@Drhizzle
Actually, these two are usually among the top priorities in actual romance.
Appearances: First impressions are important in everything social. A neat, tidy person will forever look like a better man compared to someone ugly and disorganized. Of course we may find out later that this handsome bloke is an asshole but it is enough for an initial attraction compared to ugly people that starts relationships with negative values. The clique of "Prince admirers" are just a convenient way to say 'The good female lead is too plain to deserve walking alongside this hunk' for drama purposes and is not 'romance'. Think of them as the female versions of the perverted bandits archetypes trying to woo female leads in adventurer stories. They are also created to be make a point that "Mr Prince is fkin dazzlin~" because most of the characters would look the same otherwise.
Money: Dear God. Money. Just look out in the world and you can already find plenty of "Marry for money" cases. Is it actual romance? No not really but it can certainly be used as a plot point for stories. There are plenty of people that go on dates, receive gifts, then break up when the partner becomes broke. Rather than bottom, money is the number 1 reason for many, MANY romance even in real life (thankfully not all). The richer the better. Humans are just shitty that way.
Conclusion: We are animals. Romance is just a nice way of saying "a person is in heat". Naturally such emotions are driven by shitty instincts such as greed for maximum profit, or preference to have sex with someone hot instead of ugly.