The countess was the count's niece AND wife

I am absolutely astonished that I didn't pick up on this all these decades. Last night I turned on the English subtitles to the movie and listened and read at the same time. That's when I realized the beautiful, 23-year old countess (played by beautiful European model, Astrid Heeren) was indeed the Count of Maldorais' niece AND wife. Why didn't I know that? All this time I assumed the movie's characters were talking about making a mistake in discerning whether at first they were meeting the count's niece or his wife.

How could the Count of Maldorais marry his own niece? I can explain. In old Europe it was legal (I don't know about today) among the aristocracy for noblemen to marry their own nieces. I know this grosses you and me out big time but evidently this was common practice several centuries ago. It was a means for aristocratic and noble families to keep concentrated within their family name the lands and wealth that went with it. From what I can tell, it wasn't as frequent as we might fear it might have been, but it did happen. I like to read history and have come across info on some European nobleman here and there marrying his own biological niece; that's right, related by blood, not a niece-in-law by a second or third marriage.

I don't know how the aristocratic nieces felt about having to marry and sleep with a much older man who was also their biological uncles. I haven't come across historical accounts of their opinions although I would like to know. Maybe the nieces didn't feel grossed out because they were born and socialized to that marriage custom and so it may not have felt as alien and unnatural as we today might think.