I agree with you. It’s also hard to define what “clicking” means. She and the duke have a really nice relationship and have built trust (but not fully trust) very early on. They both have very lowkey personalities that enjoy playing support roles and are quite a good match in the fact that while they both have their own passions and life goals it doesn’t clash and it instead is what they admire about the other. They have better chemistry then a lot of popular stories’ characters. It’s just that they don’t act very “lovey-dovey” and a realistic and wise in their moves.
Yuri and Lester have much less chemistry. Work wise they are amazing colleagues but further then that Yuri being uncomfortable is already enough to tell that it’s not compatible.
I like that the story is more focused on her growing into her passion and making something great out of it, but the romance is there to support it, spice it up, and of course keep the popularity of the story high enough for it to be interesting to a max of people and be able to keep publishing at the proper pace.
I personally don't see the chemistry and everytime i read this manga, I always tend to get bored on the romance side of it that most of the time I skim through it halfway on the interaction. I guess its just preference but those scene certainly doesn't add spice or popularity for my own interest. Guess it works on others.
I'm not sure why but I dont think this manga is fit for romance genre in the first place. I'm not that attach to the romance aspect of it nor am in love with the male partners characterization. I feel like it should focus more on her trying to reform the fashion industry and go back to her original gender identity. The protagonist also doesn't seem to click with any of the male lover interest.