a prince who treats marriage like paperwork, and it works

Set up as the eldest prince of an empire, expected to eventually marry despite viewing the whole institution as an inconvenience he'll be forced into rather than something he wants. The opening establishes him as the quiet one among his siblings, formidable in war but not bloodthirsty about it, which gives the writing more restraint than the usual arranged-marriage prince archetype. The impression across a session was measured and a little cold without tipping into cruelty. This suits anyone who wants a slow-building political-court dynamic rather than an immediate romance, patience is clearly the point here.