At the glam­orous ball arranged with the hope of find­ing a suit­able hus­band, Princess Brid­get nav­i­gates one lack­lus­ter encounter after anoth­er with poten­tial suit­ors. Her exchanges range from the self-absorbed Count of Falser, boast­ing of his gym and tai­lor, to the timid Alfred, more fond of his birds than con­ver­sa­tion. Amid super­fi­cial con­ver­sa­tions and danc­ing, Brid­get yearns for sim­plic­i­ty and gen­uine con­nec­tion, which she briefly finds in a con­ver­sa­tion about bird-lov­ing Alfred’s aviary mishap.

Despite her roy­al duties and the forced smiles, Brid­get seeks respite in the restroom, pon­der­ing over the futil­i­ty of the night and her grow­ing, for­bid­den feel­ings towards Rhys, her body­guard, whose pres­ence at the ball both tor­ments and com­forts her. Their charged yet fleet­ing encoun­ters reveal a depth of con­nec­tion and under­stand­ing between them that tran­scends their soci­etal roles, high­light­ed by Rhys’s gruff demeanor yet ten­der birth­day wish­es.

As the night pro­gress­es, Brid­get encoun­ters the rude and pow­er-hun­gry Speak­er of Par­lia­ment, Lord Erhall, who ques­tions her capa­bil­i­ty to rule. This con­fronta­tion brings to light the gen­dered expec­ta­tions and polit­i­cal pres­sures Brid­get faces, over­shad­ow­ing even her own desires for love and com­pan­ion­ship. This soci­etal cri­tique is jux­ta­posed with Brid­get’s inter­nal strug­gle and her clan­des­tine yearn­ing for Rhys, whose gift—a thought­ful, per­son­al sketch—becomes a sym­bol of their unspo­ken bond and the life Brid­get aspires to beyond the con­fines of roy­al­ty.

The chap­ter paints a vivid pic­ture of Brid­get’s pub­lic facade ver­sus her pri­vate desires, illus­trat­ing the dichoto­my between the oblig­a­tions of roy­al­ty and the gen­uine human con­nec­tions that elude her in the orches­trat­ed search for a hus­band. It rais­es poignant ques­tions about love, duty, and per­son­al hap­pi­ness with­in the restric­tive frames of soci­etal expec­ta­tions and roy­al respon­si­bil­i­ties.