Vergil's OneShots (DMC Fanfiction)

Daughter of House Sparda - Part One

A/N: Fasten your seatbelts for a whopping 5-part mini-story.

[Daughter of House Sparda – Part One]

"From today onwards, your name shall be Acela Sparda. Acela Eva Sparda." The announcement had finality and authority heavy in its tone, and Acela struggled to stop herself from breaking down into touched tears.

The confusion and relief threatened to make the water break its banks, but there was also a thin sliver of fear –fear that all was not what it seemed like from the outside of the Ducal House of Sparda.

Just a day ago, Acela was still a homeless orphan whose worries had only been centered about how she was going to scrape and beg for her next meal. Yet, now, from this day onwards, Acela was expected to be the youngest child of the Ducal House of Sparda, the only daughter of the Sparda family. How would the nobility accept someone like her who came from a background of nothingness? Would she ever be able to carry herself as a proud daughter of House Sparda?

"Are you fine with how things are, Acela?" Duke Sparda asked gently, an expression of concern and happiness a strange mixture on his face.

"Y... Yes, your Grace..." Acela stuttered embarrassingly. "Are you... Are you really fine with having me as family?"

"You are my daughter now, Acela. I want to hear you call me 'Daddy'." The duke answered with a soft smile.

"B-But you are the Duke, I cannot possibly-" The protest of a homeless commoner rose to her lips, but Duke Sparda seemed to have expected it completely.

"I am the Duke, yes. But you are now the daughter of a Duke. You are no longer a commoner or a beggar on the street, Acela. You are my daughter; at least let me hear you call a 'Father'."

There was truly no fighting against the man who was had been so kind and gentle to her, who had not asked a single thing from her ever since he announced that he would take her into his family. He had explained everything to her with nothing but kindness and genteel: how the Ducal House had recently lost their Duchess due to disease, how the Duchess had actually been watching Acela selling flowers on the street outside when the Duchess had been confined to her bedroom due to her health, and how in the Duchess's last words, she had wished for Acela to be adopted into the family. The Duchess had not wanted the Ducal House of Sparda to remain without a female figure, and had insisted that the Duke would bring in a daughter to replace the Duchess when she passed on. The Duke had tried to resist against his wife's order, but the disease within the Duchess's body had been too strong against their love. The only thing he could do was to honor her last wish and treat Acela as if she were one of them in the family.

"Father..." Acela's hesitation lessened greatly when she saw the man's tired smile grow wider.

Acela herself had seen the Duke a few times when selling flowers outside the Duke's property before the Duchess's death. He had been healthy, happy and handsome. But now, the man seemed to always have a shadow set in his eyes, a sunken sallowness in his cheeks of a man suffering from the loss of a beloved. His smile seemed much sadder than before, and Acela wondered if there would ever be a time if she could see the Duke –the man who had now become her father –back in his original self.

"I must apologize to you first, Acela. As you may have already known, you have two elder brothers – Vergil and Dante. Eva and I have been raising boys, so please forgive me if I make mistakes while caring for a daughter instead of a son..." The man stood up as he talked, and slowly walked and took the seat beside Acela on the couch, giving her plenty of time to show any signs of discomfort if she felt any.

"I will be fine, your- Father..." Acela corrected herself consciously, not very sure if she wanted to get used to the warmth that the man was giving as he settled in beside her, his arms carefully wrapping her. The duke's movement was always slow and careful, and Acela knew that she was given every opportunity to stop him if she felt uncomfortable with his trying to close their distance.