Count Mikael von Burien was someone generally displeased at all times. He could find something wrong with anything around him. It was a state he was used to so it no longer bothered him to be full of darkness and only voice complaints.
As he woke up for the first time in he wasn't entirely sure how long, the bitterness was at the forefront of anything else.
He liked to tell himself that he hadn't always been like that. There was a time when he was a young count who was more lighthearted and had fewer worries. However, he met Jara Livareth and his life went downhill from there.
King Stephano II promised him a beautiful foreign mage who was the daughter of a world-renowned mage who received a noble title because of his talents as a magician alone. He was too much for the northern kingdom not to notice him. It was a rare instance where someone's talent spoke louder than their wealth.