Professor Carlton


 * Lydia's father. He cares for his daughter deeply but isn't above calling her a tomboy.
 * He works as a professor in a London university, specializing in gems and minerals. Unlike the "younger" generation of researchers, he is not only knowledgeable on the scientific aspects of his specialization, but is also heavily interested in the romantic aspects of it; he has extensive knowledge on several famous gems and their stories.
 * He is accepting of the slightly dangerous nature of Lydia's job, and respects her decision in working as Edgar's consultant. He is, however, extremely suspicious of Edgar's intentions towards his young daughter, because he believes that noblemen would not seriously pursue women born into the lower classes.
 * Because he has been living apart from Lydia, it comes as something of a shock to him that she is already of marriageable age. (When he went to Mannon Island, he found Edgar and Lydia escaping from pursuers. Edgar takes the opportunity to glibly proclaim his undying love for her and ask for her hand in marriage, although Lydia immediately and heatedly protests the joke. This apparently "shocks" Carlton into realizing that Lydia has grown up.) Lydia has observed that his constant protests that she is "still a child" may reflect this.
 * However, he has lately approved of Lydia's and Edgar's engagement.
 * He eloped with Lydia's mother, Aurora, but the circumstances of their courtship are unknown to Lydia (who is understandably curious). In a sidestory, however, it transpires that he merely intended to "rescue" Aurora from her dismal fate in the Makhil family, and that Aurora was the one who proposed to him. He is extremely embarrassed about having been proposed to (instead of the other way around, as was the norm at the time), and intends to carry that particular secret to his grave.