The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

"Kiss of the loving king?" Mana asked curiously. "What is that?"

Raven blushed – his fair cheeks turning a bright red. Mana looked at him with surprise. "What's wrong?" she asked, moving closer to him instinctively and her entire body language turning protective.

General Aquila narrowed his eyes appreciatively. He had generally been very happy with the over protective attitude of the royal family of the Emerald Kingdom towards Raven – and he knew very well that Mana cared deeply for him, but sometimes he had a slight suspicion that his boy Raven felt far more deeply for little Princess Mana than Mana did for Raven – but seeing her unconscious and involuntary movements to protect Raven, he was very pleased and became even more satisfied with the little princess fiancée of Raven!

"Nothing is wrong," Crown Princess Pica said with a broad smile. "In fact, it is a very good thing." She glanced at her blushing son and his protective little fiancée. "Raven – haven't you told Mana the story behind the 'kiss of the loving king'?" she asked.

Raven shook his head, and Mana looked rather intrigued.

Crown Princess Pica chuckled. "Well – make sure that you tell your little fiancée about the details, son," she said, patting Raven's shoulder affectionately. Then she turned to Mana and told her with a smile, "Raven will tell you the story, but I will add this little snippet of information right now – there are only six people in the entire Obsidian Kingdom who are able to execute this hairstyle properly, and a session with them needs to be booked well in advance – may be even years in advance, at times. Aqi here booked a session for me, once – and that was the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me in my entire life."

Mana's eyes widened in shock. Then she turned to Raven and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you, darling," she said. "At the moment, this is the equivalent of casting pearls before swine – but you must tell me the details and this story later, all right?" she asked softly.

Raven nodded.

General Aquila laughed. "Well, little Mana – I can tell you that a man will get this hairstyle done for his woman only when he cherishes her more than anything else in his life – be it power, position, dignity or even his life itself," he said cheerfully.

Mana blinked and looked at Raven again, and found that he had turned even redder than a tomato. Then she looked up at General Aquila and promised, "Then I promise that I will cherish him just as much, and that there will be no one as important as Raven in my life." Her young voice was soft but firm, and these were solemn words of promise that Mana would live up to most definitely.

Raven looked away, tears pooling in his rainbow eyes. He blinked rapidly to get rid of them.

Mana realised that her boy had become too emotional, so she bid a quick farewell to the family members of the royal family of the Obsidian Kingdom and dragged Raven into the small room where King Jaren, Queen Carolina, Jules, Bella, Azar and Alya were waiting for them.

As soon as they entered, Jules and King Jaren immediately noticed that there were tears in Raven's eyes.

"What happened?" Jules demanded immediately, getting into full fledged big brother mode. "Who bullied our Raven? Mana, what happened?"

Raven shook his head and wiped his eyes, and then he flashed everyone a beautiful smile that could make flowers bloom all around him. "No one bullied me, Big Brother," he said. "It's just that Mana said something that made me…"

Before Raven could finish his sentence, Jules rounded upon Mana. "Why are you bullying your own fiancé?" he demanded. "I know you care for him very much – but that doesn't mean that you can bully him whenever you feel like it!" Jules scolded his little sister.

Mana shot her big brother an aggrieved look. "Why would I bully Raven?" she retorted, a hint of annoyance in her voice. "And do you think that I would ever let anyone bully Raven in my presence, Big Brother?" she demanded.

"Actually, Mana said something that made me feel very touched and overwhelmed," Raven spoke up quickly. "Big Brother, these were simply tears of joy."

Jules raised an eyebrow and scanned Raven from head to toe, looking for any signs that he may have been lying. Then he did the same to Mana, checking for her sincerity as well. Jules knew that his little sister was quite mischievous and loved teasing Raven – although he also knew that she limited herself to mild teasing that would amuse everyone, including Raven.

Mana stuck out her tongue at her big brother. Jules rolled his eyes in response.

Raven watched the siblings for a while and then burst out into merry giggles.

A smile tugged at the corners of Jules's lips. "Looks like you're all right, then," he said, patting Raven's shoulder. Normally, Jules would have rubbed the boy's head, but Mana's glare stopped him today. After all, if Jules messed up Raven's hair just now, Mana would definitely forget their blood relationship and beat Jules to death! After all, looking at Raven's styled hair, Jules could see that his little sister had a hand in it. And if Jules messed up her precious Raven's hair just before the banquet – yes, if Jules actually ended up doing that somehow, he had no doubt that Mana would turn into an avenging angel and extract retribution on behalf of Raven's ruined hair style!

Mana's hair, on the other looking very elaborate and very pretty – and didn't look like something that Mana would be able to do by herself!

However, there was no way that Jules or Bella would be familiar with the exquisite and fairy tale story backed hair style of the Obsidian Kingdom – so the two teenagers could only admire that lovely hair style as amateurs.

King Jaren and Queen Carolina, on the other hand, had much more life experience than the youngsters, and both of them were somewhat familiar with this particular hair style!

King Jaren eyed Mana, surprise and joy shining in his emerald green eyes. "Mana – is that hair style – is that really 'kiss of the loving king'?" he asked excitedly.

Mana nodded proudly. "Raven did my hair today," she boasted.

King Jaren laughed happily. "Well done, well done, son!" he told Raven, patting the boy's shoulder. "Every time I think that we are now used to your brilliant talent, you go and surprise us with yet another wonderful thing! I have not yet ceased to be amazed by your various talents, my dear boy, and I don't think I ever will," he said. Then he turned to Mana. "My little daughter really found herself a rare treasure," he said. "You know, Mana, I was able to get an appointment for this hair style with the experts in the Obsidian Kingdom just once for your mother…and how beautiful Dora had looked, and how happy she had been at the time!"

Mana smiled at her Papa and then glanced at Raven. "You really have to tell me the whole story behind this hair style today itself!" she told her young fiancé. "I am the only one that doesn't seem to know the value of this hair style at all!"

King Jaren and Queen Carolina were both taken aback.

"Raven, you didn't tell Mana about the legend behind this hair style and its origin and how it came to be known as the 'kiss of the loving king'?" King Jaren asked in surprise.

Raven shook his head.

"My dear child – how would Mana be able to understand and appreciate your meaningful gesture unless you tell her about it?" King Jaren asked. "You must tell her all about it – after all, it is one of the most romantic things across all the five kingdoms among the upper noble classes, and especially in the Obsidian Kingdom because the legend originated in the Obsidian Kingdom. Otherwise Mana would never be able to gauge the significance of your action!"

Raven flushed. "I will tell Mana about it after the banquet, Papa," he replied.

"Good," King Jaren said, patting his shoulder again.

Then King Jaren looked at Mana and a significant and meaningful glance was exchanged between the father and daughter pair. Mana understood that what she had thought to be merely an exquisite hair style actually carried a lot of importance – much more than she could have imagined – and that Raven had simply done it for her without even telling her how important it was.. Well, not that Mana would be very surprised with that – Raven still tended to keep himself rather low key – but when it came to things like this, Mana definitely wanted to know the context and the details and the full story behind it! And also understood that this is what King Jaren was telling her as well – that Raven probably cherished her much more than she had previously imagined.