The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

"Aquila…" Crown Princess Pica murmured, her voice barely more than a whisper.

Perhaps it was the sound of her voice, or perhaps the man felt something – but he turned around immediately.

The red token in his hand flashed brightly and absorbed the red arrow that had led Raven and the others here.

"That's the token! That's my father's token!" Rook cried excitedly. He was about to run to the man who was being referred to as "Nemo" – but King Corvus grabbed his second grandson and held him back. There was wariness and eagerness both warring on his face. It was clear that General Aquila someone highly treasured by both King Corvus and Crown Princess Pica.

Mana and Raven finally got a good look at the man – and it was immediately clear that he was related to Rook. Other than his eyes, which Rook had inherited from his mother Crown Princess Pica, rook was the splitting image of this man in front of them. He was tall, well-built and muscular, with a natural aura of power and stability that were the hallmark of an excellent leader – especially on a battlefield. He very much fitted the heroic image of a hero that he was considered to be in the Obsidian Kingdom, and perhaps even beyond. Mana could clearly see that this man would be able to command his troops very well – no wonder he was such a celebrated warrior. She also understood the strange but respectful reaction of Head Sage Yue when he mentioned General Aquila, and also King Jaren's open respect and appreciation for the man.

Some people naturally had a heroic aura and image, whether they were dressed in rags or royal robes or battle armour – and this man in front of them seemed to be one of those. Even in ordinary clothes, he seemed quite dashing. It didn't seem like he'd had a very difficult life in the last ten years – even though he had lost his memory, he seemed to have been taken in by a decent family and he had been helping them with their work all these years.

King Corvus and Crown Princess Mana could hardly believe their eyes. General Aquila – their beloved Aqi – he was actually alive! Even if he had lost his memory, he was still alive! And he seemed to be healthy enough, too! While they couldn't feel his familiar strong dark magic yet – it may be linked to his memory loss, they figured. Because if General Aquila really had lost his magic, he wouldn't be alive and standing here in front of them in such good shape. This was because dark magic worked very differently from the other elements. For the other elements, one could live even if they lost all their magic – they would only lose their magic powers, but it would not affect their physical body or intelligence in any way. As long as they didn't need to use magic, they could live their ordinary lives as before. This was the standard rule for earth, fire, wind and water magic. (And this is why Crown Prince Mars's younger brother Prince Liam the creep was still very much alive and angry at his loss of magic – but his life wasn't in danger.)

However, dark magic very differently. It was a do-or-die situation for them, and once a person with dark magic lost their magic, their days were numbered. At most, they could live for a few months. Usually, the stronger the magic, the harder they were hit by the backlash of the absence of magic, and the faster they died. And this was also why, after Raven had explained the concept of dark magic to King Jaren, Mana and Jules – the royal family of the Emerald Kingdom hadn't bothered to put in too many resources into trying to locate who the other perpetrator was for the volcano incident at Verdant Hills. Since Azar had already eaten their magic – that person, who had lost their dark magic, would be unable to survive for more than a few months. It didn't matter if they had another elemental magic or not – before Raven, there were only two known cases of people with dark magic having dual or triple magic (and this, too, they had found out only from the ancient master's records – there was no information on these people in the current world) – and one of them died after losing her dark magic, even though her other element remained unscathed.

It was quite terrifying for Mana – because now she needed to ensure that Raven's dark magic remained intact – it was fine if he lost any of the other five elements, but not his dark magic.

So, since General Aquila had been alive and well for ten years despite his memory loss, he still had his magic.

The manager of the inn froze when he saw the group of royals walking into his little place and he was even more terrified by the variety of glances that were being aimed at Nemo, who had become like a family member for him over the eyes. His eyes widened in horror when the red token absorbed the red arrow and he immediately bowed to King Jaren.

"Your Majesty, Nemo is not a thief, please spare him!" he cried, bowing his head low. "He's not a thief, he has good character and he's been with my family for ten years! Please have mercy, Your Majesty! Nemo didn't mean to take anything from the foreign dignitaries!"

King Jaren was rather taken aback – but then again, given the conversation they overheard just now, it wasn't too surprising that the manager of the inn jumped to the conclusion that King Corvus and Crown Princess Pica and Prince Rook were here to punish Nemo for "stealing" the red token.

"We know he didn't steal it," King Jaren told the man. "There's no need to worry."

The man called Nemo, on the other hand, ignored everyone else and bowed to Raven. "My king," he said quietly.

"There's no need to bow to me, General Aquila," Raven said. "I'm not a king yet and you're far more than my subordinate. You're my brother's father."

Nemo – General Aquila – froze.. "I…I'm called Aquila…?" he murmured. "I…have a family?"