"Hmm. As fond as I am of novel, that's the kind of novel I could do without. I want you to tell me what you want. And then I shall bend my full attention to doing that. Or what you are doing. Whichever. Both. Should be fun. I like a challenge."
Just because this experiment went badly the first time, didn't mean he didn't want to run it again, with different variables, and hope for better results.