Cinderella — 1950.

"Mademoiselle Estelle de Gramont, daughter of Count Honore de Gramont," the herald announced solemnly as a blonde girl in the most beautiful mint-colored dress entered the palace and curtsied to the handsome prince—the very one every maiden in the kingdom dreamed of marrying.

And he merely rolled his eyes in irritation, making a show of it.

"He is unbearable! How can he behave like this?" lamented the king, sitting on the balcony and watching the contenders for the role of his son’s future wife.

"Do not be so hard on him, he is still young and..." The duke did not get to finish before the king struck the balcony railing.

"He is young? He is young! Am I not young? And still no grandchildren to hold! I will die without ever having a chance to dandle one on my knee!"

Crossing his arms, an enraged King Charles looked down at his son.

"Mademoiselle Justine de Noailles, daughter of General Thierry de Noailles."

The prince, looking at his father, yawned boredly and shrugged his shoulders.

"Bastard!" the king shouted sharply.

"And what did you expect, my king? That a girl would walk into the palace now, and at the sight of her, Prince Henry would realize she is his fate, ordained by destiny itself?" the duke replied calmly.

"Such things do not happen," he added, glancing at the newly arrived girls.

"Lady Tremaine and her daughters, Drizella Tremaine and Anastasia Tremaine."

The king gazed with resentment and anger at the ball to which all the maidens of the kingdom had been summoned—a ball founded on his personal whim to find a bride for the prince and, most importantly, a mother for the king’s grandchildren.

"How incredibly boring it is here, even more boring than the previous attempts to find me a wife. Dad, you’ve really stopped trying," thought the handsome prince and fixed his bored gaze on the palace exit. But suddenly, he saw you—late to the ball—and Henry abruptly felt a tightness in his chest.

"Do not happen? And what is this? Look, you old fool! My son! My son! Do you see? He has fallen in love! I would recognize him among a thousand—that is the look of a boy in love!"

Sharply grabbing the grand duke by the collar, the king cried out and began searching for the one who had e