The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

King Orion and Head Sage Yue had been utterly stunned to see General Aquila. Both of them had met General Aquila in their younger days, and they had known of his passing ten years ago…but now it turned out that the man was alive! Didn't that mean that the Emerald Kingdom and the Obsidian Kingdom now had even greater links with each other than before?! Not only was Prince Raven of the Obsidian Kingdom betrothed to Princess Mana of the Emerald Kingdom, and this was the little princess that was said to be the apple of King Jaren's eye, but now, even the biggest and greatest hero of the Obsidian Kingdom, General Aquila, had deep ties with the Emerald Kingdom! No wonder the Obsidian Kingdom had chosen to ally with the Emerald Kingdom now!

The Sapphire Kingdom was all right, because they were very close to the Emerald Kingdom in any case, and their relationship was only enhanced by the betrothal of Crown Prince Jules of the Emerald Kingdom and Crown Princess Bella of the Sapphire Kingdom.

The situation with the Obsidian Kingdom was different, though – historically, the Obsidian Kingdom had never aligned with anyone, so the current situation was a big shock to most people. However, looking at the hale, hearty and handsome figure of General Aquila happily laughing and chatting with King Corvus as well as his wife Crown Princess Pica – they could see why the Obsidian Kingdom would choose to do so.

"How can you still be alive?!" was the reaction of King Orion when he'd first seen General Aquila.

"Where have you been all these years?" had been the question of Head Sage Yue.

General Aquila had merely smiled at the incensed King Orion, and then he'd turned to Head Sage Yue and asked, "Have the years treated you well, Yue?"

Head Sage Yue had nodded mechanically. Before the true identity of the woman he had loved and married had been revealed to be the Crown Princess Pica of the Obsidian Kingdom, Head Sage Yue had been introduced to General Aquila as a distant cousin and childhood friend of his wife. The two men had become close friends, actually, until their identities were revealed and Head Sage Yue had tried to kill his wife and new born son under the influence of the Moon Temple. The two men had never met again until now – and somehow, Head Sage Yue found himself feeling a little happy that General Aquila – he'd only known him as Aqi back then – was still alive. They had been friends…and now that the enmity caused by the revelation of their identities back then had become more or less redundant, Head Sage Yue wondered if he could go back to being on cordial terms with his long lost friend.

While Head Sage Yue was still lost in his thoughts, King Jaren appeared with Raven and Bella on each arm, and Azar perched on his shoulder, while his own three children and Crown Prince Mars were right behind him. King Jaren looked like a proud lion showing off his beautiful cubs from his attitude towards not only Jules and Mana, but Raven and Bella as well! They greeted everyone politely, and then King Jaren led Queen Carolina and King Corvus to their seats. Astra and Mars immediately attended to King Orion, Grandma and Grandpa. Jules and Bella naturally gravitated to check on Headmistress Ana of IMARI, Fox, Vanilla and the two imperial physicians. Mana started chatting with Raven's half siblings and showed them to their seats. Enca and Dawe took their seats quickly, but Rook and Mana stood chatting for a while.

Raven, on the other, beamed at his stepfather General Aquila.

"Father Aqi, Mother, I'll show you to your seat now," Raven spoke up, smiling up at the big man.

Head Sage Yue was taken aback, and then an overwhelming sense of loss washed over him. Not only King Jaren, but now even General Aquila was claiming the paternal spot in Raven's heart?! Why? Both King Jaren and General Aquila had their own sons, didn't they? One had Crown Prince Jules, who was a magnificent child that any father could be proud of, and the other had Prince Rook, who was the splitting image of his father! Why on earth were they eyeing his only son, Raven?! And why on earth was Raven smiling up with so much love and respect at these two men? King Jaren he could still understand – the man had actually taken great care of Raven for months now, and even Head Sage Yue could see how Raven had blossomed under King Jaren's parentage…but General Aquila?! The man was gone for ten years, and then he turned up now and look at Raven grinning up at him as though he had hung the moon in the sky! While his own father, Head Sage Yue, was left high and dry!

General Aquila ruffled Raven's hair affectionately with a fond smile on his face. "Thank you, little Raven," he said with a doting smile on his face.

Raven practically glowed at the simple words of affection.

Head Sage Yue felt a pang in his chest. Would his son ever be as close to him as he was to King Jaren or General Aquila? Would he ever be able to compete with these two men for a spot in Raven's little heart? Where was the bond of blood?

Of course, he'd completely forgotten that he was the one that had tried to kill Raven as soon as he was born, and that he'd never shown a shred of affection to his son in all these years until now, when he'd been recognised by other people.

He watched wistfully as Raven showed General Aquila and Crown Princess Pica to their seats, and then went over to King Jaren to fetch the little dragon. Azar's matching outfit was absolutely adorable - it was especially coordinated to match Raven and Mana's, and when Raven walked towards his own seat with the little dragon, almost all eyes in the room were drawn to them. Raven went to Mana and Rook first, spoke to them for a while, and then put Azar down in the baby seat that was prepared especially for him. 

Head Sage Yue could only watch helplessly as his son seemed to get farther and farther away from his sphere of influence. He wondered if he should call out to Raven and demand an explanation, or simply call out to him to chat – but ultimately, he chose to remain silent. Better to suffer in silence than make a fool of himself in public.

However, he soon realised that he didn't need to be worried at all. Head Sage Yue was quite satisfied when Raven came to his side and sat down right next to him after showing General Aquila to his seat and depositing the little dragon in his baby seat.

King Orion, on the other side of Head Sage Yue, wrinkled his nose in distaste, but then, seeing Head Sage Yue's genuine appreciation of Prince Raven of the Obsidian Kingdom, he decided to put up with it. After all, the boy was only a half blood. At least one half of him came from the purest line of the Moon Temple Sages, so there was perhaps something decent about him.

Besides, given how King Jaren doted upon this half-blood boy, King Orion was reasonably sure that King Jaren wouldn't hesitate to throw out anyone who dared to disrespect the boy. King Jaren's overprotectiveness of his children was legendary – and it seemed that this little boy had wormed his way into the big man's heart, somehow – much more than his own dear son Crown Prince Mars could manage! It was despicable and enviable at the same time!

So, King Orion made some small talk with Head Sage Yue before returning his attention to his own son, who was utterly besotted with his fiancée for some reason – and it was something that utterly befuddled King Orion. It wasn't that Mars wasn't fond of the Astra girl before – but right now, it was completely over the top, making him wonder if his son had been bewitched. However, no matter how much he checked, King Orion was unable to find anything wrong with his son Mars. Other than following after Astra like a lovelorn puppy, the boy was perfectly fine; in fact, he was doing much better with the excellent food and atmosphere of the Emerald Kingdom. His magic had even improved a bit!

As for Princess Astra, King Orion used to be quite satisfied with her earlier, but now that he had met the younger one – Princess Mana, who used to be extremely sickly before, he realised that Mana was a better deal than Astra. Still, King Jaren dearly loved all his children, so having Astra wasn't a big loss, either. It's just that Mana and Raven had that dragon…and Raven wasn't a bad looking child, either…

King Orion didn't realise how dangerously close his thought process was to his son's before he'd been given the completely untraceable love potion. It was a good thing that he quickly discarded this idea as soon as he saw how fondly King Jaren, King Corvus and even Queen Carolina were looking at Mana and Raven. Even General Aquila, Crown Princess Pica and Head Sage Yue.

He couldn't afford to touch these children…for now.