>>137421665>That is an interesting way of having both of them in the same storyQuick rundown, if you are interested in how it came to be:
-Maximilian mother wanted to inherit the throne
-Rule of succession forbid women to rule unless there is no male squirrel in the line of succession who can claim the throne AND they have to be married
-Cue most of the male squirrels of noble lineage unsuspiciously dying
-Marry the one remaining who couldn't claim the throne because his father was a fox
-He mysteriously die too, no long after the queen give birth to Max she is now in full power
-Skip a few years and now Max is faced with he problem that the dating pool among the Squirrel nobility is quite limited, that is to mean, basically empty, as there were basically no noble male squirrel left to sir a daughter for Max's generation.
-He considers the existing female squirrels to be either too old or of mixed parentage to conceive an heir with any of them.
-How to maintain the proud Acorn lineage an its legacy? Of course!
Additional notes, Nigel ended up being significantly shorter than Maximilian, not tot the point of dwarfism, but still enough that Max couldn't help but consider it an insult to himself, rubbed to his face any time he would look at his "son". Also, for the short-time they coexisted, Nigel's "grand"mother turned to develop much more maternal and caring for him than she ever did for her son. Those two combined factors greatly contributed to the difficult relationship and resentment they had together.