Chap­ter VII unfolds with a storm of unin­tend­ed con­se­quences stirred by Duke Deodonato’s well-mean­ing but overzeal­ous decree. Believ­ing in the virtues of mat­ri­mo­ny as a sta­bi­liz­ing force, the Duke orders all unmar­ried men over twen­ty-one to wed with­in three weeks. What begins as a social reform soon spi­rals into chaos. Women, inter­pret­ing the Duke’s pub­lic dec­la­ra­tions as a sign that he will mar­ry one of them him­self, begin to refuse all pro­pos­als. This unin­tend­ed col­lec­tive stand­off delays the entire pur­pose of the edict. Hopes of roy­al selec­tion out­weigh the appeal of ordi­nary unions, stalling the entire population’s roman­tic pur­suits. The Duke’s ide­al­is­tic pur­suit for soci­etal order reveals itself as a com­pli­cat­ed web of assump­tions and hid­den moti­va­tions, all wrapped in the glit­ter­ing hope of love from above.

When Deodona­to tight­ens the decree, rul­ing that a woman must accept the first offer she receives, anx­i­ety reach­es new heights. Women, now fear­ing acci­den­tal or unpleas­ant mar­riages, go into hid­ing. Love ceas­es to be a free choice and trans­forms into a trap. The duchy, once vibrant with the chat­ter of flir­ta­tion and courtship, now falls silent and fear­ful. The very peo­ple the Duke wished to see hap­pi­ly mar­ried now retreat in dread. Romance, under pres­sure, col­laps­es. The law for­gets its orig­i­nal spir­it and enforces a kind of tyran­ny that sti­fles the human heart. When Dr. Fus­bius pro­pos­es to Dul­cis­si­ma and is prompt­ly reject­ed, her arrest becomes the final spark to ignite rebel­lion.

Dul­cis­si­ma, with grace and defi­ance, brings her protest before the Duke. Her beau­ty catch­es his eye, but it is her strength of char­ac­ter that holds his atten­tion. In stand­ing firm, she speaks not only for her­self but for every woman bur­dened by the decree. The Duke begins to feel the lim­its of roy­al pow­er, rec­og­niz­ing that even just laws must be tem­pered with com­pas­sion. Her resis­tance presents an unex­pect­ed mir­ror to his own mis­judg­ment. Deodona­to finds him­self torn between pride, posi­tion, and the qui­et truth that love can­not be man­dat­ed. The scene marks a turn­ing point where author­i­ty is forced to rec­on­cile with human­i­ty.

Legal advi­sors, eager to uphold the Duke’s dig­ni­ty, offer loop­holes and inter­pre­ta­tions. Yet, it is the Pres­i­dent of the Coun­cil who deft­ly unrav­els the sit­u­a­tion. By fram­ing Dulcissima’s rejec­tion not as rebel­lion but as right­ful self-defense, the law is pre­served and jus­tice served. When Deodona­to kneels and pro­pos­es not as ruler but as a man in love, the ten­sion dis­solves into har­mo­ny. Dul­cis­si­ma, no longer a sym­bol of protest but a woman free to choose, accepts. Their union, found­ed on mutu­al respect, stands in con­trast to the mechan­i­cal pair­ings once demand­ed by law. It’s a rare moment when pol­i­cy yields to per­son­al integri­ty.

With humil­i­ty and reflec­tion, the Duke with­draws the law. The decree had sought to bind hearts through dead­lines and direc­tives, but its repeal allows love to breathe again. The les­son lingers: rules can­not replace con­sent, nor force yield true affec­tion. Deodonato’s trans­for­ma­tion from absolute monarch to empa­thet­ic suit­or sig­ni­fies a shift not only in lead­er­ship but in soci­etal val­ues. Dulcissima’s courage reshapes the duchy more pow­er­ful­ly than any pol­i­cy could. She proves that even in con­strained sys­tems, a voice raised in hon­esty can echo through cham­bers of pow­er.

As the tale con­cludes, the image of a window—clear, open, and revealing—serves as a final metaphor. In place of rigid doors and locked oblig­a­tions, the win­dow invites light, fresh air, and new per­spec­tives. The duchy redis­cov­ers the joy of choice, laugh­ter returns to the streets, and cou­ples find one anoth­er not by decree but desire. The love sto­ry between Deodona­to and Dul­cis­si­ma becomes more than a roman­tic res­o­lu­tion; it stands as a cel­e­bra­tion of human free­dom. And in that spir­it, the read­er is remind­ed that love, when freely cho­sen, trans­forms not just hearts, but entire king­doms.