@412001 Well, I mean, there's nobody alive now who could say exactly how things were in the time period this setting is based on. Regardless, it's worth mentioning that this was a time where arranged marriages were considered the norm. It's hard to imagine people who readily sell their children for their own personal gain having a very warm home life.
Aside from that, whether in fiction or reality, the nobility are history's supervillians. It's hard to imagine them not being as selfish and cold as humanly possible in any given situation.