The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

"So, we're good now?" Mana asked Raven. "We can start getting ready for the banquet?"

Raven sighed, but nodded, giving his assent to Mana. Not that he would ever be able to hold off anything which Mana really wanted anyway, he thought wryly to himself.

Mana rewarded her young fiancé with a bright smile and a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you," she said happily. "You are really the best!'

Raven could only shake his head helplessly and flash her a smile of his own.

And thus, the two of them appeared at the banquet in the evening, looking perfectly healthy as pretty as dolls.

Jules and Bella were visibly relieved at seeing that Mana and Raven were all right.

"How are you feeling?" Jules asked Mana in a low voice as soon as she sat down.

"Perfectly fine," Mana replied. "Don't worry so much, Big Brother. Otherwise you'll ruin your handsome face," she added with a grin.

"You should say that to Raven," Jules told her. "The poor boy nearly went berserk when you fainted."

Mana frowned at Raven. "You lost control again?" she asked unhappily. "You didn't tell me…"

"I didn't," Raven said quickly.

"He nearly did," Jules told Mana, selling out Raven without any qualms whatsoever. "If he didn't have to take care of you, he wouldn't have managed to calm himself down at all."

Mana's frown deepened and she grabbed Raven's wrist, running her own diagnostic spell. Raven's magic was indeed a little unstable – not enough to raise alarms or to notify her through their shared bond – but a tad unstable nonetheless.

Mana immediately sent a strand of her own magic through Raven, making the boy let out a slight, almost involuntary hum of contentment as his magic stabilised completely and he felt warm and comfortable being enveloped in Mana's magic.

Mana knew the feeling very well, so she simply smiled and patted Raven's arm. Then her smile disappeared and she asked with a frown, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Raven shrugged casually. "You were the one who fainted. I'm all right," he murmured.

Mana narrowed her eyes at the boy. "You know better than anyone that I have become healthier and stronger since I woke up after that," she pointed out. "You, on the other hand – you were just planning to hide this instability in your magic until it became serious enough to be able to notify me through our bond, isn't it?" she accused.

Raven didn't respond – well, more like he couldn't, because that was exactly what he was planning to do.

Mana sighed and looked at Jules with a beseeching look in her emerald eyes. "Big Brother, can you scold Raven for me and tell him that he needs to take better care of himself?" she asked pitifully.

Jules, the doting big brother that he was, immediately turned to Raven and scolded, "You need to take better care of yourself, Raven. For Mana's sake, if not your own. Don't you know how precious you are to Mana – and to us as well? What will we do if something happens to you?"

Raven nodded obediently. "Yes, Big Brother, I will," he said in a small voice.

"Don't scold Raven," Bella spoke up. "He was just worrying about Mana. We all know how much he cares for Mana, don't we?"

Jules nodded and reached out across Mana to ruffle Raven's hair affectionately. "Of course we know," he said. "But we also want Raven to take care of himself just as nicely and meticulously as he takes care of Mana – there's nothing wrong with that, is there? Both of them are very precious to us, aren't they?"

"Very true," Bella said. "I can't argue with that!" She turned to Raven with a smile. "Jules is absolutely right. You and Mana are both very, very important and precious for us – so you two have to take care of each other, and you two also have to take care of yourselves properly!"

"Yes, Big Sister Bella," Mana said sweetly and nudged Raven with her elbow.

Raven smiled helplessly and repeated obediently, "Yes, Big Sister Bella."

"Good," Bella said, nodding her head in satisfaction.

"Excellent," Jules said, grinning at the two younger children.

King Jaren and Queen Carolina, who were pretending to chat with each other while observing the four children, heaved a sigh of relief.

"Grandmother Carolina, Azar wants that sweet," the little dragon, who was sitting on King Jaren's lap, suddenly pointed at a pastry dish near Queen Carolina.

Queen Carolina smiled at the baby dragon. "Little Azar, why don't you come and sit in Grandmother Carolina's lap and I'll get you two pieces of this sweet," she said, trying to persuade the little dragon. She had been itching to stroke his smooth, dark scales like King Jaren. Little Azar was just too cute, she thought.

Azar looked up at King Jaren, blinking his big, round and sparkling emerald eyes adorably. "Grandpapa, can I go and sit with Grandmother Carolina for a little bit?" he asked in a sweet voice.

How could King Jaren bear to say no to this beloved little dragon grandchild of his?

So, King Jaren rubbed the little dragon's head affectionately and said, "Go on, then – but be careful about how much you eat, otherwise your Daddy will scold this old Grandpapa of yours."

Azar huffed. "Daddy is a good boy like Azar. Daddy will not scold Grandpapa!" he declared.

Then he flapped his wings and flew to Queen Carolina and sat down in her lap.

Queen Carolina finally got to do what she had been itching to do for a very, very long time. She got to play with the little dragon and feed him treats!

Azar realised that Queen Carolina was even more indulgent towards him than his Grandpapa King Jaren – and naturally, the clever little dragon would capitalise on it to his heart's content!

Queen Carolina naturally wouldn't say no to the cure little dragon child, so she gave him whatever he wanted to eat. Little Azar would point out a pastry or a snack, and Queen Carolina would immediately put it before him.

What the spoilt little dragon and the monarch of the Sapphire Kingdom didn't know was that Raven and Mana were keeping an eagle eye on their baby dragon child!

And so, the moment Azar pointed at Queen Carolina's glass of wine and demanded a sip, Mana and Raven knew that their little dragon was misbehaving! Because no one would ever let little Azar get a taste of wine – not even King Jaren, who indulged his little dragon grandchild for pretty much anything and everything. And Mana and Raven weren't even old enough to drink wine themselves – and also, in little Azar's eyes, his Mommy and Daddy were probably the strictest of all the humans around him – because everyone else would simply give in and let him do whatever he wanted whenever he made his cute face and slowly blink his big, round and sparkling eyes which were as beautiful and brilliant as gemstones under the radiant sunlight!

Queen Carolina, too, held little Azar back.

"That one is only for old people, little one," she said softly. "Even your Mommy and Daddy are not allowed to drink that. When you are bigger and grown up, we will definitely give you a sip, all right?"

Azar pouted. "But Grandmother Carolina, Azar just wants a small taste!" the little dragon whined, making the cutest face he could manage.

Queen Carolina could feel her heart melting into a pool of gooey chocolate fondue. Still, some semblance of sense prevailed in her – after all, this was a little baby – and little babies couldn't be permitted to taste alcohol!

"Hmm…" Queen Carolina said. "How about we get you a nice bottle of your favourite milkshake instead? Would that not be better?" she cajoled.

The little dragon pouted. "Azar wants to try a taste of wine!" he whined. "Grandmother Carolina, please! One little sip!"

Queen Carolina was quite conflicted. On one hand, she didn't want to give even the smallest sip of alcohol to this little baby, but, on the other hand, she didn't want to turn him down heartlessly, especially when he was looking at her with such an adorable expression that would melt even the hardest of hearts…

Queen Carolina was caught in a dilemma. She looked at King Jaren for help, but King Jaren simply shrugged helplessly. He hadn't been able to get out of this problem himself – and the consequence had been that King Jaren's consumption of alcohol had been reduced by almost ninety percent because of the little dragon's insistence on wanting a sip of wine whenever he saw any of the adults drinking wine around him. But, of course, the little dragon wouldn't go to any random person – he'd want to have sip from his beloved Grandpapa's glass only.

And in the end, Kign Jaren had more or less stopped drinking wine when the little dragon was around – even right now, the glass in front of him just had plain water!