I think it’s more than that. Gizelle is outwardly stoic but inwardly very happy for malocen and wants the kind of contact he always has with him, forgetting time place and occasion entirely. What malocen did was entirely right, because it makes no sense for 1) a newly married lord to 2) grant a special exam for an outsider to the land by special recommendation 3) be close enough to embrace said person for being qualified, especially in front of the masses. It will only create idol gossip as well as curious suspicion in the minds of people about who malocen is and who he is to gizelle.
Idle
I mean I know this, and obviously Malocen is way more concerned about appearances than Gizelle is. I’m just saying that it’s cute because you can clearly see that they’re slowly becoming more and more interested in being close to each other. There’s also the fact that Malocen sees this all as being a limited time event whereas Gizelle doesn’t see any reason why Malocen needs to leave his side.
He wanted a hug I’m dying. Bro was so offended. I love how Malocen is questioning how close they can be, while Gizelle is getting whiplash from Malocen being so close and then so far away.