[Daughter of House Sparda –Part Three]

"She's here." The whispers might as well have been a shout, given how obvious they were when Acela stepped into the room. She spied many instances of men being given suggestive elbow jabs with gestures towards her direction as she walked into the room proper, but pointedly ignored them as she kept her head up and her walk graceful as she had been taught.

Small conversations continued while Acela claimed her seat in the waiting room, arranging her dress around her knees absent-mindedly just to seem busy so that nobody would think to try to approach her. That trick seemed to hold the excited crowd back for a few minutes, and Acela was made aware of many beginning to walk in her direction, champagne flutes ready in their hands with the clear intention of being the first ones to offer her a drink.

Acela sighed loudly, unafraid of letting the entire waiting room full of next-generation nobles hear her frustration and irritation at the oncoming crowd. She pretended to still be busy arranging her dress, and took the chance while everyone's eyes were still on her to flash the sight of a dagger resting in its holder strapped to her slender leg underneath the folds of her dress.

It was her unspoken warning: she was armed, and she was not afraid of using it on anyone who got on her wrong side.

"Lady Sparda, you look beautiful as always." Young Lord Link Vestia was the fastest, bravest and honestly the most powerful one (following Acela) in terms of family name to approach her at her seat.

"Lord Vestia." She greeted, not intending to return the compliment. Because the kingdom only had two ducal houses, Vestia and Sparda had had the misfortune of having to sit close to each other and mingle with each other in many social events. This, paired with the unmasked desire of the Vestia family to have one of their sons marry Acela to combine the power of their families, was a complete turn-off for Acela. Unfortunately, Link Vestia had either not gotten the memo of her displeasure or had chosen to ignore it completely since he often still approached her with his intentions clearly written on his face.

Acela guessed that the only good thing that came out of his fervent chasing was the fact that Link Vestia was not shy to abuse his family name and power in order to shove and threaten his competitors out of the way to gain her attention. In a way, his interference did indeed save her from many more approaching men vying for her affections.

"I hope you enjoyed your winter." The young man of her age attempted to start a casual conversation while equally casually handing over a flute of champagne.

"I did." Acela made no move to receive the flute, smiling politely back at the young man. Unfortunately, this was already not the first time they had gone through this same dance. Link Vestia was certainly very capable at forgetting the past and seemed to be expecting the results to change despite acting the exact same way that he had during the night of the King's birthday.

Well, maybe not the exact same way. The young man seemed to be learning from his previous mistake as he maintained his smile at her refusal to accept the champagne, and instead drank the entire flute in one go as if it somehow showed off how charming he was being. In a casual move, he set the empty glass on the tray of a passing waiter, a glow of red dotting his cheek.

"Have you found yourself an escort into the hall later?" He asked, stepping closer to stand by the side of her chair in a bid to be closer to her since he had been talking while looking down at her while she sat without her trying to offer him a seat in her immediate range. "I was made aware that your brothers are busy with securing the area for the ball, and our fathers will be entering with the royal family."

"I haven't found myself an escort because I don't need one." Acela answered with the same polite smile, sure to raise her voice a little louder so that she could be heard by all eavesdropping ears. "There's something about entering a place and having everyone start talking about me that I quite like."

There was a still moment of shocked silence at Acela's declaration, then the whispers continued in the background as Link Vestia's expression turned to soft disbelief.

"Entering the hall alone would be a transgression of age-old traditions. Surely you know better, Lady Sparda? Besides, would you really risk offending King Felix with your little rebellion?" He asked, sounding as if he were baiting her to reconsider her declaration.

But that had been a decision right from the moment her brothers had apologized to her that they had both been drafted for security purposes during breakfast earlier in the day. For the many events since her social debut, Acela had had the fortune of being escorted to every event by at least one of her brothers, if not for her own father, and thus had always never had to worry about arriving at events in the arms of a stranger. She had always appreciated the fact that her brothers always made sure to arrange their schedules so that at least one of them would be free to escort her, but their work was the First Captain and First Commander was still important to the royal family.

A daughter of the house of Sparda as she was, Acela could not demand for either of her brothers to free themselves just so they could escort her into the hall. She had made it known in the morning that if her family was not free to escort her into the hall for the New Year's Ball, then she didn't require an escort.

Nobody in the Sparda family had found that offending, strange or worthy of horrified stares like what she was receiving now in the waiting room.

"Traditions are for the old." Acela answered, earning loud gasp as if she had spoken treason. Perhaps in another time, she might be arrested for treason with her words, but she knew that the current King Felix would not take offense whatsoever. Even the old man agreed to her views sometimes. "I don't see how I am insulting the royal family if I choose to represent the House of Sparda and walk into the hall alone."

And she had certainly been prepared for exactly just that. After her maids found out of her intention –and her family's approval –to walk into the hall for the New Year's Ball alone, they had pulled absolutely no stops to make Acela in the most beautiful version of herself. They had been determined to let Acela shine in the spotlight that would be placed on her, and if Acela was honest, she did look forward to being in the spotlight.

"You must not have attended enough events, Lady Sparda. While I understand that you did not have the fortune of attending as many events as we have, considering your late debut, but you must not make this mistake."

The elder brother, semi-advisory semi-lecturing tone of Link Vestia grated Acela's nerves. Another particular point of irritation for Acela was Link Vestia's constant reminder that she had debuted in society late because she had not been born into the Sparda family, but had been adopted when she was 13. It was already 7 years since, and Acela had attended countless of events as a daughter of Sparda since, but Link Vestia –and honestly his family members –could not forget the fact that she did not have as much experience in society as they did. They constantly reminded her of that fact as if it was something worthy of pity, something that required them to extend their guiding hands to her in favor despite her never once asking for it.

"I don't find it a mistake." Acela answered, pointedly staring hard up at the young man who had fastened his position beside her chair simply because she had not commented on his doing so. "And certainly, a member of the Sparda House knows better than to insult King Felix. So, I would much appreciate if you would remain a faithful escort to the Princess of Purdel instead of nosing on who will be escorting myself. I would very much hate for the Princess to find fault with our kingdom's hospitality once more."

At Acela's words, the chatter began anew –this time its main character having moved to a certain young man of the Vestia family who had obviously been attempting to ditch his escort duties in order to flirt with Acela. Everybody knew that the Princess of the neighboring country of Purdel had been visiting their kingdom during winter –she had been seen escorted by Link's brother during the Christmas Ball not too long ago. It was simply expected that the Princess would once again be invited to the New Year's Ball, and there had been talks about how the Princess had disliked her escort in the Christmas Ball and had requested for the Vestia family to provide her with another.

Fortunately for Acela, her father had mentioned in passing during their mealtime that Link was the lucky –or unlucky –soul who had been assigned to escort the Princess during the New Year's Ball.

"I am sure you know your duties well, Link." The intrusion of a familiar voice surprised many in the room –including Acela –as heads turned to find the Crown Prince Claude standing in the middle of the waiting room. How the Prince had managed to sneak into the room unnoticed was beyond Acela –though she suspected it might have something to do with her conversation with Link soaking up everyone's attention.

Still, the young man of her brothers' age stood in the middle, fingers lightly pinching the stem of his champagne flute as he smiled straight at them. "I met the Princess outside in the corridors. She must have missed your arrival, Link. Would you please do us a favor and attend to her? She must think that you have gone running away like your brother."

The Crown Prince was dressed up in his standard royal uniform, impressive as ever, and standing in a waiting room full of the younger generation –the current waiting room was meant only for the unmarried children of the noble families –the Crown Prince certainly stood out like a sore thumb now that he had announced his presence. The noble children around him hurried to bow respectfully in greeting, though the young man simply waved it all away with his amused smile, stepping closer to where Acela sat.

"Good evening, Lady Acela." He greeted with a charming bow as she stood up to greet him. Etiquette taught that she was supposed to bow to him, but he had already ruined that chance for her when he bowed to her instead, catching one of her hands gently for a back-of-the-hand kiss of greeting.

"Good evening, Your Highness." She answered formally, withdrawing her hand as naturally as she could once the kiss of greeting was done. She wiped the back of her hand absently against her dress.

"You wound me just like your brothers. I have told you countless times to call me by name. We are close enough to do away with formalities, are we not?" The Prince Claude extracted a handkerchief from the lapels of his uniform, took the hand that he had just kissed and lightly rubbed the back of it where he had just kissed. "If you want to erase my trace on your hand, don't dirty your dress doing so. Your brother will murder me if they found out I've laid a hand on you."

"Which brother?" Acela could not help but ask, a genuine smile finally finding its way across her face.

"Both. Dante might just come after me directly with his sword, but you and I both know Vergil won't do that. If anything, he will just pretend to not see any assassins attempting to murder me." The Prince grinned in reply, pocketing his handkerchief as quickly as he had withdrawn it. "I really wonder why appointed those two as my First Captain and First Commander."

"Because you trust them." Acela answered, and there were no other more honest words spoken. Everyone in the kingdom knew that Prince Claude had grown up alongside Acela's brothers and that the mutual trust all three of them had was unbreakable. There was no questioning that Acela's brothers would remain by Claude's side even after he ascend the throne.

"Trust aside, I'm here because I heard from Dante's complaining that the two of them has duties tonight, which means you, the precious jewel of the House of Sparda, are open to escorting. I have come to offer my services to the House of Sparda." The Prince offered his hand to the surprised gasp of their collective audience.

It was not an understatement to say the Crown Prince Claude was the Number 1 Catch of the Kingdom. Perhaps by rebellion or for some other reason that nobody was made privy to, Crown Prince Claude was still unmarried at the ripe age of 24. Probably one of the very few bachelors left on the singles market –including Acela's brothers –there were countless ladies and princesses of other kingdom who had come hoping to catch Claude's favor. Of course, Acela had never been one of such woman –she had witnessed how he interacted with her brothers –since she treated him something akin to a third brother as well.

"I am unsure if you were in the room when I declared my intentions to Lord Vestia previously, Prince Claude. I intend to walk into the hall alone without escort. My family has approved so." Acela answered, not moving to take the hand that was offered to her. Did the prince expect that she would simply take his hand now that she had finally managed to chase Link away? No, Acela was prepared to walk down the red carpet alone, and not even the Crown Prince and future King could stop her.

"I can't say I haven't tried." The prince had clearly dealt with her brothers enough to know where her stubbornness came from. "Besides, if there is any family in this kingdom who dares to do this kind of thing, then it would be someone from the House of Sparda. I might have expected something like this from Vergil, but coming from you... it's hard to remember you when you were a crying, dirty mess standing in front of me."

"That was 7 years ago, Prince Claude." Acela might still be smiling, but nobody could mistake the daggers hiding in her black eyes as she stared back at the man. "I hope you do not keep reminiscing of those days and spare your memories on better things."

"There is nothing quite better than Vergil almost murdering an idiot for having pushed you down and insulted you, though? And you in tears with lemonade and blood. You know, when I'm attending formal events and I have to smile, I think back on that day and the smile just comes naturally. It's amazing."

"It is amazing." Acela made sure the polite smile was still pasted on her face. The man she considered as her third elder brother seemed to be out to poke fun at her by bringing up the embarrassing past when she had yet to come to terms with her adopted family lineage. But two could play in this game. Claude might still view her like a younger sister to be teased, but Acela refused to let go of the opportunity to remind him exactly whose sister she was. She was not just any other sister of anyone in the Kingdom. She was a sister of Vergil and Dante Sparda. She was a daughter of the House of Sparda. "Almost as amazing of the memories of that day in Purdel. Our Prince was wearing women's clothes, hanging off the arms of-"

Acela was not surprised when the gloved hand of the prince applied itself over her lips to stop further words.

"You play dirty." He accused, the amused smile frozen on his face.

In response, since her lips were still covered by the Prince, Acela shifted sideways and parted the folds of her dress around her knees, keeping the view of her legs modest as she showed off proudly the weapon strapped underneath her clothes. That action was good enough a threat from her since everyone in the room knew how skilled Acela was with sharp things.

Even though she might not be blood-related to the Spardas, Acela had still learnt from the Kingdom's best when it came to wielding weapons for self-defense. Sure, she might not be the best at duels and competition, but nobody could doubt Acela's family once they saw her with a weapon.

"I can't even say you're kidding with your threat when you're related to that monster named Vergil." Prince Claude sighed as he removed his hands, stepping back a safe distance.

"That monster is my brother and your First Commander." Acela answered politely with a pleasant smile, finally taking the chance to offer the prince her bow. "Look at the time; it is almost time to enter the hall. Please, Your Highness, be on your way, or the ball shall never start."

The straightforward words that basically meant 'get out' to any trained ear returned the amused smile upon Prince Claude's face. He knew clearly he had been smartly insulted by the girl who was 4 years younger than he, but he could not feel the pain.

Acela had truly grown up into a fine woman perfectly capable of taking care of herself in the past 7 years.

Her brothers and father took all the credit in making such a unique woman whose personality could not be matched by any other individual of her gender.

"You win, Lady Sparda." The prince offered his hand again. "If I cannot escort you into the hall, then at least let me escort you to the entrance of said hall. My parents must have reached by now, and you shall enter shortly after my family."

"Very well." Acela decided that there was probably no harm in letting the prince lead her to the hall entrance. Besides, being around the man who was like her third brother definitely kept the very curious souls at bay, and that was exactly how she liked it. She slipped her hand into the prince's, and took his guidance towards the exit of the waiting room, the crowd parting like the Red Sea before them. "You win this round."

"As long as you don't tell Vergil I was the one who is escorting you to the entrance of the hall now." He answered easily as they stepped out of the room proper, but Acela only smiled as they turned the corner at the end of the long corridor to face the crowd waiting outside the doors to the hall.

"Too late." Acela grinned as she withdrew her hand from her escort's, patting him on his shoulder before leaving his side, exchanging an acknowledging nod with a particular young man standing by the door of the hall -his face looking as if murder was somewhere in his plans for the night. "Did I forget to mention to you that Vergil would be stationed as security at the entrance of the hall for the walk in?"