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Each resolves in a specific quest. For two of the three, that quest is also the one an endings guide calls optional in their chain — so the romance is the optional step.
The herbalist of Laslea, and the first person the game asks you to spend time on. She grows the herb Esme's medicine needs, and she is one of three characters Coen can romance.
How the route runs
Show up. The route opens across the early village quests, when Esme's illness keeps pulling Coen back to her hut and her garden, and it turns on asking real questions about how she became a herbalist rather than treating her as a supplier. It deepens through a stretch of library and archive research and a visit to a convent, where she talks about the childhood she did not choose. When she asks outright whether you see her as just a friend, say no.
The scene
Stronger Than AchillesAn ally met in a Svartrau alley and followed into the Rockfalls. Finishing her questline is what makes The Patricide possible.
How the route runs
She introduces herself mid-interrogation, and how you handle that scene decides whether there is a route at all: she offers a stark either/or, and taking neither — staying, and simply talking — is what keeps her interested. After that she tests you constantly. She respects bluntness far more than tact.
The scene
The Night of HorrorsLeader of the Manumit, the rebellion against Brencis. Finishing his questline is what makes The Knyazmaker possible, and he is one of three characters Coen can romance.
How the route runs
The first meeting reportedly ends with Coen tied to a tree, and getting in with the Manumit properly comes after raising Infamy. The route is built on backing him up in front of his people rather than undermining him — then finding him alone rather than only on rebellion business, and making clear you are there because you care rather than as a subordinate. He is cagey about his father; go gently.
The scene
A Closer LookRetail-observed
Still open
Characters whose romance status no source states either way. They are not a fourth route — they are records with an empty field, and they are listed apart from the three so they cannot be mistaken for one.
Officer of the vampire regime — the mystic, and maker of the Blood Guards
One of Brencis's three officers, and the one who makes the Blood Guards. Fought in the walkthrough as a boss inside Svartrau Cathedral.
Officer of the vampire regime — the blood supply
One of Brencis's three officers: the youngest, and the one who runs the valley's blood supply, its draining dungeons and its liquor trade.
Officer of the vampire regime — the warrior
One of Brencis's three officers. The regime's warrior, and referenced in the context of major encounters.
Priest of Svartrau Cathedral
The priest at Svartrau Cathedral. He conducts the blood mass himself — the weekly rite through which Brencis takes the valley's blood and gives back health.
Daughter of the Uriash village elder
The Uriash elder's daughter. Finding her is what opens The Heart Wants What It Wants, and finishing that is what closes out one of Bakir's Court activities.
Relationship scenes cost time units. In most RPGs a romance is content layered on top of the run; here it draws from the same budget as your quests, your training and your confrontation. If you want one, it has to be scheduled rather than squeezed in.
Two of the three routes make that concrete in a way worth noticing. The quests the romances resolve in — The Night of Horrors and A Closer Look — are the steps an endings guide calls optional in Lacra’s and Crake’s chains. Optional for the ending; not optional for the romance. That is the trade in one line, and it is unpriced: not a single quest on any of the three routes has a published time cost.
Budget it in the 30-Day Planner and see what it costs you elsewhere.