Disclaimer: The following is an old version of a premise that is currently undergoing reconstruction because it left more to be desired, specifically in terms of relationships, political navigation, and consistency, due to the kickoff being a slapdash one-shot. Bittersweetly, I have a new perspective on death and remarriage after losing people to age, bullets, and cancer this year, so I also wanted to add a crucial voice that was missing from UotC. I'm the "conceal don't feel" type myself, but maybe the future reimagining will be my way of being brave, for once. For now, the hodgepodge you will read features an ad hoc union for a #promptchallenge:
"Person A must marry Person B to save their country and give their sick child a better life. This week will be their first time meeting."
The politics and laws were unique to the universe, as I am no political scientist and value my freedom, but the union is modeled after the Union of the Crowns between Castile and Aragon, England's unions with Scotland, and the contract between Mary I of England and Philip II of Spain. "My Dearest Cousin," which was written after Ch. 6, and ended before Ch. 13, is the prequel.
[༺๑۩❖۩๑༻]
"The marriage was concluded for no fleshy consideration, but in order to remedy the disorders of this kingdom (...)" ―Ruy Gómez de Silva
Within the Assent Ceremony's first hour, the chairman of Arendelle's parliament delivered an unenthusiastic speech:
"After a drum-fire of unfortunate events, the queenless cousin of Arendelle was ravaged by the Great Famine and the Bovi Fever in 1847. A union has been negotiated between both delegations to reinstate Corona and forestall enemy invasion from the Southern Isles on the account that Arendelle represent its foreign affairs, pay its debts, fortify its militarization, nurture its natural resources, and serve other needs. In acknowledgement of our just and reasonable cause, the Bishop of Arendelle has granted a dispensation of incestuous affinity laws to allow matrimony between Queen Elsa of Arendelle, cousin of the late Queen Rapunzel, and King Eugene of Corona, former husband of the late Queen Rapunzel. Her Late Majesty suffered two miscarriages and one stillborn during the first years of her regency. In 1846, pregnancy complications compromised her last expectancy to a degree in correspondence with her late mother's, but it was blood loss that ultimately took her life.
Collaterally, the marriage between Princess Anna and her consort is a morganatic union, in which neither the spouse who entered with nothing nor any of his children will chair Arendelle. Queen Elsa is therefore obligated to fulfill her responsibilities in favor of the Storting's statutes."
Breathing was becoming harder with each passing second for the Coronian King. His chest felt hard, as if it was filling up with grout and tar calcified together. He didn't expect, nor want, to respond and keep the topic flowing into this smutty direction. He wanted to escape the responsibility of consciousness. According to the damp, flittering eyelashes of Queen Elsa, who all but kept her head forward like a celestial priestess, the supporting actress in this macabre drama was fighting the exact same desire, if not the very marble in her throat.
"The Arendelle crocus will be dimidiated with the Corona sun on the union flag. Should Her Majesty die during childbirth, then King Eugene will be appointed regent. This conjugality between Queen Elsa of Arendelle and King Eugene of Corona will reward both countries with preservation, prosperity, and posterity."
...Why didn't anyone ever tell him that this would be the ultimate horror?