Really smart. The duke favours someone, and that hag is going to start targeting that someone. A bit suicidal for her advanced age, that Elaine.
@Micro His peers? Like other dukes? They have probably close to zero contact with him. Alejandro was abandoned by the society and left for dead for a long time. The only one who could stop him, if he wanted to go official with a maid, would be the king. However, since Alejandro was a sacrifice to deal with the curse, I imagine the king would let a whole lot slide with Alejandro in particular. All in all I'd say he could in fact marry a maid if he wanted to. Many nobles might laugh at him behind his back if they dared to. Some nobles, however, might understand the reason why it happened and instead try to appear understanding to get closer to him, even if some of them in reality pitied him or looked down on him. For the lesser nobles, a duke as a friend would be valuable.
The one with the most trouble would be Ibelina herself. She would find it exceedingly difficult to integrate herself into the noble society and she would be treated coldly and poorly, at least when Alejandro wasn't standing right next to her.