Chapter Text
Philip was truly a monster. Not a surprise thought bitterly Juana, Queen of Castile, as she had suffered more than once for his cruelty and his lies. She still loved him with all herself but her adoration for him was greatly diminished, and she had no intention to welcome him in her bed, at leats not for a while, not after his latest cruel actions! Her parents had tried to warn her the last time she had been in Castile, but then her judgment was still too clouded by her love for him. Now that Philip had discarded his mask, treating Castile like he owned it, when it was her own rightful inheritance, and trying to get her declared mad for taking control of what belonged to her Juana was ready to fight, and pay the price for it.
Already in Burgundy Philip had limited her access to their kids, saying she was too unreliable for having any responsibility toward them and that she could not spend unsupervised any length of time with them. Now that they were in her Castile, Juana had given the orders for having their second son, little Ferdinand, to be restored to her custody and being immediately brought to her. But she had only few blessed days of time with him, as that heartless monster of her husband had ordered, behind her back, to take away the boy and ship him back in Burgundy, with the excuses of reuniting him to his siblings and to receive a proper education!!! And then the bastard had the audacity of trying to persuade the others that she was mad, because she had told him what she thought of his cruelty and orders in front of everyone. At least the Castilian nobles had not given him any satisfaction, as they had heard worst fights for less between her parents in the years, as Isabella had never tolerated anything she felt was a disrespect from Ferdinand and her father had always fought back for what he was seeing as his rights.
Still Philip’s latest actions had made her truly fearful for both herself and her children and so Juana had made the only thing she could do: asking the help and the protection of her terrible father. Oh, she had no doubt that her father would be effective, but neither that she would regret having asked his help, and that the price her father would extract from her would be far too big. Still she had responsibilities towards her kids and more toward Castile. She and her mother had never gotten along, and Juana had no doubt that her father was not less eager to wrest from her the control of Castile than her husband was. Only Ferdinand was respected in Castile as he had been the King Consort of the great Isabella and he was from the neighboring Aragorn and not a French puppet like her husband was. And her father was also entitled to take control of Castile by her mother’s will as Isabella had never trusted or loved her, not more than Philip had.
The point was that Juana had to choose the lesser evil between her father and her husband. She had no doubt that the lesser evil for Castile was her father, and she hoped it would be the same for herself and her kids.
She had asked her father’s support and to free her from Philip. She had not been surprised in seeing the evil satisfaction in her father’s eyes in hearing that request, and had promised that she would be his dutiful daughter once the troubles with Philip would be solved. In the worst case her precious children would be safe in Burgundy with her poor sister—in-law Margaret to mothering them and their other grandfather, the Emperor Maximilian, to protect them.
Maybe Philip had truly made her a favour in sending away little Ferdinand, for all that Juana now was hating him for that.
Juana in the end was not too surprised by any of the successive events, neither by Philip’s renewed tentatives to usurp her crown, nor by his death, as she had already lost any naivety and had no illusion about her father.
That didn’t meant that she had not been heartbroken by Philip’s death, as she still loved him and would have given almost anything for them having a different end, including her life: but not her inheritance, her freedom or the safety of their kids and Philip had endangered all them.
She was Isabella’s daughter and heiress and she would pay the price for being worthy of her inheritance.
She had cried and screamed when her father revealed her the extent of his plans, but the truth was that a part of her had already understood that losing, most likely forever, her kids would be the price to pay.
But now Castile was secure and the kids were safe, and she had no doubt that Margaret would give them all the love she could not.
For herself, well, she could get far worst fates than having to accept that none of her kids by Philip could join her in Spain and that they will not inherit her lands. Remarrying to Ferdinand of Calabria too was far from intolerable: he was a kind guy, far younger than her and he too was suffering for his father’s death, the separation from his mother and siblings and the loss of his father’s kingdom that had reduced him as a puppet in the hands of her father Ferdinand. But, like her, her new husband was smart enough to understand that her father was not a too bad puppet master, at least if you didn’t rebelled to him, and with the time they both would recover everything they had lost, and for now they had a family to build together.
Yes, in saying her vows to her second husband Juana of Castile had no doubt that she could have far worst fates than her own and she could hope that Ferdinand would be a good consort for her, and at least he was showing to be supportive and respectful. More children too would be welcomed, not only for securing the succession to Spain but also for filling at least partially that void she had in her heart.