PrePub - Ascendance of a Bookworm

There's something that surprised me in Georgine's memories. First her father goes out of his way, to arrange for a marriage that will keep her chances to become the successor alive, only to then make a 180° heel turn and even go so far as to tell her to marry a local archnoble, to support Sylvester. That seems too drastic a change to be natural. I wonder what Veronica did, to get her husband to do this. Could she also have used trug or some other mind-altering drug, like her daughter would do years later, or used some kind of blackmail?

I'm also a bit confused as to why the sewer system even has any access from the river. Does this mean that rather than essentially vaporizing the sewage, the toilet slimes are actually working "only" like water purification systems, filtering out only the bad stuff, or transmuting the bad stuff into water and thus require and outlet for that water? Either way, why are those outlets made big enough for a grown Human to pass through? If it was me, I'd let the water out only through pipes, too small for Humans, and keep all the maintanance tunnels only accessible from within the city.

Either way, it's almost a shame the slimes work so well and Georgine didn't have to wade hip-deep in acutal sewage...