"We hope all our honored guests are enjoying this celebration held for our royal princess," he declared. "But now it is time to entertain ourselves further and witness the beauty of the Skargardian waltz!"
The moment the announcement rang through the hall, the atmosphere shifted.
Voices rose at once, not into disorder, but into that lively swell of excitement that came when an event finally reached the part everyone had been quietly waiting for. Smiles widened, and groups loosened. Even the nobles who had spent the evening buried in politics and calculated conversations seemed lighter now. The promise of dance had done what speeches and formal greetings never quite could. It breathed movement into the room.
The Skargardian waltz was not treated as a mere pastime.
It was tradition.
