Nice essay on the feudalism and the reality of position of nobles in such system. But this is focused strictly on living on the 'core lands' of the Empire or the Sultanate of the south. What are possibilities of for example the frontier? Could a third son, assuming he can gather some resources / favors / etc. get a piece of land somewhere on the borders? Yes, he would be still tied to the feudal system, but probably much less, than nobles in the interior, closer to the monarch. Perhaps will live a more simple life, with less riches, but who knows? Maybe he can set some economy, depending on the land and skills or himself or his advisors? With all dangers and problems of the frontier, wouldn't it still be a realistic possibility to get some more freedom and evade most of problems with being a noble?
And what about other lands in the ToaM universe? We are focused on the Empire, a bit like it is a center of the world, but what is outside of its borders? We know about the people of the north and some sultanate on the south. But is that all, considering some kind of mature, stationary civilizations? There are also dwarfs, but they are probably not too fond of outsiders. And options to just 'opt out' of the imperial feudal system? Of course, much will need to be sacrificed for such life, but if the situation would be pressing enough, then who knows?
PS. one more thing. I suspect, that Ayaka probably will have a lot of talks with Eirlys, as our witch has a lot of experience about living a life of her own, having quite high degree of freedom, from a noble viewpoint. I suspect, that she may be curious of such perspective, to see, how it look in practice, the life without so many boundaries and pressure, something, that she may be a bit envious of (in a way).