Surprise starter for @pearlescent-tears
House Bourreau had always been... Picky with its marriages. Though this was largely kept from outright common knowledge, those with enough experience to spot it could tell that the noble family was on the edge of falling. Neither past the point if no return nor entirely safe, its looming and powerful reputation and history kept it spoken about enough to hold sway, but fertility issues, violent jobs, and old wealth that was receiving little new addition kept them from regrouping entirely from the series of scandals three generations ago. And while the Count kept his axe and his title, he was growing old. Most would have at least retired from physical work. There was a delicate balance at play, and even if the fifth man in the line of succession was not a particularly important position for some, Charlemont knew well that a riot or assassination ending only a few members of their house would change everything. Thus, he was in an almost hellish position.
Vincentaux was transgender. If paired with a woman, he would be childless, and they would have to resort to a hidden surrogacy to keep up his appearance as a man. The child would have no Bourreau blood. Thus, Charlemont had not wanted to do it. But no proper man would take Vincentaux, not with his ill temperament, even if said ill temperament was somewhat typical of the family. Trying too desperately to arrange and be turned away too many times would not look good.
But two things changed.
First, in the night, the house was broken into, and nearly a million gil's worth of jewelry was stolen. It was retrieved and the thief executed, but it had been too close, even if that knowledge was not public. They needed more financial security.
Then, Charlemont heard tell of a Sharlayan procedure that, while unsettling, was not strictly heretical. A procedure that would allow two women to have biological children.
He had to do it. The letter sat on his desk, a request from House Galanodel, offering a daughter to be wed to Vincentaux. It was perhaps the first time any had contacted House Bourreau for that brutish man at all. Charlemont had initially intended to turn them away. But this news...
He writes his reply, accepting and arranging a meeting, and summons a servant to send it off. He would make this happen. Somehow.