The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

Once the barrier was up, Mana turned to Bella, rubbing her hands gleefully.

"Now, Big Sister Bella, try on the new dress! I've been dying to see you wearing it!" she said.

Bella laughed and shook her head fondly. Then she quickly went to change into the outfit.

Jules really had a sharp eye, Bella thought, as she put on the dress. It fit her like a glove – there wouldn't be a single adjustment needed. Of course, much later, she would find out that Jules had actually invented a handy little spell especially for this purpose, and all the dresses he would make for her in the future would have it. This magic spell ensured that the dress would settle around Bella and make minor adjustments on its own magically, to ensure that it fit her properly. But that was for later.

Right now, Bella's mind was full of hearts and bubbles and glowing lights as she thought of her dear fiancé sewing the dress for her bit by bit. Which woman wouldn't be touched when her fiancé took such great efforts to make something for her?

"Big Sister Bella! Are you done yet?" Mana's cheery but rather impatient voice dragged Bella out of her daze.

Bella decided that she'd let Mana help her with the accessories and quickly dissolved the magical barrier she had set up to change.

Mana caught sight of her Big Sister Bella in the shimmering gold dress and froze, her jaw falling to the floor.

Seeing Mana's look of utter shock, Bella became a bit nervous. She had only taken a quick glance at the mirror and found her appearance to be pleasing – but Mana's reaction – what could it possibly mean?

"Mana…?" Bella asked nervously. "Does it – does it look strange…? Does it – does it not fit me well…?"

Mana blinked slowly, and without a word, took a step back and shook her head. Then she rubbed her eyes and peered at Bella again.

Bella became even more anxious. "Mana…?" she asked, swallowing nervously.

Mana's face split into a grin. "Big Sister Bella! You are so beautiful that you made me speechless! When you stepped out – it was like an immortal goddess descending from the heavens to the earth! You are definitely the most beautiful woman in this entire world! Big Brother is so lucky to have you! You're so smart and so beautiful – that's just so awesome!" she declared. "Big Brother is definitely going to faint when he sees how absolutely gorgeous you are!"

Bella flushed. "You're exaggerating," she mumbled shyly.

"No way!" Mana said firmly. "You are definitely the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life!" And Mana really meant this – even in the modern world, where beauty abounded in every corner with the help of cosmetics and surgery and so many things – Mana had never seen anyone as truly beautiful as Bella. Just the dress made her look so amazing – with the accessories and a bit of subtle make up (that was Mana's forte anyway) – how much more beautiful Bella would be – it defied all expectations! And, to think that this Bella had been hiding away her beauty deliberately for so many years – if it hadn't been for Jules, the world would have never been able to see such a lovely spectacle at all! Brains and beauty and a kind nature – Bella really was the perfect package, Mana thought happily – her Big Brother had definitely hit the jackpot here. And now, Mana was determined to enhance her dear Big Sister Bella's beauty to another level altogether. Everyone who saw Jules and Bella today would be mesmerised and forget about everything else other than how beautiful and how absolutely well matched Jules and Bella were – this is what Mana wanted for the evening, and naturally, Raven was completely with her on this.

And since Raven was already doing his bit with their Big Brother Jules – Mana had to do her part with Big Sister Bella!

So Mana immediately got to work. She helped Bella put on the jewellery and all the accessories, and did her hair up in a complicated, fancy, modern day method that no one in this world would ever have seen before. It was a semi formal style with her hair gathered up to one side and then falling down in perfect ringlets over one shoulder. The dress which Jules had made for Bella left her shoulders bare and hugged her figure beautifully and then flared out in multiple layers. When Bella moved, it looked like she was floating in a shimmering cloud of gold. She also wore long golden gloves which went up her arm like a second skin, highlighting her beautiful arms. The gloves were studded with precious gems in an exquisite matching pattern. Bella's shoes were also the same shade of shimmering gold as her dress and the matching gloves. An almost sheer stole was also draped over one shoulder for Bella, and this was nicely looped in and tied up with a bejewelled belt by Mana around Bella's slim waist. This stole further enhanced the ethereal effect of a goddess that Bella was currently projecting.

A lot of hair accessories also went up in Bella's complicated hairstyle, and Mana secretly cast a small spell to make Bella's golden hair shine even more than usual, and the precious gems in the hair accessories looked even lovelier.

Jules had been very careful when picking out the precious stones for the outfit and the accessories – the overarching theme was blue sapphires, which matched the exact shade of Bella's eyes – and these blue gems were the centre pieces of all the jewellery, the accessories and even the embroidery on the dress and the gloves and the shoes. They brought out the colour of Bella's eyes in such a beautiful manner that no one could remain unaffected. And along with the blue sapphires, Jules had cleverly added emeralds and amber coloured sapphires (heaven knows where he had found these rare and almost impossible to source precious stones – that was a little secret between little Azar and his favourite Uncle Jules that even Mana and Raven had not been told about) – and these emeralds and amber coloured sapphires were naturally the exact shades of Jules's mismatched eyes. These two colours danced around the majestic blue sapphires – and the designs of the entire outfit, i.e. the dress together with all the accessories, jewellery, shoes, purse – everything – was like the narration of the love story of Jules and Bella and a testament to their shared affections.

It was most definitely the most romantic and most thoughtful gift Jules could have come up with for his wonderful fiancée – and Bella understood every single bit of it. And naturally, Bella was overwhelmed. She had her own little surprise planned for Jules – but that was to come at a later date, when they went back to the Emerald Kingdom. And now that Jules had done this for her, Bella found herself wondering if her own seemingly grand gesture of love – well, at least it had seemed rather a good idea when she had planned it and started bringing it into action – but now she wondered if it could compare to what Jules had done for her just now, and whether it would be an adequate measure of her affections for Jules. She loved her handsome and gentle fiancé so much that her heart ached if she was away from him for even a few hours – but was her planned gift enough to convey to the young man how important he was to her, and how utterly, absolutely devoted she was to him? And if it couldn't convey her affections to Jules, then was there any point in considering giving that gift to Jules at all…? But then, Bella had put a lot of thought and effort into it and she was sure that Jules would like it – it was just that she didn't know whether it would be enough.

After all, Jules had left no stone unturned in showing Bella how much he loved and cherished her.

Mana and Raven did, too. And Mana was very, very proud of her Big Brother. This is how a real man shows his love and adoration to his most beloved person, Mana thought to herself.

And lastly, Mana added a subtle layer of make up to Bella's face and exposed skin – giving it a glowing effect, and highlighting her beautiful features. She lined Bella's large, almond shaped blue eyes, making them sparkle like the most premium sapphires under sunlight. She added a mild blush to Bella's naturally rosy cheeks, enhancing the effect. She also painted Bella's naturally pink lips with a shimmering lip rogue that would probably make Jules want to kiss his fiancée right away. A light brush of a subtly shimmery highlighter and some light contouring – and Bella became a vision just too beautiful to be true.

Only the blind or the dead would be unable to be moved by Bella's beauty, Mana thought to herself, feeling very satisfied with her handiwork.

And then she finally let Bella look at herself in a full length mirror.