The Announcement and the Daughters' Jealousy

The Prince returns to the center of the ballroom with hurried steps, his face flushed, his eyes shining with the gleam of a man completely smitten. His voice trembles with desire and an almost childlike determination as he raises his voice for all to hear:

"I have found… the woman who will be my queen. Lady Tremaine… will you accept to be my wife?"

The ballroom erupts in astonished and confused applause. Lady Tremaine inclines her head with regal elegance, her complexion now slightly reddish—a false but perfect blush that makes her look like a happy and fulfilled bride—her eyes lowered in apparent modesty as she replies in a soft, firm voice:

"It would be the greatest honor of my life, Your Grace."

Fulfilling her deepest desires: power, stolen beauty, the man who crowns her queen. Her smile is radiant, but her green eyes sparkle with the satisfaction of one who has just conquered an entire kingdom with a single dance.

Anastasia and Drizella, who have spent the night surrounded by a swarm of men—dukes kissing their hands, earls offering jewels, captains whispering obscene compliments in their ears—stand frozen at the edge of the dance floor.

Anastasia, her cheeks flushed with the unprecedented excitement of so much adoration and the rage of betrayal, stammers in a broken voice:

“Mother…! One of us was supposed to be…! Look how many men desire us for the first time in our lives…!”

Drizella, panting as one earl strokes her arm and another kisses her neck with devotion, snarls through gritted teeth, her voice hoarse with frustration:

“This isn’t fair! We’re the young ones, the voluptuous ones… the ones who should be up there!”

Lady Tremaine approaches them with slow, majestic steps, her purple gown whispering a soft, silky threat. She takes them by the arm with a false, maternal sweetness, leaning down so only they can hear her low, commanding voice:

“My darlings… enjoy your admirers. For the first time, they look at you, they desire you, they beg you on their knees. I gave you this beauty… and I am the one who deserves the Prince. I am the one. I always have been. You will have lovers, palaces, endless pleasures… but the throne and the man who sits on it are mine.”

Her eyes gleam with a mixture of twisted maternal pride and absolute domination. The daughters, still surrounded by drooling men who keep touching and flattering them, lower their gaze and don’t dare contradict her.