Oh crap, I'm so dead.

His face turned into frustration when he realised who I am.

I gulped, "S-sorry, your majesty."

He didn't say anything but just continue to stare deep into my eyes for the next few seconds. Thankfully the staring was broken off by someone or else I might as well faint on the spot due to lack of oxygen because I wasn't breathing.

"Your majesty, your speech is in two minutes."

He broke his staring off me and walked away. I let out a huge breath and stabilised my breathing before I search for Olivia or Miguel. A minute later and I still I can't find them anywhere and seeing all these people who I don't know giving me occasional stares as I am the only one in the ballroom who isn't Spanish fed into my anxiety so I decided to go to a corner and try not to have a meltdown.

I saw the lights on the ceilings move their focus to the stairs which means the king is about to speak. A man who is around his thirties walked up the stairs as all the spotlights wearing a dark blue suit and holding a microphone in his hands.

"Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention as his royal majesty, king Eduardo Calderon is going to give his speech. Thank you."

The room became much quieter in the matter of seconds and the man walked down the stairs and passed the microphone to the king, the spotlight switching over to the king.

"Good evening to all who are here tonight for the fifty-sixth winter ball. Ever year it's always such a joy to be having this ball as I have taken on the role from my father, King Elvio and I'm sure my son, Ricardo-" He looked over at his son who is standing in front with his wife and Nicandro, "- will continue this tradition when he is to become king in the future. Remember there'll be an auction in the longue area all the way down the hallway in an hour and all proceed will divided and go to ten of the elderly cares in Madrid. Thank you all for coming once again and have a great night ahead."

The room broke into gentle applause and everyone resumed to their own conversations again. Nicandro was still standing near the stairs all the way at the front of the ballroom whilst I'm all the way at the back which is near the exit. Plus, he's with his parents and there's no way I can do the whole 'meet the parents' thing right now. I sighed and walked over to the refreshments area to get something cold to drink to maybe help calm my nerves.

I looked at the menu for a minute before deciding, "Can I get a pink lemonade?"

The guy behind the counter furrowed his eyebrows and stared at me for a few seconds, "I don't serve drinks to outsiders."

That reply felt like a spear piercing right through my heart. I'm an outsider here because I'm not Spanish. I shouldn't have came here, the only reason I came here was to experience some type of 'fairytale ball' but instead I'm being-

"That wasn't such a nice thing to say." A voice behind me said.

The man's eyes widened, "Y-your highness, I'm-"

"Save it. Apologise to her right now and get her the pink lemonade she asked for."

"I'm sorry, Miss." He bend his head down a little.

"And get me a Hawaiian mocktail." He added.

"Right away, your highness." The man quickly started making the drinks.

I turned behind and was disappointed that it was not Nicandro but someone from his family. He's around my age, black hair, light brown eyes and incredibly sharp jawline.

"Thanks, your highness." I said weakly as he took a sit on the stool next to me.

He crossed his arms, "You don't know who I am, do you?"

"No... sorry." I let out a small chuckle.

"I guess Nicandro really hates me huh. I'm Perez, his cousin." He held out his hand.

I shook his hand, "I'm Tiana. Which you probably knew."

"Yeah. Kind of hard to miss when you're mentioned on every gossip article."

The man came back with both our drinks and Perez gave him a glare before his face paled.

I could've stopped the conversation but I wanted to get to know someone in his family who wasn't as scary as his grandfather, "So, how did you know I was here?"

"Words travel fast." He took a sip of his mocktail.

My body tensed up, "People have been talking about me?"

"You're a hot topic tonight since my cousin took you as a date to a party, which he has never done before. Not going to lie, there was a period of time I thought that he was gay. I don't have anything against being homosexual, it's just that I've never seen him flirting with any girl and all of a sudden he brings a mysterious girl on a-"

He stopped talking which mean he must have sensed my super uncomfortable face and heard my breathing sped up. Oh god, everyone at this party thinks I'm some outsider like that guy... it's already bad enough that the king already hates me, now all of the most influential people in Spain hates me.

Perez placed his hands on my arm, "Hey hey hey... they weren't talking bad things about you."

My breathing slowed down after a few seconds, "Then what things?"

"The ladies are jealous of you and the guys are too stunned by how amazing you look in that dress." He said calmly.

"Really?" I met his light brown eyes.

"Of course, have you seen all the girls' face? As for the guys I can vouch as proof." He grinned.

"Thanks." I gave him a small smile and took a huge gulp of the pink lemonade.

Then I sensed someone behind me and turned around to see a boy much younger than me. He's wearing a light grey suite with a dark grey tie, has black hair and medium brown eyes.

He positioned his tie while keeping on a straight face, "Am I interrupting?"

"What do you what, Pascul?" Perez said, sounding a little annoyed.

"I just happened to walk by and saw you flirting with Nicandro's girlfriend so I think you should explain yourself." He puffed his chest and crossed his arms.

"I'm not Nicandro's girlfriend." I replied the boy.

"Then why is my brother's hand on your arm? Or are you secretly my brother's girlfriend?" He asked the second question at a lower volume.

Perez quickly removed his hands from my arm and rolled his eyes, "I'm sorry, this is my brother Pascul, don't mind him."

"I can introduce myself just fine, big brother." He stuck his tongue at Perez.

Perez gestured his little brother to go ahead and took a sip of his mocktail.

"I'm prince Pascul, ten years old and sixth in line to the throne." He held out his small hands for me.

I shook his hand, "I'm Tiana, eighteen years old and don't have a royal title."

"It's nice to finally the mysterious girl everyone has been talking about the past week. Now I have to go back to my friends, see you soon, Tiana." He took my hands and pressed a kiss on it before walking away quickly.

I couldn't help the smile that was forming on my face, "Your brother is so cute."

"He's everyone's favourite kid."

"I can understand why."

There was a few seconds of silence before Perez spoke up, "Do you want to dance?"

I was too involved in the conversation and didn't realise that there was music playing, people dancing slowly in the middle of the ballroom. This is seriously straight of a movie.

I frowned, "I-I can't dance, much less a graceful dance."

"I'm not much of an expert at this either since only having to do it once a year." He stood up from the stool.

"I'll for sure step on your shoe."

"That wouldn't be the first time that has happened." He held out arm for me.

I hesitated for a few seconds before getting off the stool and looping my arms around his. We walk arm in arm to the center of the ballroom and I turned to face Perez. He put both his hands on my waist which felt a little weird to me but I went along with it and put both my hands on his shoulders.

"Now we just dance in sync." And he started moving his legs.

"And pray I don't step on your shoe." I let out a small chuckle and try to follow his rhythm.

He gave me an encouraging smile, "You're doing all right so far."

I smiled back but that smile soon faded away when I saw the king talking to a group of people but his eyes were on me. He was definitely giving me deadly stares now which caused me to lose the rhythm and me stepping on Perez's shoes.

"I'm so sorry." I quickly say.

He grimaced for a few seconds then say, "It's fine."

We danced in comfortable silence for about a minute and I was familiarized with the rhythm before I broke the silence.

"Not that I'm not glad that you defended me and talked to me, but why did you come find me in the first place?"

His light brown eyes met mine, "I've been attending this ball every year since I was three and every year it's just the same old people coming here to talk about their latest achievements and the juiciest gossips. Maybe occasionally there're also there influential people from other countries, but that's about it. You're probably the first person who doesn't come from an influential family, I don't mean that in an offensive way, who attended the ball. Plus, I wanted to see what my cousin sees in you."

"Now that you've done that, you wouldn't mind if I cut in, do you?" A voice behind me said and I immediately knew who that was.