The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

Queen Carolina was eagerly waiting for them in the hall, and breakfast was already on the table – with appropriate magic woven around the table to keep everything at the optimal temperature. It was a nifty magical thing that the Sapphire Kingdom used, which Mana and Raven were quite fascinated with and had signed a contract to buy in bulk for their pastry chain stores. Everything that should be warm was kept warm, and everything that should be cold was kept cold. It would be very useful for their food business, for sure!

Queen Carolina and Bella were naturally more than happy to give it to Mana and Raven for free, but then Mana had explained how the Sapphire Kingdom could make this thing really profitable by marketing it rather than simply giving it to them for free, and a mutually profitable agreement had been reached between the Sapphire Kingdom and the Emerald Kingdom as well as the Obsidian Kingdom. King Corvus has already realised the money making potential of Mana and Raven, and without the slightest hesitation, he had immediately offloaded a portion of the economic and business decisions on part of the Obsidian Kingdom on to Raven's young shoulders. It would prove to be one of his cleverest decisions of all time in the near future when Raven would earn pots and pots of gold for the Obsidian Kingdom, much to the consternation of Head Sage Yue.

Queen Carolina's eyes lit up when she saw the two little dragon babies on King Jaren's shoulders – especially little Alya.

King Jaren completely understood Queen Carolina's delight. Hadn't he been exactly the same when little Azar had first appeared in their lives? So, he nodded at Alya, who immediately flew to Queen Carolina and said sweetly, "Good morning, Grandmother!"

Queen Carolina beamed at the little white dragon and rubbed her head with a gentle finger. "Good morning, little one. What would you like to eat today?" she asked indulgently.

Alya's differently coloured eyes shone brightly like gemstones as she looked at the feast on the table in front of her. She immediately perched herself on Queen Carolina's shoulder and started asking, "What is that one, Grandmother?" and "Is this one tasty, Grandmother?" and so on, and Queen Carolina happily and patiently explained all the dishes to the her new dragon granddaughter.

Azar shot a pitiful look at King Jaren at the extra favourable treatment being meted out to Alya.

King Jaran chuckled. Then he turned to Queen Carolina and asked, "Would you have room for another little one, Queen Carolina? As you can see, our little Azar is as interested in the new dishes of the Sapphire Kingdom as little Alya!"

Queen Carolina laughed happily. "Yes, of course," she said. "Come over, little Azar. Since when do you need to be shy with your Grandmother Carolina?" she demanded.

Azar flashed Queen Carolina a happy smile and immediately flew to her and settled on her other shoulder.

Queen Carolina happily indulged the two baby dragons for the rest of the meal, while everyone else was left to fend for themselves. No one was surprised, though – who would bother with regular humans when there were two adorable little dragons vying for their attention instead?

And thus, King Jaren, General Aquila, Mana, Raven and Rook ate their breakfast more or less in silence, with half their attention being taken up by the antics of the two little dragon babies bouncing happily around Queen Carolina.

Queen Carolina was the most rueful when breakfast ended, because she would have to go off to court after this – and the two little dragons would go off with King Jaren instead. Everyone had realised this now – Azar would happily interact with other people or sit on their shoulders or their laps as long as King Jaren was in the room – but the moment King Jaren needed to leave, Azar would unceremoniously dump whoever he was interacting with and immediately fly to King Jaren's shoulder. And Alya, as all of them had realised in the one day that she had been with them, would immediately copy whatever Azar was doing – and if Azar was sticking to King Jaren, then Alya would naturally do the exact same thing.

Mana, Jules and Raven had, of course, noticed this much earlier, even before the first banquet was held in the Emerald Kingdom, and that is exactly why these three youngsters had been especially vigilant – after all, none of them would let any enemy harm their beloved Papa under their watch!

Seeing the disappointment on Queen Carolina's face, King Jaren could completely sympathise with her.

"Would you like to introduce Alya in your court today, Queen Carolina?" King Jaren asked, offering a way out.

Queen Carolina brightened visibly and rubbed little Alya's head with a gentle finger. "Would you like to go to court with Grandmother today, little Alya?" she asked gently. "I will introduce you in court as the Royal Dragon Princess Alya of the Sapphire Kingdom."

"Alya will stay with Azar," the little white dragon said immediately, without the slightest bit of hesitation.

"Azar will stay with Grandpapa," the little black dragon said right after. But he looked rather happy that little Alya was already declaring that she was going to stay with him and perhaps it was a subconscious action on Azar's part – but he thrust out his chest rather proudly at the same time as he spoke.

No one knew yet why Azar was so determined to stick with King Jaren – but since Azar had decided to, his entire family would support him. They all knew by now that Azar's instincts were far more developed than any human's and little Azar's human family would always trust him and his instincts, of course.

Queen Carolina's face fell. She couldn't bring herself to argue with the little baby dragons, or to snatch them away from their beloved Grandpapa King Jaren – but then, a sudden idea flashed into her head. What if she invited King Jaren to court as well? The Emerald Kingdom and the Sapphire Kingdom were already relatives now, and besides, there were so many collaborations they were working on – there was plenty of stuff to discuss in court if she brought along King Jaren, and a lot of her courtiers, especially the people in the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Trade, would be dancing in joy if King Jaren showed up in court! Wouldn't that be the perfect solution? If King Jaren accompanied Queen Carolina to her court this morning – naturally, the two little grandbaby dragon tails that had been acquired by King Jaren would also follow along – and wasn't that exactly what Queen Carolina wanted? But then, the question was, would King Jaren agree to do this for her? After all, he was the ruling monarch of the Emerald Kingdom – would he just randomly agree to attend the court of the Sapphire Kingdom simply because Queen Carolina was too reluctant to part with their two little baby dragons?

Still, looking at the two adorable little creatures, Queen Carolina decided to risk it. At worst, King Jaren would turn her down, right? But if he actually agreed – how nice would that be? Then Queen Carolina could have both the little baby dragons in the court and show them off to her courtiers! And she would get to spend more time with them, too! She already knew that Azar often accompanied King Jaren to court back in the Emerald Kingdom – and when Azar was in attendance, things worked much more smoothly and efficiently, especially when there were negotiations involved – because one cute look from the little dragon, or one innocent question from the little dragon – and everyone would be falling over themselves to give the little one whatever he wanted – and then, when it was time for lunch, all little Azar would have to do is make a puppy face and say to King Jaren, "Grandpapa! Hungry!" – and court would immediately be dismissed and everyone would urge King Jaren to bring the little baby dragon to a table laden with food! Who wouldn't want a super power like this at hand when you have to deal with mostly boring issues in the court! Queen Carolina definitely did!!

So, Queen Carolina shot a pleading look at King Jaren, who smiled wryly and offered, "I could go to court with you if you would like to discuss certain collaboration proposals…"

Queen Carolina was so happy that she almost leapt out of her seat to go and hug King Jaren. She had never had any siblings – but if given a chance, she would definitely want a big brother like King Jaren, she decided!

"Thank you!" Queen Carolina said happily. "Then we can introduce both little Alya and little Azar in court today! Most people have already seen Azar in the banquets, but it would be good to introduce both of them formally. After all, they are both part of the royal family of the Sapphire Kingdom."

Azar and Alya were both quite happy, too, and decided to claim one grandparent each.. So, Azar flew back to King Jaren's shoulder, and Alya perched on Queen Carolina's shoulder, and the two monarchs went off to court.