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<span class="mu-s">Can we still play the field after sending the letter and remain IC?</span>
Not in my view, no. Just to be perfectly clear, a decision to send a letter to an eligible bachelorette after carrying their favour is in effect a request for mutual monogamous interest. While Sir Andrei is a young man, and not above temptation, I do not view it as in-character to actively consider and pursue other love interest options if you decide to send a letter. If he were to succumb to an advance of some sort whilst writing to another, which is not impossible, I imagine it would weigh heavily on him as a grave sin or broken promise. If you are undecided, or holding out for another potential waifu down the line, by all means vote to abstain.
<span class="mu-s">Okay but what is this Zealous option bro?</span>
Given the growing significance of Emile’s faith in his life decisions, I am included a decision to forswear a potential match altogether. I have long ago given up predicting too much about the future plots too far ahead beyond what might occur without direct interference muh vampire count plot but it’s not impossible to predict a choice between things you care deeply about down the line. The selection vote... lessens the liklihood of that choice ever being necessary.
<span class="mu-s">What if our letter is rejected?</span>
This could be by the lady herself, if they were particularly trying to let someone down easy, but more commonly the rebuff is from the senior relative of the love interest. More than one nobleson of Cantôn has set off on Errantry or some other foolhardy endeavour upon the rebuff or rejection of their letter to find his own path without her, or seek an honourable death rather than face life without their affection. It is considered romantic and proper of a knight to do so, and the noble girls go crazy for it. A common plot in the Victoria Ballroom Lessons series is the handsome suitor doing just that, but often due to a tragic miscommunication or plot by a rival suitor/hostile family member.
Another possibility is that your permission to write is rejected by the family, but the woman herself returns your correspondence in secret. This is not, strictly speaking, entirely proper. However, Cantônian mythos is flush with such romantic tales of forbidden love and unrequited souls yearning for one another despite the designs of feuding families or demands of political matches. Folk will generally be more sympathetic to the lover’s plight in cases where there was at least an open declaration of your intention initially that was rebuffed by the family, as this is usually the case in the popular stories. Writing to her in secret from the get-go is considered the move of a rouge and associated with less than honourable intentions.
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