THIS COMMENT IS GREAT, you really picked up on the feelings I was trying to go for with this game! I was trying really hard to make something where replays were not so much about "how will this turn out differently" as "what new understandings can I come to about the events".
You're SPOT ON about not milking it for cruelty, that was actually something specific I was going for. Cruelty is a tool Kataja has as her disposal, but her goal is just to exert control - so she's willing to be cruel but not inherently interested in it. And she's more interested in what her various pets do than getting specific reactions out of them, so when romantic intent is projected onto her, she mirrors that more out of curiosity to see where it leads than a similar desire. You're her pet, and while she won't object to you reading that in a romantic sense, she won't push it there herself.
I'm so glad you found the worldbuilding compelling, I did a bunch behind the scenes too to try to come up with a bigger picture so everything could fit together, it makes me happy when people are interested in it.