At their engagement ball, the princess, tired of playing her public role, is reminded by her fiancé to uphold their deal and act the gentle fiancée. The scene shifts to a high-stakes auction for a rare sapphire, 'The Heart of the Ocean.' Lord James seems poised to win with a bid of seven hundred thousand crowns, but as the auctioneer prepares to close the sale, an anonymous challenger dramatically raises the bid to one million, throwing the outcome into uncertainty.