heartlessmonarch

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Catherine despises her husband. It is the Marquess and Marchioness ― her parents ― who pushed for the royal marriage; though it was her mother who was most eager to have her daughter marry the king, pushing her into ill-fitting dresses or refraining her from having proper meals to 'preserve her form'. Her parents only tolerated her passion for baking because they knew the king (along with the rest of Hearts) loves her desserts. They were ecstatic when they learned of the king's fondness of her desserts, and encouraged her to continue baking only so that she might finally win the king's heart. After all, what greater ascent for their family name than to have their only daughter marry the king? It was only fitting. Unfortunately for Catherine, the king is infatuated with her.

The King of Hearts is a short, stout man who is about 15 years her senior. Just like any monarch, he would parade himself in striking ensembles. But he looks pathetic in most of them. They would always look far too big for his small frame; pantaloons bunched around his knees, fur cloaks that wears him, crown too heavy for his head.

The King of Hearts is a coward; more like a child in a king's body than a true leader, he can't handle stressful, dangerous or high critical situations, even matters of his own court. He prefers to throw parties at problems instead; often hosting meaningless balls, croquet games. He is very easily entertained, and also quite the fool as throughout their courtship, he didn't pick up on that Catherine was very much not interested. The king continues to push through the courtship, completely oblivious to Catherine and Jest’s, the Court Joker, secret romance ― even employing Jest's help in expressing his feelings for Catherine.

Catherine will never love her husband, she sees him as a major inconvenience at best. She doesn't pay him much respect and makes no effort to hide her distaste when around him. The king simply believes it to be because she is heartless, not from any real hatred or ill-intent as she still bakes him his favourite tarts when he asks for it.

The heart doesn't work the same way biologically in this world, period. It's a regulator of some kind; it helps regulate feelings but it doesn't generate feelings. Its job is to modulate something that has always exist independently of it, and feelings such as sadness, happiness, anger, frustration are its raw materials. Complex feelings such as betrayal, empathy are the results of the heart doing its job. When it receives these feelings, it regulates or contextualises it; give it proportion or weight by tying it back to some sense of self-worth or morals and so the person may let it pass once resolved. Or maybe not, it doesn't matter, but having a 'heart' allows people to decide this with all considering.

When Jest died, Catherine wanted revenge and the Three Sisters offered it: they'll bring the martyr's killer for the queen's heart.

I'm going to update this post to expand on this later but just wanted to push out a little post on Wonderland! Following canon, 'Wonderland' is a dream-space for outsiders.

Anyone can get to Wonderland but only through sleep and only when their mental grip on reality has already slipped or close to. Most people dream ordinary dreams because their grip rarely loosens that far, Wonderland will only open its doors for minds whose hold on their own world's logic is already cracking. For Alice it was more around her growing up and navigating through that so I tweaked it a bit.

But in general, this can vary, doesn't always have to be extreme and depending on the severity of the situation, the easier they can return and wake from sleep.

Light end: chronic boredom, restlessness, unhappiness... just low stakes events.

Mid end: heartbreak, dissociation, identity rupture

Heavy: Trauma, anything that challenges the rules of 'the world is safe and predictable'

Visitors are expected to leave and return to their real world eventually and take the madness that life brings as it comes. 'Everyone has a little madness in them'. Wonderland is not meant to be a place for comfort just a temporary escapism. Its general meaningless puzzles can be frustrating when applied with 'real world' norms, so staying immersed in Wonderland's nonsense long enough can risk loosening a visitor's grip on their own world's 'cause and effect' logic. The longer they stay, the harder they'll return to reality.

Playing cards are loyal servants and guards for the King and Queen of Hearts, with each card characters corresponding to different roles or their hierarchy in the Queen's court.

Spades are gardeners.

Clubs are soldiers. Their armour, shoulder plates and other clothing would have a heart stamp or some might even be heart shaped to represent their loyalty to the crown. They are also called the Red Knights. They sometimes act as arches in the Queen's games, or before an execution.

Diamonds are courtiers

Hearts are the members of the loyal family