Yet again people don’t read and use their brains at the same time.
Leylin treats him the way she does because she thinks of him as a brother, even if they are cousins. So no, he isn’t friend zoned. He is Bro-zoned. Far worse for him.
And in Stand’s case, he probably thinks she just rejected him because it was pushed on both of them. Maybe he thinks stuff has changed. Or he knows the answer already and wants to get rejected for real, directly. Not from a political engagement being refused, but a proposal directly from himself. Now doesn’t that make more sense?
And since some people don’t seem to remember, the reason she was looking for a marriage partner In the first place was because she couldn’t inherit her family’s title unless she got married. She had to do so quickly and also produce her own heir within a year.