The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

Bella saw herself in the mirror and was stunned speechless. Objectively, Bella had always known that she was rather pretty – in fact, the problems caused by her beauty were what had led her to hide away under big glasses, unfashionable hair and ugly clothes to completely smother her beauty in every way possible. However, since she had been together with Jules and the other friends she had found in the Emerald Kingdom, she had slowly started to become comfortable in her skin and had stopped considering her own beauty as something troublesome, and had instead started thinking of it as a positive thing. Especially when she dressed up nicely and she would find that Jules would be unable to take his eyes off her, even when he was supposed to be doing other things. That made Bella feel rather amused – after all, which girl doesn't want her fiancé's eyes to keep straying in her direction as if on autopilot or as if he was unable to look away from the one he loved? And it wasn't like Bella didn't do her own share of peeking in a sneaky manner at Jules's handsome face whenever she got a chance – who asked Jules to be so good looking?

But coming back to the point, Bella knew that she was beautiful and she had learnt to appreciate her own beauty.

However, right now, she almost couldn't recognise the angel or the goddess that she was seeing in the mirror. Mana had been right – Bella really did look like an ethereal, immortal goddess descending from the heavens to take a look at the mortal world. She looked so utterly gorgeous that for the first time in her entire life, Bella found herself mesmerised by her own beauty!

"Wow," Bella murmured.

"You are so beautiful that birds will fall out of the sky when they see you, Big Sister Bella," Mana declared. "I can hardly wait to see Big Brother faint!"

Bella blushed. "It is because of Jules and you that I can look so good right now," she said shyly.

Mana rolled her eyes. "It is because you are so pretty that Big Brother was inspired to make these clothes and things for you," she said. "Big Sister Bella – you are so confident of your awesome brains – and it is such a deserving confidence, too. Shouldn't you try to be as confident of your beauty, too? You're just as beautiful as you're smart, after all! My Big Brother is so lucky to have found you!"

Bella laughed, her melodious voice ringing out like the sweet tinkle of a bell. "I'm the one who is lucky to have found your Big Brother," she told Mana with a smile, but her sapphire blue eyes were very firm and serious. "Without Jules – I'd never, ever have imagined that I could be so happy or that I could be so pretty like this, too…"

Mana beamed at her. "My Big Brother is quite a catch himself, isn't he?" she boasted cheerfully.

"He definitely is," Bella agreed without even the slightest iota of hesitation. "He is the most wonderful person I've ever seen or known."

Mana laughed. "You two are really made for each other," she remarked. "Big Sister Bella, you're exactly as whipped for my Big Brother as he is for you – you guys are just too adorable! And so gorgeous, too! You're the best looking couple ever! And the nicest, too!"

Bella laughed and ruffled the younger girl's hair affectionately. "Thank you," she said. "But I think you and Raven will grow up to be an even better looking couple than Jules and I."

"Impossible," Mana said. "Big Sister Bella and Big Brother are so good – I'd be perfectly satisfied if I could look half as good as you two! Raven, on the other hand – now, he's definitely a world class beauty. He's already so lovely – I can only imagine how absolutely stunning he's going to be in a few years! I'll have to stick closer to him so that he doesn't attract random birds and bees wherever he goes!" she announced.

Bella laughed merrily for a long while. "I feel the same way, little Mana," she confessed. "Jules is so good – he's sure to attract many random birds and bees, isn't he?" A hint of nervousness and despair crept into her voice towards the end.

Mana shook her head firmly.

"Well, Big Brother is never going to find anyone who is better than you – in terms of either brains or beauty or as a person, and he knows this very well," Mana said lightly. "Besides, he's so head over heels in love with you that an entire troop of beauties could be dancing in front of him without any clothes, and he'd probably not even notice them at all. Sometimes I think he's completely blind to anyone except you, Big Sister Bella – but that's a good thing, right?"

Bella smiled. "Really? You think so?" she asked.

Mana nodded. "I know so," she said firmly. "Don't tell me you never noticed how Big Brother pines after you if he can't see you for a few minutes!" She narrowed her eyes at Bella. "Or is it that you are in the same boat as Big Brother and that you are so busy looking at Big Brother yourself and pining after him yourself that you didn't notice this?"

Bella flushed again and then she smiled slightly. "That – that is probably true," she said in a rather bashful voice.

Mana rolled her eyes. "It looks like my Big Sister Bella and my Big Brother Jules are as stupid in love as they are smart and beautiful in other things!" she teased.

Bella could only smile helplessly in response. She certainly didn't have any counter response to that. Although, after hearing about Jules's condition from Mana and realising that he was more or less in the same boat as her – that was quite a big relief for Bella herself, and she would be quite happy to admit it. As long as their emotions were in sync, as long as the two of them were truly and deeply in love with each other, as long as the two of them were loyal and devoted to each other, as long as they could be proud of each other's talents and achievements and stand by each other's sides through thick and thin – what else was there to worry about?

Bella's mind naturally flew back to what had happened earlier today – she had pushed it to the back of her mind because she didn't want to think about unpleasant things – especially things which she knew would hit her very, very hard as soon as she let herself absorb the information.

But Jules's unflinching support flashed in her mind. She remembered his warmth as he held her up, his stable, unmoving stance and not even the slightest fluctuation in his affection or belief in her even when faced with an abominable cursed living ghost corpse which turned out to be her own supposedly dead father – a lesser man would have run away screaming at one tenth of what Jules had seen today, and yet this darling boy had stood firmly by Bella's side, holding her up when she herself was about to collapse, calm, quiet, nurturing as the earth itself. And Bella had been shocked that her mother Queen Carolina had told the truth about her father to Jules much earlier while hiding it from Bella herself – Bella decided she would have a chat with her mother on that subject later. But despite knowing the truth, Jules had neither given up on Bella nor held the fact of her villainous father's betrayal against her at all – how wonderful and how perfect a partner could he possibly be? How in the world did Bella get so lucky to win his heart?!

But her father…

Seeing Bella's mood plummet, Mana rightly guessed that her mind was wandering towards the events which just happened. Mana could see that Bella had not quite absorbed what had happened earlier – she had simply pushed it to the back of her mind. Perhaps it was for the best, Mana thought, knowing that her Big Brother would be with Big Sister Bella every step of the way and help her through these difficult times. And she definitely didn't want Big Sister Bella's mood to crash because of these revelations – perhaps it was a petty thing in the larger scheme of things, but Mana really, really wanted her Big Brother Jules and her Big Sister Bella to be genuinely happy for today's banquet – and not just putting up a brave, smiling face for other people's sake. These two wonderful people deserved nothing less than that!

So, to ward off the impending danger and despair, Mana tapped Bella's arm and asked, "Big Sister Bella, do you want to go and bedazzle my Big Brother now? Don't you want to see his reaction to your gorgeous appearance?"

Bella's mind was immediately pulled out of darker territories and returned to the present. With a small smile, she told Mana, "Let's go."

Mana quickly dissolved the barrier they had put up.

Jules and Raven were waiting for them, with Jules looking utterly stunning in his matching outfit with Bella.

As soon as Jules caught sight of Bella, he leaped up from his seat, his mouth falling open in shock.

Bella's situation wasn't much better, either. Jules looked unbelievably dashing and handsome…!

And then, without a warning, both Jules and Bella fainted.