I'm still confused,
So he's a duke, but not a vassal of the King, an independent duke, then?
But his territory is already larger than most kingdoms surrounding it, why not declare a new kingdom, then?
@PotatoZero large size doesn't necessarily mean large power. Remember that they're in the far North. Think of Russia. It has at least 3x the landmass of any country not named Canada or Greenland but most of it is either uninhabited or inhospitable.
Drawing in the nose when they clearly already have a nose kinda triggered me, your version of a nose, along with the notes about adding a nose, really took me out of my immersion.
Yeah, artist just didn't draw the bridge of the nose which is a stylistic choice. They didn't leave the whole thing blank, drawing it in isn't warranted.