Lord Nicholas Charleston

Duke Nicholas Charleston is the uncle to King Sayoko Venomania and Dukes Elijah and James Venomania. He raised the Dukes primarily on his own, and helped raise King Sayoko when the boy visited his siblings which as fairly often while they were young. He relies heavily on his head maid, Alianne Mindels. While she is only staff, Nicholas trusts her judgement entirely on all matters and treats her as an equal. He splits his time between the castle and his estate as he is needed.

He is currently the fourth in line to the throne of Asmodin.

Biography
Nicholas Charleston was born to the late King Arokud and late Queen Elysia Venomania. Due to King Arokud's paranoia, Nicholas was adopted out in the strictest secrecy to Lord Oliver and Lady Katherine Charleston a few days after he was born. Witnessing the signing of the documents as per Asmodin law, at least at the time, was the head maid of the Charleston house, Alianne Mindels. Nicholas grew up thinking he was indeed the biological child of his parents as they were similar enough in appearances to his biological parents to pass as such. While Lord Oliver didn't think it likely that Nicholas would have to claim the throne, Lord Oliver did make sure Nicholas was well educated and schooled in manors.

Nicholas excelled in all subjects taught to him, though he showed little interest in politics, though Lord Oliver tried desperately to get him to at least casually follow the going ons of the country. As a teenager, Nicholas got interested in the business his adoptive parents ran, which was several farms spread out across Asmodin. Lord Oliver eventually relented and helped prepare Nicholas to run the family estate. Political situations had appeared to stablize for the most part and King Arokud's brother Duke Eddard had had a son who appeared he would be at least a decent ruler from where Lord Oliver stood.

Shortly after Nicholas's 22nd birthday, his adoptive parents died from illness, leaving Nicholas in charge of everything at once. His parents were only going to give him one of the farming estates to manage at first. Alianne Mindels stepped in and offered to help make sure things ran smoothly until Nicholas got the hang of things. As she had been head maid for several years, she knew the workings of the estate by simply being able to listen on on conversations. Nicholas welcomed the help and the two began a great friendship that would last for years to come.

About a year after his parent's died an assassination attempt on King Arokud succeeded, killing both him and the queen. It miraculously spared the life of the Crown Prince Luca. However, due to his mental instability, wasn't immediately coronated. Luca ended up marrying manipulative Lady Illyria Julii-Myst and had triplets, Sayoko, James, and Elijah. By then even Luca was fearful of Queen Illyria's manipulative ways and sought out a noble to raise the triplets. Lord Nicholas was approached for this and despite not having any knowledge of infants or what not took the triplets in. However, before everything could be finalized, Queen Illyria discovered the plot and through tedious persuasion, Nicholas was able to keep Elijah and James at his estate all of the time. He wasn't able to keep the Crown Prince Sayoko at the residence.

Life for the makeshift family went on, though there were problems with the princes as they struggled with their relationship with their biological parents, especially the Queen, but to some extent the King. Prince James grew withdrawn and Prince Elijah tended to be more rebellious than Nicholas would have liked. However, as long as they didn't appear to be doing anything illegal, Nicholas let the princes do as they pleased, not having liked his adoptive father's strict approach.

When the princes were teens, political situations between Asmodin and Ren went south and King Luca was forced to abdicate. Despite Queen Illyria's attempts to take the throne, due to her only being royalty by marriage, the thrown went to a then too young to rule, Crown Prince Sayoko. More political discussions went on and it was chosen for Lord Nicholas to act as regent for the Crown Prince and Nicholas stepped into the role to keep the country from falling apart. He spent most of his time in the castle along with Alianne, leaving the majority of the running of the estate and farms to the remaining senior staff.

During this time, Prince Elijah stumbled upon the adoption papers in a drawer in Lord Nicholas's study. He confronted Alianne about this who later informed Nicholas of his royal blood. It didn't really have much impact on Nicholas's day to day life, but he's beginning to wonder how his head maid appears so young yet is so old. The fact that he is royalty also gave Nicholas insight as to why his adoptive father was so strict on him and had tried to push him into following politics. He did however keep his adoptive parents' last name in respect for them, especially after hearing from Alianne that Lady Katherine was unable to bear children of her own.

After Crown Prince Sayoko was crowned, Nicholas began to spend more time managing his own estate, but he does act as an advisor to the King. He also lets Alianne help manage the staff of the castle alongside of Sayoko's staff.

Career
Duke Nicholas Charleston runs very successful farms across Asmodin. He also has several contracts with various grocers and restaurants with whom buy their produce and meat from him. He's been interested in running farms since he was a young teen and had eventually convinced his adoptive father to teach him how to run the estate.

While he took on the mantle of Head of the Estate at a relatively young age, Nicholas's inherent intelligence and calm demeanor helped him to keep the estate running smoothly, along with the help of his Head Maid, Alianne Mindels.

He's also an advisor to the King, mostly on the crop situation. But he also adds in his thoughts on other matters when he feels it's necessary.

Relationships
Nicholas's closest friend is Alianne Mindels. While they are relatively close, neither is attracted to the other. However, from an outsider's perspective, it could be viewed as if they were at least attracted to each other but keeping to the code of conduct for employer to employee.

He's also relatively close to the Dukes and to some extent the King as he did raise them. While neither live with Nicholas, his door is always open to them or their family.

Recently he has been making friends with Wednesday Micheals-Wood and he is attracted to her. Whether or not that attraction will blossom into a romance is unknown at the time, but signs are pointing towards a romance between the pair.