Cardinal Rule

Cardinal Rule: Never marry a commoner.

Growing up in the Elite, the echelon just beneath the Royals, we're all taught one thing: never marry a commoner. In other words, no one under our class. We can only marry up or equal; otherwise, it will bring shame and disgrace to our family and we will be banished from our status. And the other thing we learn is that no one in power ever wants to lose their power. We've been going through decades of rebellions of former Elites who broke the cardinal rule and try to regain their position, one word: impossible.

There's only one story where the rule was broken and the perpetrators were left unpunished, to my knowledge at least. A story of miscommunication and Elite politics, where a loophole was found. My parents' love story. The only exception ever made was them. And it enraged the entire class of Elite, but because of my mother's family's status and the wealth my father accumulated for himself, it was hard to deny their union.

See, my mother is the sole heir of the wealthiest Elite family, read: most powerful. What they say goes for the most part, and it didn't matter if all the other families came together in disagreement, they didn't have enough resources to disobey or fight her family. My father was not an Elite, but he'd accumulated the wealth equivalent of one of the top ten families. And more than prestige in the Elite circle, money spoke volumes.

The Elite families exist in a sense of Old Money. The pioneers and innovators to build our world as we know it – infrastructure, construction, banking, etc. Some of the families grew in wealth, like my mother's, and others dwindled in their resources and fortunes. Poor investments, gambling debt, etc. The whole gamut. New Money was something they frowned upon, but could not deny the value of.

When my mother told her parents about her lover at the time, they were furious. They were about to go to great lengths to stop my parents from seeing each other, even willing to arrange a marriage for my mother. However, when they found out who he was and the wealth he'd accumulated under the noses of the Elite, which often is difficult to do, they changed their mind. They believed it would be more beneficial to them to combine (absorb) his wealth into theirs, a concept of keeping your enemies closer. Basically if my father continued to accumulate his wealth he would've been able to, in time, overthrow my mother's family. And that's even more disgraceful than marrying a commoner.

They did in their best interest allow my parents to get married.

Unfortunately, it wasn't happy endings from there. To appease the general Elite alliance, my parents insubordination and disregard for the cardinal rule was addressed by punishing me. I was cut off from the inheritance until I followed through with marriage to an Elite or a Royal. I was held to stricter standards than the rest of the Elite population, and I was forced to have body guards at all times. Not for my safety, but for surveillance in case I came in contact with a commoner. They did everything in their power to make sure I would not be as foolish as my mother.

My parents were apologetic about me being disciplined in their place, but they could do little about it. Every year or so, my mother would try to advocate for me at the Elite council meetings, but it was dismissed as soon as it was mentioned. Often times, she was bullied for it and her place on the Elite council threatened. Our grandfather had no sympathy as he believed he already stuck his neck out once to keep us in the Elite, and that was a privilege in itself.

I think differently on it though, if my mother was banished, we still would've had a similarly extravagant life because my father would've been the great provider that he still is. The only benefit is that my grandparents didn't get ex-communicated, and sometimes, I wish my grandfather would just admit that. Our limitations were fine with him because he didn't suffer any consequences, other than some disgrace in the moment. All the Elite families, though resentful my mother stayed, welcomed my father into the echelon because he was able to help many of them increase their own wealth.

The only thing my parents were able to get out of in their deal with the Elite council was that I wouldn't have an arranged marriage. My parents believe in marrying for love, and that was one thing they wouldn't budge on. They agreed that I would only marry within the Elite or Royal classes, but not that I would be assigned someone. Small blessings are better than none… and luckily enough, I found love, and just as with my parents there was a lot of contention over it too. I guess I should correct myself and say there are two stories that I know of non-punishment for breaking the cardinal rule: my parents' and my own.