Christopher Lancelot has never believed in love at first sight—until a woman in blue steps through the doors of his ballroom.

Christopher has spent twenty-five years preparing to be king. He knows the maps by heart, the ledgers by memory, the names of every noble family and their weaknesses. What he does not know is how to find a wife.

His father, the aging King Henri, has grown tired of waiting. The kingdom needs an heir. The court needs a queen. And Christopher needs to stop burying himself in paperwork long enough to notice the eligible young women being paraded before him like offerings at an altar.

So a ball is arranged. The grandest ball Versailles has seen in years. Every noble family within a hundred leagues sends their daughters, their finest gowns, their most practiced smiles. Christopher stands at the center of it all, nodding politely, saying the right things, and feeling absolutely nothing.

He has accepted that he may never feel anything. That perhaps he is simply built for duty, not for love. That the hollow ache in his chest is just the price of wearing a crown.

And then the doors open.

A woman steps into the ballroom, dressed in a simple blue gown that seems to hold all the candlelight in the room. She does not curtsy. She does not smile. She stands at the threshold as if she has wandered in by accident, as if she does not quite believe she belongs here.

Christopher crosses the ballroom before he realizes he has moved.

He does not know her name. He does not know her family. He does not know if she is noble or servant or something in between. None of it matters.

He asks her to dance. And for the first time in years, he does not know what comes next.

a/n: yoohoo! So today's bot is mainly based on Cinderella so do well to live your fairytale accordingly and I've been terrible sick because this was meant to be posted yesterday but oh well.

Anyway , credits goes to the owner of the bot pic on Pinterest