The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

Mana and Raven walked back to their rooms together. Mana could see Raven buzzing with tension, and knew that he was itching to run a diagnostic spell on her again, and his anxious little face was just too adorable.

Finally, when they reached Mana's door, Mana invited him in.

"How are you feeling? Do you feel any discomfort? Do you feel dizzy?" Raven asked anxiously in a rush as soon as the doors closed behind them.

Mana laughed and pinched Raven's cheeks playfully (by now, Mana could honestly admit that she was addicted to pinching Raven's fair cheeks – the boy was just too adorable!).

"I am perfectly fine," she said. "Don't worry so much, my dear little darling." She held out her hand. "Here, you can check for yourself – I think I have improved again, from how energetic I'm feeling right now."

Raven immediately took Mana's hand and ran a diagnostic spell quickly. A moment later, relief washed over his beautiful face and his rainbow eyes sparkled.

"It is true," he said excitedly. "Your health and your magical power have both improved, Mana!"

Mana grinned at him and pinched his cheeks again. "See? There's nothing to worry about," she said.

Raven simply smiled in response. "Who will I worry about if I don't worry about my own fiancée?" he asked gently.

Mana froze for a moment, and then she felt her own face turning warm, and she knew that she was blushing. Heavens, where had this boy picked up how to tease her, she wondered! (Of course, if anyone were to ask Raven, he would immediately – and truthfully – confess that all his teasing skills – which would develop into flirting skills later as he grew older – were learnt from his mischievous and clever and utterly amazing fiancée, Princess Mana of the Emerald Kingdom!)

A wave of pride and joy with a hint of mischief washed over Raven at the sight of Mana's blushing face, and he suddenly understood Mana's fascination with teasing him and making him blush ever so often. It really was fun, wasn't it?

Mana must have sub consciously sensed Raven's thoughts, for she quickly said, "Shall we wash up and get ready for breakfast? Do you want to check in on Azar and Alya once before we head to breakfast?"

Raven nodded. He was definitely curious about what outfits Jules and Bella had worked diligently through the night to produce for their little Alya, and of course, he wanted to see the modifications being made to their little Azar's outfit as well. 

Mana and Raven definitely were not immune to the charm of the two utterly adorable little dragon babies! If anything, the two of them were almost as firmly wrapped around the little claws of the two little dragon babies as the favourite Grandpapa King Jaren himself!

And thus, Raven went off to his own room to wash up and get ready, and Mana, too, quickly took a hot shower and got dressed. She had just finished putting her hair up when Raven appeared, all fresh and ready – and in record time, no less! It was a running joke in their family by now that Raven actually took much longer to take a bath and get ready for anything than Mana, and Mana would often tease him by saying that since he was the prettier one between the two of them, it was his prerogative to take longer to get ready because he needed to take proper care of his beautiful face! And then Raven would blush furiously and Mana would be smirking like an evil rogue!

This was probably the first time in several months that Raven actually got ready before Mana!

"You're quite eager to see the babies dressed up, aren't you?" Mana murmured, sliding her small hand into Raven's slightly larger one.

Raven didn't even bother to hide it and nodded, his rainbow eyes sparkling with eagerness and excitement.

Mana giggled, and the two of them went off to find King Jaren and the two dragon babies.

As it turned out, King Jaren, Jules, Bella, Azar and Alya – all of them were still in King Jaren's room. The two little dragon babies were all dressed up and looking utterly adorable in their matching outfits of emerald green and sapphire blue – with gold trimmings on Azar, and silver trimmings on Alya. The two babies flew around excitedly, admiring themselves in the mirror.

"So cute!" Mana couldn't help but exclaim as she caught sight of the two little dragons.

"Absolutely adorable," Raven murmured, his eyes fixed on the two little flying figures.

Azar turned towards his human parents at the sound of their voice and launched himself into Raven's arms.

"Daddy! Mommy! How does Azar look? Uncle Jules and Auntie Bella matched Azar's clothes and jewels with Alya!" the little black dragon asked a question and made an announcement at the same time.

Raven chuckled and rubbed Azar's small head, on which a shiny gold crown had been placed, clearly with magic – and it made Azar look really, really cute.

Alya had a similar silver crown on her head as well and she was cuddling adorably in her Dad Jules's arms at the moment, looking rather warm and cozy and utterly adorable.

"Azar looks as beautiful as his pretty Daddy," Mana said proudly, reaching out to tickle the little black dragon under the chin with a gentle finger.

"Thank you, Mommy!" Azar chirped happily.

And, naturally, a faint blush made its appearance on Raven's fair cheeks.

Mana giggled, quite content at getting the upper hand in teasing as usual.

"How does Alya look, Auntie Mana?" the little white dragon asked shyly.

"Alya looks as beautiful as her gorgeous Mama, of course," Mana replied immediately. "Very lovely and adorable, and Alya and Azar together look better than everyone else put together!"

"Thank you, Auntie Mana!" Alya chirped happily, just like Azar.

Jules beamed at Mana and wriggled his eyebrows at Bella. "See? I told you that our little daughter is as beautiful as you! Even Mana agrees!" he told her.

Bella rolled her eyes and said in a teasing manner, "Yes, my prince!"

Jules blushed, making Bella and Mana burst out laughing. The two girls high fived each other, both of them having successfully made their respective fiancés blush!

King Jaren watched the antics of his children and his grandbabies with a fond and indulgence look on his face.

"All right, then – Jules and Bella – off to bed, both of you. I'll take the little ones to breakfast along with Raven and Mana," he said.

"Grandpapa! Hungry!" Azar said immediately and flew out of Raven's arms to go and perch on his usual spot on King Jaren's shoulder.

"Grandpapa! Alya is hungry too!" Alya announced as well, copying Azar, and flew out of Jules's arms and went off to sit on the other shoulder of King Jaren. 

Jules and Raven looked rather helpless at having lost their little dragon babies to the allure of food!

"Papa, please make sure that these two don't overeat," Bella said to King Jaren. "They ate sandwiches with us just now, and it'll be a disaster if they ate too much and then felt too sick to attend the banquet later in the evening!"

Although Bella was speaking to King Jaren – everyone understood that her warning was actually for the two little baby dragons, because she couldn't bear to scold them directly.

"Of course, my dear," King Jaren said cheerfully, patting Bella on the head. "Don't worry too much. Your old Papa will make sure that our little Azar and Alya don't make themselves sick by gorging on food – besides, our little Azar is such a good boy, and our little Alya is such a good girl, and both of them look so beautiful – they will definitely want to attend the banquet, right?"

"Yes, Grandpapa! Azar is a good boy and Azar will attend the banquet with Alya!" the little black dragon said immediately.

"Yes, Grandpapa! Alya is a good girl and Alya wants to attend the banquet with Azar, too!" the little white dragon immediately repeated, copying Azar.

"Excellent," King Jaren said. "Let's get both of you changed, then, and we will be ready to head out to the hall for breakfast!"

Jules and Bella wanted to stay back to help Azar and Alya take off their outfits for the evening, but King Jaren (and Mana and Raven as well) shooed them away and firmly ordered them to go to their rooms and get some sleep. Both the teenagers definitely needed to get rid of the dark bags under their eyes that was the consequence of staying up for most of the night to create the perfect outfit for little Alya.

But in the end, the hard work of Jules and Bella had been definitely worth it. Little Alya could most certainly take away the first prize for being the most adorable baby in existence! Well, a joint first prize with their little Azar, perhaps.

And thus, a few minutes later, King Jaren, with two baby dragons on his shoulders and two children by his side, made his way to the hall for breakfast.