Human behavior rarely conforms perfectly to legal frameworks, especially when those frameworks attempt to regulate powerful emotional drives. And so, within a decade of the law's passage, underground networks began forming among individuals who rejected the new system. These groups met privately, avoiding digital surveillance, to pursue relationships based on the forbidden ideal of lifelong devotion.
They called themselves Romantics. Authorities treated the movement cautiously. Open repression risked transforming these individuals into cultural martyrs, potentially inspiring broader resistance. Instead, officials framed the Romantics as victims of dangerous emotional addiction. Public campaigns warned citizens about the psychological risks of permanent attachment. Former Romantics appeared on talk shows describing how the ideology of lifelong love had nearly destroyed their lives.
The strategy worked well enough to prevent mass rebellion. Yet the underground persisted. Love, after all, is stubborn.