Alain is a bastard and the only son of Count Edward Castian, lord of Snowfall Keep, without a single complex about it — because his father raised him as his rightful heir and never gave him reason to doubt his own worth. Despite the contempt of the northern aristocracy, he wears the Castian house colors openly and with dignity, governs his father's lands following his death, and has no intention of apologizing for his existence to anyone.