Vergil's OneShots (DMC Fanfiction)

Marriage Headed For Divorce - Part One

[MarriageHeaded For Divorce – Part One]

Elise Lancaster sat perfectly still on the edge of her nuptial bed, still dressed fully in her wedding gown. It had been her battle armor earlier during the day and it had served her well. No stops had been pulled for a royal wedding, even if the wedding was between her –a daughter sold to clear to her baron family's debt, and a prince that was widely known as a disgraced prince.

Elise's gaze focused on her fifteen-year-old husband, First Prince Vergil Sparda. When they had met for the very first time today, Elise had initially thought that she was ready for anything. After all, she knew more about the First Prince than many –especially how handsome he would grow to become in the future. She had thought that she was ready to face the younger version of the handsome man she saw so often in her dreams, but she had been so wrong.

His eyes had been cast to the ground most of the time during the day, heeding and obeying instructions without questioning and affecting the general air of a reserved and quiet boy. Throughout the ceremony, nothing had made Prince Vergil seem like he was ready for the crown and throne. In fact, he had been so solemn and expressionless throughout the wedding ceremony that Elise had even heard whispers through the audience of how this marriage had effectively sealed Prince Vergil's last chance of ever fighting against the almost-omnipotent force that was his uncle, the one and only King Mundus.

After all, a disgraced prince was married to a woman of lowly status like Elise Lancaster, preventing him from gaining any political advantage from marrying someone else from a powerful family. King Mundus had not offered his nephew even the slightest inkling of a chance; Elise had been chosen precisely because her family was so deep in debt that they had to sell their one and only daughter to anyone who would offer to clear their arrears. The Lancaster family was perfect as a burdensome family of in-laws put in place to block a prince's potential path to success.

Nevertheless, Elise knew better.

"Your Highness, please have a seat. You must be tired after the ceremony today." Elise bade politely. The only good thing that came out of Elise coming from the Lancaster family was the fact that her parents had made sure she was groomed to be a perfect, marriageable woman. Her parents had set her value right from her childhood; she was an asset of the family set to be sold to the highest buyer once she turned of age. King Mundus had certainly turned out to be the richest buyer in the entire kingdom.

"I thank you for your concern, Lady Lancaster, but I am fine." The equally polite and deferential reply came from Vergil, whose back was to her as he hung his father's ceremonial coat up.

It had been the first time the late king's ceremonial coat had been worn since King Sparda's death. Elise knew that that coat held a very large significance to the young prince and it could be seen easily in the way he held it with care, as if unwilling to part with it since the ceremonial coat would be returned to the Kingdom's Treasury the next day.

"Your Highness, we are now a married couple and no longer strangers. Please feel free to call me by name." Elise bade, watching as the prince continued to shed his ceremonial robes slowly at the far end of their bedroom. They had moved into their new palace –a wedding gift from King Mundus –after the ceremony. While it was a well-furnished palace that was worthy of housing a prince, Elise as well as many other nobles knew the real, unspoken objective behind the gifting of this palace to the prince. This palace, being far detached from the Main Palace, was given to Vergil to keep him far away from political affairs.

"We have only met today, and this is the first time we are conversing in private without audience. I would not like appear rude, Lady Lancaster." The prince's reply was typical of the defensive nature that he had grown up to develop.