>>23319249
A lot of people are allergic to subtext, especially so when discussing Cagalli and Destiny.
The implication given throughout the early episodes of Destiny is Cagalli's cabinet is united around working with the Alliance. They see Earth as the victim in recent events and want to avoid being occupied again. Even assuming Cagalli were an absolute monarch, you can't just totally ignore what your cabinet wants.
Add to this Cagalli's recent encounter with Shinn, where he chewed her and her family out for letting ORB burn. He says their refusal to pick sides doomed people like his parents and sister. If Shinn is right, shouldn't she sign this alliance with Earth? Won't it protect her people better then sitting on the sidelines, waiting to be attacked?
Add to this the fact Cagalli is still a young woman, and has exactly zero emotional support structure left. Kira isn't seeing her regularly, and Athrun decided playing mobile suit pilot was more important then helping his would be fiancee thru these times. Cagalli feels trapped and isolated by forces who are all telling her to do the same thing. In her mind she has no choice.
In this context, a broken Cagalli reluctantly agrees to the calls for a political marriage the Seirans have been bugging her about for years. She has to sacrifice herself for her country after all, what's one more sacrifice?
She finds her footing of course once she's surrounded by a bunch of people telling her "no, youre not crazy. Yes, armed neutrality can work. Yes, Seiran is a loser and he should go to hell".
