Like all large-scale social experiments, the criminalization of permanent love produced consequences its architects had not anticipated. Some effects were positive. Rates of severe romantic trauma declined significantly. Because relationships were understood to be temporary, breakups carried less psychological devastation. Individuals maintained broader social networks instead of concentrating emotional investment in a single partner. Public health statistics showed measurable improvements in stress-related mortality.
But other consequences were darker.
Without the stabilizing structure of long-term relationships, many individuals drifted through cycles of connection and separation that left them emotionally disoriented. Children raised within the new system experienced family structures far more fluid than previous generations. Most importantly, the transformation altered how society understood commitment itself. If romantic permanence was considered dangerous, what about other forms of deep loyalty? Political movements, ideological communities, even national identity—all relied on emotional bonds that resembled the attachments now deemed risky.
The logic that had criminalized love could easily extend further. And eventually, it would.