she stood in her place admiring the big living room with the open-plan design.

"Very well, let's go to your room so you can rest," said Loriel after he was done. The man went to get Elise's bag that he helped carry earlier from the hostel.

He noticed she only brought a small backpack with her. This made Loriel wonder if Elise would need some clothes.

Ah, he would ask her tomorrow. If she needed to shop for clothes, Loriel could easily take her to Bloomingrose, owned by Sanderman Group obviously, and pretended that he still had a lot of points that he could redeem to get her free clothes.

His mind was busy with plans while Elise's mind was filled with questions. The girl noticed how fancy everything in the penthouse was. Somehow, this didn't make sense.

Even If Loriel didn't want to sell his home to make money, he could at least sell some gold ornaments that decorated his walls and cabinets, couldn't he?

Or… was it possible that this man was so into memorabilia that he'd prefer to be poor than selling his precious items?

Elise couldn't understand such a man.

Oh well. She wouldn't judge him for the choices that he made. She knew her place as an outsider who was invited to stay here out of the man's kindness.

Elise was determined to help Loriel get back on his feet and saw the man rise again. In the meantime, she wouldn't be nosy.

Loriel walked across the huge living room and took Elise to a beautiful bedroom at the end of the corridor.

"This place has 3 bedrooms. One master bedroom at the far left and two guestrooms at the far right. I am giving you one of the rooms on the far right because they have a better view. What do you think?" Loriel asked Elise as they walked toward the rooms he just mentioned.

"Sure, I am fine with anything," Elise replied. She followed his steps until they arrived at the said bedroom.

Loriel opened the door and stepped in. He motioned Elise to enter.

"This is where you'll be staying from now on," Loriel said.

He hoped Elise would like this bedroom. It was designed for a female guest. The other one was designed for a male guest. These guestrooms came with the penthouse when he bought it.

Loriel never expected to host anyone at his home. As you might already know by now… he was not fond of people.

However, he was now glad he kept the guestrooms maintained since he could use one of them now that he suddenly found Elise.

"Let me know if you need anything in this room," Loriel said. "I haven't received any guests since I moved in here two years ago."

Elise was granted the sight of a beautiful bedroom just for her. A queen-sized four-poster teakwood bed with exquisite carving awaited her alongside a large closet, dresser, and other furniture that were clearly expensive. Everything was designed very meticulously.

Elise knew that something like this wasn't suited for someone who'd only work by helping around and cleaning the penthouse. She stood still in her place, looking awkward. "This is too much."

"Unfortunately, this is the only room type I can offer to you. So I do not think you can refuse it." Loriel chuckled. "I have no other rooms except for the broom closet. I don't think it's humane to let you stay there."

"Oh…" Elise couldn't refute the man. She finally said thank you. "I love this room. It's really nice."

"Please have a goodnight, Elise." Loriel smiled at her.

Elise smiled back at him and said, "The same to you, Loriel. Please have a goodnight."

Once Elise had closed the door, the man returned to his own room.

He'd see her in the morning.