The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

It was almost dawn by the time the group returned to the imperial palace of the Sapphire Kingdom. However, they had an unpleasant surprise waiting for them.

Mana and Raven had taken to storing the propulsion machine in their secret space, and Queen Carolina had a special room where only royal family members or those specifically recognised by them as family could enter – this was the safest place in the entire imperial place of the Sapphire Kingdom. So only Queen Carolina, Bella, Jules, King Jaren, Mana, Raven, Azar and Alya were able to enter this room – other than them, not even the imperial shadow guards would be able to cross the barrier!

The whole group was in a great mood once they returned after their impromptu pizza and cola party. Mana and Raven were already looking forward to making cola and seeing if they could market in this world!

However, the moment they stepped out of this special room, they found the Captain of the imperial shadow guards and the Imperial Supreme Mage waiting for Queen Carolina anxiously.

"What's the matter?" Queen Carolina asked with a frown.

"Reporting to Your Majesty Queen Carolina," the Captain of the imperial shadow guards bowed and said. "The cursed ghost corpse has escaped."

"Escaped?!" Queen Carolina cried, alarmed. Her face went very pale.

Bella, too, went very pale and swayed a little – and Jules immediately slipped an arm around her waist, supporting her quietly.

"Reporting to Your Majesty Queen Carolina," the Captain of the imperial shadow guards continued to bow and explained in a quiet voice. "The cursed ghost corpse has disappeared along with the magic net that was binding him. We are unable to figure out if he was able to escape by himself or if he had external aid."

"Reporting to Your Majesty Queen Carolina," the Imperial Supreme Mage bowed and continued to explain from where the Captain of the imperial shadow guards had left off. "The cursed ghost corpse could not have escaped by himself without tearing the magical net apart. However, there were no signs of the magical net being shattered or broken, and the cursed living ghost corpse seemed to have disappeared along with the magical net. We believe that it is much more likely that the cursed living ghost corpse had fellow associates on the outside who decided to carry him off since they were unable to break the magical net apart."

"But how were they able to carry away the cursed living ghost corpse without anyone's notice?" Queen Carolina asked with a frown. She had regained some of her composure by now.

"Reporting to Your Majesty Queen Carolina," the Captain of the imperial shadow guards continued to bow and said. "The cursed ghost corpse was taken out during the banquet tonight. When the Imperial Supreme Mage and I went to conduct our regular check after the banquet, we found that all the guards in the dungeons were unconscious, and the door was open and the cursed living ghost corpse was missing. We have revived all the guards and questioned them, but they are not aware of what took place at all. All they remember is that they smelled a sweet, flowery fragrance similar to that of a sweet pea flower, and then they remembered nothing else after that."

Raven frowned as soon as he heard about the fragrance. Mana noticed, but didn't say anything. She simply slipped her hand into his.

Queen Carolina sighed.

"Big magic!" Azar said suddenly. "Big bad magic, Grandpapa!" He was practically drooling as he said so – and his human family immediately realised that this was probably related to the cursed living ghost corpse, but not necromancy, since Azar would be able to eat it.

"Big bad magic, Grandpapa!" Alya repeated. Her differently coloured eyes sparkled and she, too, looked rather hungry all of a sudden.

It was hard to believe that these two little baby dragons had eaten most of the pizza and drunk most of the ice cola just a few minutes ago!

King Jaren's eyes sharpened. "Where is it?" he asked the two little dragons.

"That way, Grandpapa," Alya pointed. "In your room!"

"Let's go, then," King Jaren said and strode out decisively with the two dragons on his shoulders.

Mana and Raven exchanged a worried glance and ran after their Papa.

Jules and Bella, too, were worried. They were on the same page as Mana and Raven on this matter, and they, too, believed that someone was targeting King Jaren – and they were as determined to protect their Papa as Mana and Raven were!

Queen Carolina looked at the conflict on the faces of the two teenagers and sighed. She still needed to speak to the Captain of the imperial shadow guards as well as the Imperial Supreme Mage because she could very clearly tell from their expressions that there was something quite important that they were waiting to speak to her about, but did not want to speak up in the presence of people from other kingdoms, and had it been in the past, Queen Carolina, too, would have held the same opinion. But now, she found herself trusting all the people in this room completely, and this was also why she was very concerned about King Jaren – and she knew that if there was danger that posed a threat to the safety of King Jaren, who she already thought of as a big brother in her heart by now – and that, too, in her own domain – Queen Carolina would never sit by idly.

So, she took a quick decision. She turned to Jules and Bella and said to them, "You two go ahead and stay with your Papa, and protect each other. I will speak with the Captain of the imperial shadow guards as well as the Imperial Supreme Mage briefly and then join you right away."

Jules and Bella looked reluctant to part with Queen Carolina – after all, she was their parent, too, and they didn't want to leave her alone.

Queen Carolina felt warm as she looked at the concerned faces of Jules and Bella, so held out both her hands and patted them on the shoulder. "Go on," she said. "I still have our Captain of the imperial shadow guards as well as the Imperial Supreme Mage to protect me. I will join you shortly in any case."

Jules and Bella cast her one hesitant glance and then followed after the others.

Queen Carolina turned to face the Captain of the imperial shadow guards as well as the Imperial Supreme Mage, who were still bowing.

"Rise," she commanded. "There is no need to keep bowing."

The Captain of the imperial shadow guards as well as the Imperial Supreme Mage straightened immediately.

One look at their tensed faces and Queen Carolina was sure that there was much more to the disappearance of the cursed living ghost corpse Vir than what they had just reported to her right now – perhaps because there were outsiders present.

She sighed. This was very troublesome – and she hoped that King Jaren and the children and the dragon babies would remain safe. If this much could be ensured, Queen Carolina would consider herself a decent monarch – but if anything happened to them, then would she even have the face or the heart left to live on? This was the family that had welcomed her dear Bella into their home and their hearts, and then they had let her in as well. They had even trusted her with their most sacred secret that could not be leaked at all costs!

"You may speak freely," Queen Carolina told the two highly ranked subordinates of hers, who reported to her directly and not to anyone else across the entirety of the Sapphire Kingdom. "What else have you been able to find out?" she asked.

The two men looked at each other and hesitated.

"You may speak freely," Queen Carolina repeated.

The Captain of the imperial shadow guards as well as the Imperial Supreme Mage exchanged a glance and then turned to Queen Carolina.

"Actually, Your Majesty…" the Captain of the imperial shadow guards spoke in a low voice. "We also found one more clue in the dungeons. We found a pendant lying in the middle of the floor – it didn't look like it had been accidentally dropped – but more like it had been placed their deliberately – it was very eye catching. We did not dare to touch it for fear of it being cursed, so we used a magic glass cage box to collect it." He stopped speaking and hesitated again.

"And?" Queen Carolina asked impatiently. "What is so special about this pendant? And why did you not want to speak of this pendant in front of King Jaren and our other family members from the Emerald Kingdom?"

The two men hesitated again, and this time Captain of the imperial shadow guards as well as the Imperial Supreme Mage – both looked rather awkward.

"The pendant – it belongs to the royal family of the Emerald Kingdom," the Imperial Supreme Mage said finally.