The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

Mana didn't tease Raven any further. Instead, she asked curiously, "Do you think that Alya appears to be a lot cleverer than Azar? It was a while before Azar spoke to us, right? But Alya seems to be speaking perfectly well as soon as she was born…"

Raven tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I noticed that as well – our little Azar is quite smart himself, if you ask me, though. It is possible that Azar's presence soothed and enhanced Alya's interaction with us, isn't it?" he replied, clearly not willing to admit that his precious little dragon son was not as smart as someone else's dragon daughter!

Mana chuckled. "I'm not saying our kid is not smart enough," she said, reassuring Raven. "But yes, I think what you said makes a lot of sense. The presence of another dragon could be the reason for Alya to pick up things as soon as she was born – while our little Azar had to figure out everything by himself. Also – Alya mentioned that Azar's Elf Buddy spoke to her and told her some things, didn't she?"

Raven nodded. "She did," he said. "So, Alya came from another world, where Azar's Elf Buddy lives, and she was sent here to keep Azar company, perhaps? Since he has been claiming that she is his fiancée and all – also, I believe that Azar and Alya communicated even before Alya broke the egg she was in and came out of her egg into our world – do you remember how Azar mentioned that the new dragon baby wanted to claim Big Brother Jules and Big Sister Bella as her parents and asked them to pick up the egg instead? Azar couldn't have done that without communicating with Alya, could he?"

"You are right," Mana said. "So Alya came from the world where Azar's Elf Buddy lives – or even if not that world, then somewhere else, but not our world. But then, Azar has been in our world for a long time, hasn't he? The stone which turned out to be his egg – that had been there on the island for ages, remember? Isn't that what Papa told us?"

Raven nodded, a hint of distress in his rainbow eyes. "Azar mentioned once how he had been dormant for many, many years, waiting for the right parents to come along so that he could break out of his egg and be their child – a particular kind of symbiotic and synergised magic of a couple was probably required to awaken him," he murmured. "I think he was mostly dormant for this period, but…"

Mana understood what he was saying. "But you think that Azar was at least partly aware of what was going on outside his egg and how much time was passing by…? That…" Mana broke off, imagining the little dragon all alone inside his egg, waiting and waiting and waiting…

Raven nodded. "It could be why he is so obsessed with being a good boy," he said quietly. "Don't you think it is very unusual for a little baby to be so very concerned about being a good child? Even I have never been so desperate to be a good boy for my mother or my grandfather as Azar is…" he murmured.

Mana's heart ached. She took Raven's hand and patted it in a reassuring manner, trying to dispel his worries and the hint of loneliness in his voice. She could completely understand his worry, and that of their little baby Azar as well – and she had a feeling that Raven was right. No child Mana had ever seen was so obsessed with being a good boy as much as Azar – as if their precious little baby dragon was very, very worried that he would be sent away or he would be abandoned or he would be left alone and lonely again if he was not considered a good boy by his family…

"We will make sure that Azar knows exactly how precious and how good he is for us," Mana told Raven. "And I do think that he is getting better with his obsession of being a good boy. If he was still extremely insecure, he could not possibly have dared to throw a tantrum like he did today, would he?" she asked.

Raven brightened a little. "That's true," he said. "He must be slowly getting over his insecurities – and going forward, we will make sure that our baby never feels lonely or abandoned again!"

"We will do that, certainly," Mana told him, patting his arm. "After all, he is our precious little baby, and perhaps, he would one day be either the heir to the business empire that we will build up, or may be the Crown Prince of the Obsidian Kingdom, even? He is our eldest child, and even if we have other children later on – I doubt if any of them would ever surpass our Azar in terms of power and talent."

Raven beamed at her. "Of course," he said happily. "Everything we have is his. I would be more than happy to make him my successor if he wants to be!"

Mana smiled at her young fiancé in response. "Excellent," she said. "Whatever our Azar wants, we will give him – a throne, a business, something else – whatever makes him happy!"

Raven nodded. "And if Azar and Alya really do want to be together when they have grown up – we would give them the grandest wedding ceremony the world has ever seen!" he added.

Mana laughed. "It's a bit too early for that, my little darling," she said. "Before that, you and I need to become grown ups ourselves and get married properly!"

Raven flushed again. "We will," he promised, his voice both happy and shy and serious at the same time, and his face reflecting each of these emotions as well. "I will try my best to make you the happiest bride in the world when we are old enough to get married."

Mana smiled and pinched his fair cheeks playfully. "I know you will," she said. "I have full faith in you, and I will also try my best to make you the happiest groom in the world when it is time for us to get married." She gave him a promise from her side as well.

Raven smiled so beautifully that he seemed to be lit up from within. "I will be the happiest groom in the world as long as you turn up for our wedding and don't leave me standing alone at the altar…" he murmured.

Mana poked Raven in the middle of his forehead. "What kind of absolute nonsense are you spouting? How can I leave you alone at the altar? Let alone the fact that I want to spend the rest of my life with you – even if I wanted to run away for a moment, do you think Papa or Big Brother would ever let me abandon you? And even if I did - there will be an entire army of people rushing to take my place if I leave you alone for a single minute – and there is no way in the world I am going to take that chance at all! As if I would let anyone else get their grubby hands on my precious Raven! And, besides, where in the world do you think I would find someone as wonderful and as amazing as you are? Won't I be the biggest fool in the world if I left you standing there?" she scolded. "Don't think of these rubbish things – I am never, ever going to leave you alone as long as I am alive! On the contrary, I am going to stick to you like half melted candy, and I am going to make sure that you don't have a chance to run away from me at all!"

Raven replied with a big, goody smile that made Mana pinch his fair cheeks again.

"You can't go back on your words now," Raven told her with a big grin. "You have to stick together with me for life now!"

Mana rolled her eyes, half in annoyance and half in exasperation. "Of course I will," she said. "Haven't I been more or less sticking to you like glue?" she demanded. "If I stuck to you any more than I already do, I would be living in your pocket!"

Raven tapped his chin thoughtfully, his eyes glowing brightly – it was all too clear that some grand (and probably crazy) idea had just come into his brilliant little head.

Mana poked Raven in the middle of his forehead again. "What clever and cool thing is going on in your head now?" she asked curiously. "Don't tell me that you are actually planning to invent a shrinking spell that works on people as well? Do you want me to become the size of Azar and perch on your shoulder like Azar sits on Papa's should all the time?" she demanded.

Raven grinned at her.. "That's exactly what I was thinking!" he said brightly. "You really read my mind at times!"