The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

Queen Carolina frowned. "A pendant of the royal family of the Emerald Kingdom?" she asked, surprised. As far as she knew, every royal had their own individual pendant in the Emerald Kingdom – and this was especially created for a royal child when they were born, or for the spouse of a royal child when they were officially recognised. These pendants, once made, could only be used by the person it was made for, and it was tied in with the innate magic of the Emerald Kingdom itself. Distant relatives, or in-laws – none of them were permitted to have it. Only the core royal family. For example, Bella and Raven had been granted a pendant, but Queen Carolina and the parents of the late Queen Dora and the deposed Queen Sora – these three people just had imperial tokens of the highest grade, but not a royal pendant. In fact, even Crown Prince Mars had been given an imperial token at the moment, and King Jaren had announced that the pendant would be given to Crown Prince Mars of the Amber Kingdom when he officially married Princess Astra of the Emerald Kingdom. The reason for this was that the pendants could not be made or commissioned at will. The new born royal children or the chosen partners of a royal child was taken to the sacred ancestral chamber, and it was in this place where the innate magic of the Emerald Kingdom granted either a pendant or an imperial token. It was not known to too many people, and Queen Carolina had only learnt this recently herself.

Raven and Bella had been recognised by the Emerald Kingdom as members of the royal family, but Mars had not been recognised as such yet. Little Azar, too, had received a pendant – and Queen Carolina knew that King Jaren planned to go back to the Emerald Kingdom for a day to get a pendant for Alya as well before they departed for the Amber Kingdom next.

Mana had received her pendant when she was born, and so had Astra. As for Jules, he had received his pendant when he had been brought to the imperial palace for the first time. In fact, the pendant received by Jules was extra special – and this was quite apparent to everyone – and this was one of the biggest reasons why Jules's coronation as the Crown Prince of the Emerald Kingdom had not been met with any resistance. If the innate magic of the Emerald Kingdom itself had chosen him as the next heir to the throne, why would any one want to object?

The pendants broke and disappeared on their own when the owner of the pendant died or when they were stripped of their position in the Emerald Kingdom. Thus, at the moment, there was no queen pendant in the Emerald Kingdom – although not too many people knew that. Actually, the truth was that the former Queen Sora never had a queen pendant – she had a pendant of a consort or a concubine. The true queen pendant was issued to the late Queen Dora, and it had disappeared when she had died ten years ago.

The Captain of the imperial guards of the Sapphire Kingdom and the Imperial Supreme Mage of the Sapphire Kingdom exchanged a meaningful glance.

Queen Carolina noticed this and her frown deepened. "What is wrong with this pendant?" she asked.

"Your Majesty – from what we could understand – it seems to be the queen pendant," the Imperial Supreme Mage said.

"How is that possible?" Queen Carolina asked immediately.

"Indeed, Queen Sora has not been anywhere near the Sapphire Kingdom – so how could her pendant be here?" the Captain of the imperial shadow guards murmured.

"Show me the pendant," Queen Carolina said.

The two men nodded and with infinite care, pulled out a glass cage with the pendant floating in the middle.

Queen Carolina looked at the pendant carefully and found that it did seem to be like the queen pendant from the markings on it. However, she was not familiar enough with the former Queen Sora, and she had never seen her pendant in the past, so she could not be sure that it was hers. However, Queen Carolina had met the late Queen Dora while she was still alive – and they could even be considered friends of sorts. And this pendant looked awfully similar to the pendant the late Queen Dora used to wear back then…

But then, it was well over ten years ago that Queen Carolina had seen the late Queen Dora, and Queen Dora was long gone – and the queen pendant would have disappeared with her when she died giving birth to Mana over ten years ago. How could it possibly be here? Could it be a fake?

"Is this real?" Queen Carolina asked.

The Captain of the imperial shadow guards and the Imperial Supreme Mage exchanged a troubled look.

"We are not sure, Your Majesty," the Captain of the imperial shadow guards said after a long pause. "We could not test the energy on it at all. All we could do was to collect it in the glass cage box," he said. "It may not be real – but only a royal from the Emerald Kingdom – or perhaps only King Jaren himself – would be able to confirm whether it is a real pendant or a fake one."

That made Queen Carolina understand why the Captain of the imperial shadow guards as well as the Imperial Supreme Mage were hesitant to speak in front of the children and King Jaren himself. There was no one in the world who didn't know how much King Jaren had loved his late Queen Dora, and how her death had affected him. If it hadn't been for little Mana was who was left behind by the late Queen Dora – and if it hadn't been that little Mana was weak and fragile and sickly from the time she was born until recently and in desperate need of the fatherly care and protection of King Jaren because Queen Sora clearly didn't have the best of intentions for the little princess – King Jaren would have most definitely followed the late Queen Dora. In fact, it was not until recently when Princess Mana had been cured by Prince Raven – well, Poison Expert Naver, but then, the mysterious Poison Expert Naver was somehow roped in by Prince Raven, or somehow came to them because Prince Raven was the lucky charm for Princess Mana – that King Jaren could rest easy about his little Princess Mana. And it was also thanks to Raven and Mana that Jules was found – the Crown Prince Jules whose existence King Jaren had not even known about. Now, faced with the two beautiful children that his beloved Queen Dora had left behind for him, King Jaren seemed to have regained a light in his life, and it was visible to everyone. And with the coming of little Azar – and now, little Alya as well – Queen Carolina could see that King Jaren had almost regained the spark of life that had gone out from his eyes with the death of his beloved Queen Dora ten years ago. It was all thanks to the children and the little dragons.

But that didn't mean that King Jaren had stopped missing his beloved Queen Dora even now. Queen Carolina could see the loneliness in his eyes, and the longing on his face – even though he tried his best to hide it. But it was clear that if Jules had never been found and Mana had died from the effects of the Shadow Poison – King Jaren would not have lived for too long after. Perhaps just about long enough to make sure that Princess Astra was settled down well enough with Crown Prince Mars of the Amber Kingdom. It was clear that King Jaren loved all his three children dearly – but without the late Queen Dora or the children of the late Queen Dora, he had no remaining attachment to his life. He would do everything he would need to do for Princess Astra as a responsible and loving father – although, given how Princess Astra was, King Jaren would probably have ended up sacrificing his life for her sake for some random thing she selfishly wanted instead.

Queen Carolina was very clear that she did not have any positive impression of or any goodwill towards Princess Astra. Even without comparing her to the extraordinary Crown Prince Jules and Princess Mana, Princess Astra was not particularly impressive.. She was pretty, yes, but she also seemed rather petty and selfish, and to be honest, Queen Carolina didn't want this particular child of King Jaren to be anywhere near her own Bella. So she was very glad that Princess Astra was going to stay in the Amber Kingdom with her soon to be in laws until the wedding date was finalised – with people like this, the farther away they were from you, the better it was! Now, if only Princess Astra would stay in the Amber Kingdom forever!