The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

After the banquet ended, it did not take too long for the hall to be emptied out. Queen Carolina, King Jaren, Jules, Bella, Mana, Raven, Azar and Alya were naturally the last ones to leave.

Fox and Vanilla had stayed behind today as well, because they, too, wanted to meet the new baby dragon. The two of them had been busy touring the imperial capital city of the Sapphire Kingdom, so they had completely missed the arrival of the little white dragon Alya – and now that they had seen her at the banquet, both Fox and Vanilla had been enamoured. Both of them adored little Azar anyway, and now that adoration would extend to little Alya as well, they decided.

Azar introduced Alya to the couple very enthusiastically. "Alya, this is Uncle Fox, he is very clever and works with Mommy and Daddy and Uncle Jules and Auntie Bella! You can call him Uncle Fox, too!" he said happily.

Alya nodded shyly and greeted in a sweet voice, "Hello, Uncle Fox."

Everyone could see Fox melting into a puddle. "Hello, Alya," he murmured, his blue eyes soft, and thinking that Alya was even cuter than their little Azar!

Then Azar continued, "And this is Auntie Vanilla, and she works with Mommy and runs her business for her," he said. "And Auntie Vanilla is the fiancée of Uncle Fox, just like Mommy and Daddy are together and like Uncle Jules and Auntie Bella are together and like Azar and Alya are together," he added, beaming at Alya. "So you have to call her Auntie Vanilla, too!" he instructed the younger dragon.

"Hello, Auntie Vanilla," little Alya greeted obediently.

"Hello, little one," Vanilla said with a smile. "Aren't you just the most beautiful little thing in the world?" she praised.

Azar and Alya both preened.

"Alya is prettiest!" Azar declared. "And Alya is Azar's fiancée!"

Fox and Vanilla shot an enquiring glance at the respective parents of the two little dragons. Jules, Bella, Mana and Raven all shrugged helplessly. If Azar and Alya wanted to get married when they were older – of course they would support their baby dragons.

Thus the group walked together out of the banquet hall, chatting amicably. After some time, however, they ran into a contingent from the Amber Kingdom – and Crown Prince Mars and Princess Astra were with them.

"I see that you are still associating with riff raff," Princess Astra sneered. She was quite angry and annoyed with her half siblings at the moment – she had clearly seen the disdain in the eyes of her father in law the entire evening, and how he had been shooting covetous glances at her half siblings, as if wishing one of them was marrying his son instead! All the hard work Astra had put in over the years was all laid to waste simply because her half siblings had somehow managed to get their hands on a couple of little reptiles?! How could Astra not feel wronged? And her temper flared even more when she saw Fox and Vanilla with them – even though these two had been granted noble titles, weren't they just lowly commoners who had somehow become lucky enough to encounter Jules and Mana and Raven and Bella and somehow managed to get into their good books?! Were they anything more than just riff raff?!

Before anyone else could retort, Mana stepped forward and sneered at the contingent from the Amber Kingdom.

"Yes," she said, not bothering to hide the disdain and disgust in her eyes. "It is unfortunate that we managed to run into riff raff when we were just chatting with our friends."

Immediately, the people from the Amber Kingdom were incensed.

"Princess Astra, is this how your Emerald Kingdom thinks of us?" one person from the Amber Kingdom complained.

Astra glared at Mana. "Apologise," she snarled.

Mana shrugged carelessly. "Why should I apologise?" she asked, blinking innocently. "Weren't you the one talking about riff raff, Big Sister Astra?"

Astra was so livid that her pretty face twisted into an ugly, vicious expression. "You know who I was talking about! Don't twist my words!" she shouted.

Mana smirked. "Oh, weren't you talking about the people behind you?" she asked. "I thought you were."

Three people from the Amber Kingdom attached Mana without any warning. Unfortunately for them, even before Mana could lift a finger, Raven was by her side, his eyes flashing menacingly.

The three people froze instantly, and then they dropped to the ground in a dead faint.

"You killed them?!" Astra cried in very loud voice, wanting to attract more people towards themselves. Astra knew that Raven was powerful, and she was a little scared of him, to be honest. She just wanted to vent her frustration – she didn't really want to start a war! Who had asked these stupid people to attack Mana?! And that, too, in front of her father King Jaren?! If Mana got hurt, did any of them think that they would be able to live?! And if any of these idiots died, wouldn't King Orion blame her?! What would happen to her engagement with Mars?!

Mana and Raven didn't even bother to respond, and by now, Jules, Bella, King Jaren and Queen Carolina had taken up protective postures around the two children. Fox had Vanilla had also been pushed behind them for their protection – after all, Fox couldn't fight at all, and although Vanilla had picked up enough to be able to hold her ground in a street fight, she was not capable of holding off properly trained full fledged soldiers like these men from the Amber Kingdom.

Azar and Alya, who had both settled on King Jaren's shoulders, glared at the group of people in front of them. Their eyes glowed like gemstones, and the magical power exuding from their little bodies was immense – enough to bring most people in the Amber Kingdom contingent to their knees!

Mars sighed and crouched on the ground, checking the pulse of the three people who had been thrown back by Raven.

"They are still alive," he murmured. Then he stood up. "But I cannot accept that my people are harmed in my presence, little Raven and little Mana. No matter how much I like you, some lines should not be crossed," Crown Prince Mars of the Amber Kingdom said in a deep voice.

Raven's eyes flashed dangerously, showing a hint of darkness for a moment. "The only reason they are still alive is that I do not want to cause a ruckus in the Sapphire Kingdom," he said quietly, but his voice resonated with a power that would bring men to their knees. "If any one dares to even look at Mana the wrong way in the future, I will not spare them. Consider yourself warned."

Everyone shivered, even Crown Prince Mars and Princess Astra. The people from the Amber Kingdom who had been forced to their knees by the intimidating aura of the two little dragons and the two angry monarchs of the Emerald Kingdom and the Sapphire Kingdom – not to mention the incredibly powerful momentum of Raven, stood up on shaking legs and ran away.

"You…! You think you are so great, you little stray dog who was utterly worthless until we took you in and fed you?!" Astra screamed at Raven.

This time it was Mana who attacked. She leaped forward and gave a tight slap to her older half sister.

Princess Astra stared at Mana in shock, her emerald green eyes welling up with tears.

Mana could not care less. She simply lifted her arm again and slapped Astra's other cheek.

Mana had really hit her quite hard – two symmetrical handprints were forming on Astra's fair cheeks quite rapidly.

"The next time you dare to slander my Raven, I will personally rip your tongue out!" Mana hissed at her older half sister.

Astra reeled. She looked pitifully at Mars, pleading silently for help and back up.

Mars immediately slipped an arm around Astra's waist and glared at Mana. "You went too far," he scolded. "Astra is your older sister, and you have to respect her." He looked up at King Jaren. "Papa, is this how you teach your children?" he demanded.

"Yes," King Jaren said with a very proud look on his face. "I teach my children to give respect where respect is due, and to give lessons where lessons are due. Unfortunately, Astra seems to have forgotten all about it."

Mars and Astra were struck speechless.

Astra burst into loud tears and a complicated emotion flashed cross King Jaren's face. Astra saw and naturally wanted to capitalise on it.

"But Papa…" she whined pitifully. "Mana – she – hit me" Astra cried.

King Jaren sighed. "Astra, it is partly my fault that I have indulged you so much in the past few years and you have brought trouble to Mana and Raven right now. You have to control yourself, or you will find yourself in deeper trouble than you can currently imagine."

King Jaren's words fell on deaf ears.