Of Romances and Resolves

1- His Grace, Lord Mine-o

The duchy of Lireo, with its expansive lands, rolling hills, fragrant plants and diverse fauna, houses a family highly esteemed for a genealogy dating back to seven centuries and the wealth occasioned by a vast and fertile estate. 

Lord Mine-o, head of the illustrious family, had three wives and by them gained four children—three daughters and an only son and heir. He is a genial man of fifty years, who enjoyed active pursuits and that which enabled him to possess a physique strong and sturdy, hardened by exercise, and hence, age has not diminished the handsomeness that he enjoyed in his youth. Moreover, he is a magnanimous master and highly proficient in managing his estate's business allowing it to flourish and confer upon his children the comforts and luxuries afforded by wealth.

In love only he is ill-fated. His first marriage had been occasioned by youth's misadventures, when he, out of imprudence and sway of drinks, had despoiled the daughter of a knight he met at a soiree thrown by the late Dowager Countess of Shrewsbury. Their union had been done in haste and a little over eight months afterwards, his eldest daughter Pirena, had been born. Although he had not love the woman and had often in sad musings, desired that he had not been shackled so early in a loveless marriage, he was still unhappy to see her perish in childbirth leaving his little daughter bereft of a mother at such a tender age.

His second marriage came eight years later. Raquia was an heiress, the sole and cherished daughter of the Marquess of Pembroke. They were introduced at her first season and though first impressions found them at odds with each other's demeanor, they soon found solace at each other's presence. She was an exquisite woman, affectionate, convivial, and on certain occasions, shockingly forthright. She birthed a daughter they tenderly named Amihan, after a monsoon that brought change, for the angelic infant's arrival heralded a bounty of happiness and bliss. 

The unexpected cessation of their happiness occurred when Raquia contracted an unknown illness, which wracked her petite body with fevers and chills, that lasted for three months before she succumbed to death. Amihan had just witnessed three summers at the time of her mother's passing, where Mine-o wept and embraced his darling daughter—the precious proof of their love—in despair.

Although the Duke of Lireo had no more desire for matrimony, the necessity of an heir and the persistent drive of his mother brought Mine-o to his third wife. Notwithstanding his mother's sharp reproaches, for the woman in question was the daughter of an impoverished earl and the former wife of a man in the gentry, he had proposed marriage to Enia, because he had found in her, a heart in mourning such as his. They both suffer the affliction of being deprived by death of the person their hearts desired the most. 

Their relationship had been similar to those of boon companions, and by her he received in their first year of marriage, Alena, and in the second, his long-awaited heir—Dann. At the fifth year of their union, she died peacefully in her sleep.

Left an eligible bachelor with four children and with no plans of remarrying, Mine-o spent his years directing his efforts towards managing the estate, providing for his tenant farmers and staff, providing allowances for opulence in order to maintain their station but conscientiously ensuring that no unaccounted spending and mismanagement occur. He plans on lavishing substantial dowries upon his daughters in order to attract the best suitors and upon his son, a thriving estate.