It's not that easy, since it is the old times. Well, modern times is also hard, but status in the old times are important, especially since he's royalty.
If we are just considering status and not how op the maid is, he would seem selfish and irresponsible to love a mere maid that will become a queen ruling the empire. A place that hundreds of thousands of people reside in. So you can't blame them on their miscommunication, plus from what I know, back than people didn't share the feelings as easily as now.
Umm... yeah... I was also basically saying the same thing as you. (=・ω・=)
True. Nobles from old times were taught to never show emotions in public or show weakness... but the thing is, he is not just a king, he is an emperor. So he can have 1 empress to rule with, several queens (concubines with titles, for political reasons) and a few mistresses (for his own desires). So technically, he can keep his women.
im sure communication is not in their dictionary tf ヽ(`Д´)ﾉ