I read your essay and that in no way makes Rumbelle more palatable. I like Rumpel and Belle as characters and I think they could eventually be a good couple — they certainly have true love — but it’s a relationship built on lies and manipulation and that is distasteful.
Which brings me to my biggest issue with the OutlawQueen/Marian developments. They took a healthy relationship for both these characters; a second chance for two widowers and the one relationship (lover/friend/anything) that Regina has had in her life that wasn’t corrupted by her own fears or by the actions of others, and then they twisted it in the vilest way. And the worst part is, they’ve established them as soul mates. So either they end up together, because fate and all that, or Regina goes the rest of her life with a closed off heart, because how could she possibly open it up again.
This show sucks at relationships.