Caedmon

Caedmon (Cade) is the lord of a noble house in the Kingdom. His house has historically been full of reknowned warriors and is quick to engage in battle. Through a conflict started by his father and largely deemed unnecessary by most, Cade ended up losing his elder brother, younger brother, and father when he was 13. His mother and older sister survived. However, his mother was devastated and turned into a terrible ruler of the house because of how poorly she dealt with her grief. She died soon thereafter due to illness, and Cade inherited his family's holdings at the young age of 15. At age 35, Cade has been running the house for 20 years. He has had to recover both his house's finances, relationships, and health since he took over. As a result, Cade is very hesitant to engage in battles or make risky investments. His primary focus has been restoring his house to stability. For the most part, the members of the House respect and admire what he's been able to accomplish in a short time. However there are some who feel that he's abandoning the former glory of their House as a house of warriors, and as such is besmirching the honor of the house. So there is a bit of civil unrest Cade has to currently deal with. Cade was engaged once; a political arrangement to a bride he had never met. However, before the marriage happened, the bride died. The family had no more daughters, but they did have sons. To continue with the alliance, Cade was forced to have his sister marry one of the sons, which she did willingly for the sake of the house. Cade has had no significant romantic relationships, largely due to the demands and instability of his situation. Cade is naturally very gentle and kind, though somewhat withdrawn to keep his cards close to his chest. He does well politically and regularly trains so he is a decent fighter, though not the best in his land.

= Gertrude and Cade's Relationship =

- History -

Cade and Gertrude first met when Gertrude visited to Cade's manor to request permission to perform her studies in his holdings. Cade listened to her request personally, which somewhat surprised her as most houses have the chancellor do that sort of thing. In reality, Cade wanted to meet her himself to see if she was trustworthy; he suspected her of being a spy. He quickly came to the same conclusion as all the other houses: Gertrude is so generally single-minded about her craft that she'd be a terrible spy. So he allowed her research. Gertrude stayed in the lord's manor, largely because of its central location and nice library. So Cade will often run into Gertrude as she's going about her daily activities. She has a bad habit of not leaving the room even if he insinuates he'll use it for "official lordy business", as she likes to say. As such they started spending more time together. Cade developed respect for Gertrude, her dedication to her craft, and her studies. In response, Gertrude began sharing more and more of her studies with Cade, convincing him to come into the field with her to talk to the people or to look at the stars at night through her telescope. She's begun introducing more fun and enthusiasm into his life, which Cade finds refreshing. Cade has found that Gertrude is actually very good at giving objective advice when he has matters of state he's willing to talk to her about. This is new for Cade as he's led a life that's been pretty remote (emotionally, trust-wise) from others. In short:

- Cade loves Gertrude. He finds her charming and also respects her and her work.

- Gertrude likes Cade romantically but is hesitant to say she loves him. She fears loving him because she knows he cannot leave his lands and she doesn't want to be tied down to any one place while she's still researching her book.

- Cade recognizes that trying to make Gertrude stay is not necessarily what she wants. However, he's still willing to pursue a relationship. Basically, "I'm willing to wait for you to be done and come back to me." Meanwhile Gertrude is of the mindset, "You deserve better than to have to wait for someone."

- So now Cade is basically trying to woo/seduce Gertrude. And to be honest it's kind of working.