The Waitress in the Royal Ballroom
Chapter 1: Yes, You
The royal ballroom went silent when the young nobleman stopped in front of the waitress.
Clara stood frozen, a silver tray of champagne shaking slightly in her hands. All night, she had kept her head down and moved quietly between the guests, trying not to be noticed. But now every eye in the hall was on her.
"Will you dance with me?" Adrian asked.
The question hit the room like a shock.
The nobles stared in disbelief. A man like Adrian Vale did not ask a servant to dance. Not in front of dukes, countesses, and old families who measured a person's worth by bloodline.
Clara looked up, certain she had heard him wrong.
"Me?"
"Yes," Adrian said softly. "You."
His voice was gentle, but his gaze was intense, almost painful, as though he recognized something in her that no one else could see.
Clara lowered her eyes again.
"I... I shouldn't."
Her fingers tightened around the tray. She could feel the nobles staring at her, waiting for her to remember her place.
Adrian stepped closer and took the tray before it slipped from her hands. Gasps moved through the ballroom.
Then he leaned in and spoke so softly only she could hear.
"I know who you are."
Clara's face went pale.
Before she could answer, a furious voice cut across the ballroom.
"Get away from her."
A man in a dark suit pushed through the crowd and stepped between them.
Adrian turned sharply.
The man looked at Clara, then at the surrounding guests.
"She is not your waitress," he said.
The room fell into a deeper silence.
Then he raised his voice.
"She is Princess Alina."
A glass shattered somewhere behind them.
Clara closed her eyes.
The secret she had spent ten years hiding had finally been spoken aloud.
