A/N: A short end to a long mini-story :)

[A Royal Pain In The Ass (Part Four)]

It did not end with the party; no. It was only the beginning

If Isadora didn't understand how two men could make her father so happy in ages, she now couldn't understand how the same two men could change her life so much so that she no longer could recognise it.

Isadora stood at the entrance of the castle, stunned and still unable to get a good grasp of what was going on as she watched her father give the two men large hugs, grinning widely. The last time her father had smiled like that was before her mother had passed away, and they had been sharing a holiday together as a family; with Alex mostly too young to comprehend whatever that was happening around them.

"I am so glad that Eva gave birth to sons as capable as the two of you. Now that I have seen the two of you, I can die easy knowing that I did the right thing to send my sister off with Sparda." Her father spoke to the men in front of her, clapping them on their shoulders enthusiastically, looking like their proud father instead of uncle. Still; considering how much they had changed things around in not only the castle, but the country itself, her father was not wrong to look so proud.

"Dying is a little too early for you, old man." Dante gave his famous one-sided grin whereby only one side of his lip pulled upwards mischievously, looking as if he were conniving something terribly bad. "You'd better not be shaking too hard when we come back. I still want to be the one who unlocks sweet Dora's chastity belt."

Dora could not help her affronted expression, giving the man a quick slap on his other shoulder quickly. She had learnt within one week of Dante's staying in the castle with them that being polite with Dante would get her nowhere with his inappropriate comments. So after taking good advice from his twin brother, she had learnt to become a bit more physical in his punishments, taking a harsh tone of voice that she very rarely took with anyone. Funnily enough, it all worked, as Dante now gave a small wince and a small apology that didn't sound very sincere at all.

"I know we are 28 years late, but let me thank you from the deepest of my heart, Ethan. Had it not been for you who gave Mother the strength to run away with Father, we will never be here standing in front of you." Vergil pointedly ignored his brother's inappropriateness, picking up the conversation as if Dante hadn't replied at all.

"Don't you think the two of you have thanked me enough through your actions for the past two months? My Isa is the next Queen now, and Alex is maturing in ways that we have never seen before. You have helped clean my Court up better than I imagined it could ever be. It should be me thanking you, Vergil, for being so willing to help an old man out." Dora's father laughed, the words still having trouble sinking.

Just yesterday, Dora had gone through the official process that usually only princes took part of to be named as heir to the throne. Dora was now in line to become the next ruler, the sovereign Queen. Never had she dreamed that something like this would be happening...

"Take it as repayment for Dante cleaning out your food storage as well." The sharp accusation in the elder twin's voice gave cause for Dante to wince. Truly, Dora knew that there was nobody else in the world who could control the less socially-appropriate brother quite like Vergil.

"Nonsense. I don't know how he did it, but Dante has helped us a lot by getting through the Alex."

"Does that mean I get to stay here?" The complimented man spoke up with a tone of hopefulness, giving his brother the puppy eyes as both Dora and her father laughed. Dante was hopeless.

In all honesty, Dora couldn't understand at all on what grounds Dante and Alex connected to each other. But in the days and weeks following the party, Isadora, her father and Vergil had been so preoccupied with fighting against angry Lords and vicious media reporters who were stirring up trouble by creating a messy story of coups, betrayals and affairs that nobody had realized that Alex hadn't made a single public protest about the whole thing.

It was only after things started to die down that Isadora realized that Alex was somehow spending his time with Dante, and though the two of them were hopeless flirts and generally spent their time in the gutters –it didn't change the fact that her brother had had experienced something very much like a personality change.

In fact, the personality change had gone so far that Alex had requested to take a break from the court, and leave with the Sparda twin brothers. Vergil had agreed that it was a probably a good thing for Alex to learn some humility by living a frugal life, learning to protect himself and the ways of life the hard way outside the castle walls. Living with demon hunters as hard-handed as Vergil had made Dora worry a little about her little brother, but Alex had put his foot down –not for something wilful for the first time in his life –and insisted that he wanted to go with Dante.

Both Dora and her father knew that the journey would not be smooth for Alex, but if there were two people in the world that they trusted more than anyone else to teach Alex a thing or two about humility and the ways to become a man suitable for the Crown, then it was Vergil and Dante.

It was extremely strange to see her little brother coming down the steps from the castle carrying his own bag and luggage to the limousine, but Alex was busy swatting away worried attendants insisting that he needed to start learning how to carrying his own things. The four of them who had been already waiting at the entrance of the castle fell into unison silence as they watched Alex heave his belongings to the boot, then turn to join them for a quick farewell.

Alex would be staying with the Sparda brothers for a 'study leave' for a few years and hopefully come back strong enough to become a candidate for heir for the throne –to fight Dora for the throne. Dora supposed that she must be the first heir out there who wanted a rival vying for the same crown as her.

"So, um... I'm going, Dad..." Alex was very awkward around his father and sister nowadays, particularly after he had been taught –somehow by Dante –that his behaviour had been completely terrible with them.

"Take care of yourself, Alex." King Ethan was –as always –quick to forgive any wrongdoings of his children as Alex was engulfed in a large bear hug. Dora silently joined in, sandwiching her poor little brother between them.

"Hey Verge, do you think if I join in the group hug, I can get a feel of Dora's ass?"

The whisper made Dora jump back quickly in self-defence, but thankfully nothing had been done as she watched the elder twin simply reply with a completely exasperated expression.

She had also learnt in the past two months that it was only around Dante that she ever got to see proper, genuine expressions on Vergil's face. Other times, Vergil's expression was always just blank and completely composed –as if nothing could faze him at all.

"You know, acknowledging me as an uncle is like acknowledging another parent." Dora was a little surprised when her father unwrapped himself from the embrace, turning to Dante with a wide smile. "So when are you going to stop looking at porn magazines and find a woman who can stand your mouth and settle down with? Do you have any women in mind in Limbo?"

"We have two female demon hunter acquaintances." Vergil answered for the sake of his little brother. "Both of them are waiting for thick-skull here to understand that they willing to shorten their lifespans to be with him."

"Hey!" Dante protested. "That's not true. They hate my guts, Verge. How can you possibly think that a woman who shoots me in the forehead, and a demon bitch who uses her demonic power to electrocute me can have a single inkling of liking me? It's you they're after."

"Right." Verge answered in a tone that clearly said that they had been through this conversation too many times than Vergil bothered to count. "It is safe to say that Dante isn't getting a woman anytime soon, Ethan. You should spend some time worrying about Isadora instead. Given the rate at which she is going; I don't think she will end up with a King by the time she is crowned."

"I'll have you know that I have had boyfriends." Dora could not help but feel the need to speak up. She just didn't want to say that those ex-boyfriends had mostly been out to get into her father's good graces, but she had dumped them the moment she was made aware of those intentions.

Being a princess definitely made finding someone who genuinely appreciated her for her efforts a rare breed.

"They were all gold-diggers, Sis." The quite interjection of Alex startled everyone.

"A-Alex...?" Dora could not help her stutter as she turned her wide eyes on her little brother.

"Yeah?"

"What did you just call me?" Dora was almost afraid to hear the usual answer from Alex's mouth.

"... Sis..." The reply was so soft that it could have been a mosquito flying around her that she heard. But it remained a fact that she had heard Alex's voice, seen his small blush as he averted his eyes in shyness, looking to the ground as his lips moved and formed a word.

"There you go, you little bastard. One word at a time. Next, say 'I love you, Sis.'" Dante interjected on the touching moment, clapping Alex on his shoulder like a proud father, but all that managed to reap was a glare from the thoroughly embarrassed boy before Alex mumbled a quick awkward farewell to them, running off to the limousine before anymore digs could be made.

"Thank you, Dante..." Dora could not help but repeat her thanks, the tears crowding her eyes.

Ever since Alex learnt that he was destined to become King –that the crown was about to be handed to him on a silver platter –he had learnt to also stop called Dora 'Sis'. For almost ten years of their lives, Alex had only addressed her as 'that woman', 'father's daughter' or simply just by her full name.

"Aww, come on. Don't cry. If you cry, Vergil's going to whip my ass when we get back home." Dante whined as Dora dabbed at the corner of her eyes, shortly realizing that the tears of gratitude for Dante were all well-wasted.

"Alright." Vergil announced. "It is time for us to leave. I am sure you and Isadora have better things to attend to than be here sending us off."

"Of course. We don't want you to miss the flight home as well." King Ethan said, then could not resist one more hug goodbye to the two men who had changed her life completely 180 degrees in just two months. And all they had brought with them was one briefcase that turned out to contain pictures of the two boys when they were younger with their parents –their mother who was also princess of Havencrest, and their father who was now the King of Hell.

"Take care of Dante, Vergil. And my brother." Dora could not help but say worriedly, watching as the younger of the twins bound back eagerly to the limousine like an overgrown child.

The older twin simply paused, looking over his shoulder at Dora with a small shake of his head.

"Dante was initially just a pain in the ass, but now that we know that we are royalty..." Vergil trailed off, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his lips before he put his back fully on Isadora and her father both.