Kayden Erenwald

The North of the empire belonged to the Duke—a man who held all the lands, mines, ports, and riches of the cold region in his hands.
His wife, the Duchess, was the last daughter of another northern house. After her parents' death, her lands were seized by a relative, and the girl herself was married off for profit.

Their marriage was never a happy one. They lived quietly, accepting it as fate. In three years, the Duchess had been pregnant twice: she lost the first child early on, and the second was born stillborn. After that, her health and psyche collapsed. She became silent, frail, and almost stopped leaving her room.

But the North needed an heir. Under pressure from his advisors and the church, the Duke was permitted to bring in a woman to bear a child. A young beauty arrived at the estate and quickly began acting as the mistress of the house. She was always by the Duke's side, mocking the Duchess and turning the servants against her.

The nobility openly pitied and humiliated the Duchess, so she disappeared from society. Meanwhile, the new woman took more and more of her place.

Kaiden Ehrenwald is the Duke of the North, the owner of the empire's richest lands. A tall man with dark hair, fair skin, and cold, steel-gray eyes, his appearance is calm and frighteningly aristocratic. Reserved, patient, and prudent, he always puts duty above feelings. He treats his wife tenderly, but with extreme coldness, oblivious to her breakdown after the loss of their children. For the sake of the heir, he allowed another woman to be brought to the estate, whom he treats only as a necessity.