The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

It was almost time for dinner when Jules and Bella came looking for Mana and Raven. Azar and Alya continued to stick to their beloved Grandpapa, and now General Aquila and Queen Carolina had also taken it upon themselves to stick to King Jaren as much as possible, so Jules and Bella didn't have to worry about leaving their Papa alone and coming over to the library to fetch their younger sister and her little fiancé.

"What in the world are you two up to that you even forgot that it is time for dinner?" Jules asked loudly when he and Bella spotted Mana and Raven sitting in a corner and scribbling away furiously on sheets of paper.

There was a small mountain of sheets of paper filled with Mana's and Raven's handwriting piled up around the two children by now.

Jules and Bella chuckled softly as they walked over.

Mana and Raven looked up at their Big Brother Jules and Big Sister Bella at the same time.

"Is it already time for dinner?" Mana asked, looking and sounding rather dazed.

Jules flicked his younger sister's forehead. "Yes, sister mine, it is, indeed," he said. "What's gotten you in such a daze?"

"We found a solution for Ma's situation, Big Brother!" Raven said happily. "Look here, we found this book, and it's got stuff about this magical device that will work and we are trying to make a blueprint of the device from the description we have here and…"

Raven started explaining enthusiastically and pulled the book out from under the debris of the handwritten sheets that he and Mana had piled up on top of it.

"Easy, easy," Jules said to Raven, helping him fish the huge book out from under the piles of paper.

Bella's eyes fell on the big book that Raven had found, and which had given them the solution about the magical device. Her startled gasp made everyone freeze.

"Bella? What's wrong?" Jules asked immediately, sensitive to every movement of his beloved fiancée. He dumped the book on the table and rushed to her, slipping an arm around her waist in a protective manner.

Bella barely noticed Jules's actions – her eyes were fixed upon the big book.

"Raven," she murmured, her voice filled with disbelief. "Are you able to read this book?"

Raven blinked. "Of course," he said. "Mana and I have been reading it since before lunch."

Bella froze for a moment, and then said faintly, "Mana is able to read it as well?"

Mana and Raven exchanged a confused glance.

"Er – Big Sister Bella, is there something wrong with the book? Should we not have touched it?" Mana asked hesitantly.

Raven bit his lip nervously. "I found the book on the open shelf over there, and it glowed when I went near it, so I picked it up…" he said quietly, pointing at the shelf where he had found the book. "I'm sorry if I was not supposed to touch it…"

"No, no, nothing of the sort," Bella said quickly. "I was just surprised, that's all. You two have free access to everything in the imperial library of the Sapphire Kingdom, as I told you earlier. It's just that this book – it is a little special." She turned to her fiancé. "Jules, why don't you try reading the book?" she asked.

"Sure," Jules said. He went to the table and opened the book.

"Pages one thousand one hundred and sixty seven to one thousand two hundred and thirty three," Raven said helpfully. "Those are the pages which talk about the magical device we need to make to remove the spirit possession magic."

Jules frowned and flipped a few pages, until he arrived approximately at the page range indicated by Raven.

"I don't understand," Jules murmured. "These pages seem to be blank."

Bella nodded. "Yes, it has always been blank for me, too," she said. "That's why I was so surprised when Raven said that both he and Mana were able to read it normally."

Mana and Raven exchanged a glance.

"But it looks just like a normal book to us," Mana said, frowning slightly.

She peered at the page that Jules had opened and touched the page with her fingers. It was page number one thousand one hundred and ninety eight, and she could see the text on it as clear as day. She looked up at Jules. "Big Brother, are you really not able to see anything on this page? I can see the text very clearly!" she said to him.

Jules's eyes widened in shock – because as soon as Mana had touched the page, the dense text in beautiful, ancient calligraphy had appeared on the paper immediately!

Bella, too, was taken aback, but not as surprised as Jules.

"Do you require all five elements of magic to run this device?" Bella asked, looking at Raven and Mana.

The two younger children nodded at the same time.

"I see," Bella murmured. She glanced at Mana and raised her eyebrows. "Mana, have you awakened your fifth magical element as well?" she asked curiously.

Mana shook her head and then shrugged. "I don't know, actually. I haven't checked," she murmured.

"Let's check now, for both of you," Bella said firmly. "I'll call out an element, and I want both of you to release a small amount of that magic to show to Jules and me right now."

"All right," Mana agreed easily. "But let's move a little away from the table – I don't want to accidentally burn down any of our notes or smudge them."

Jules chuckled and cast a protective barrier over the scattered papers. "Happy now?" he asked his little sister.

Mana grinned at him. "Thank you, Big Brother," she said sweetly.

Jules could only smile helplessly in return, his mismatched eyes full of affection for his younger sibling.

Bella clapped her hands. "All right then," she said. "We are starting now."

Mana and Raven nodded.

"Earth," Bella said.

Both Mana and Raven produced a small pebble on their palms.

Jules whistled. "You two are already able to generate the element spontaneously from within your magical force?" he asked.

Mana frowned. "Are we not supposed to?" she asked.

Raven coughed lightly. "Er – it is actually a little advanced for people of our age," he said modestly.

Jules and Bella burst out laughing.

"A little advanced, the boy says," Jules said, shaking his head ruefully. "Mana, less than ten percent of the entire population, no matter what their age, are able to achieve this. I wasn't able to do it myself until I was fourteen, and even then, I was praised for being an extremely outstanding and powerful young person."

Mana grinned. "So, it's a good thing, right?" she asked with a wink.

"Oh, definitely," Jules said, ruffling her hair affectionately. "A very good thing."

"So Raven and I are also extremely outstanding and powerful young persons like Big Brother?" Mana asked cheekily.

"Of course you are – as if there was ever any doubt about that!" Jules said with a laugh. "Now, show us your other magic. Go on, impress us!"

Bella, too, was smiling broadly by now. "Fire," she said.

Both Mana and Raven produced a small flame hovering over their palms.

"Impressive," Jules praised. He wondered for a moment if he should ask Mana and Raven whether they could produce all five magical elements from within their magical force, but then realised that with these two, it was probably a futile question – he should be surprised when they were *not* able to do something instead of when they were able to do something that most others couldn't!

"Very impressive indeed," Bella said, looking appropriately impressed with the display.

Mana and Raven beamed at their Big Brother Jules and Big Sister Bella with proud expressions on their faces. It always felt good to be appreciated by people they looked up to!

"Let's move on to the next one now," Bella said. "Wind."

A small whirlpool of wind appeared above the palms of Mana and Raven.

This time, Mana, too, was surprised. She had not expected her wind magic to have awakened and to have reached this level so soon!

"Amazing," Jules said, looking every inch the proud big brother that he was!

Bella nodded. "I couldn't do that until I was fourteen, either," she said. "You two are really something else."

Mana and Raven looked at each other and smiled.

"Let's try the next one," Mana said eagerly.

"Water," Bella said.

The whirlpools of wind disappeared and were replaced by little whirlpools of water instead, hovering neatly above the palms of Mana and Raven.

Jules clapped his hands in delight. "Wonderful!" he praised.

"The last one now," Bella said. "Dark magic."

A small black ball crackling with purplish electricity appeared above the palms of Mana and Raven.

"Well done," Bella said. "Now, I want you two to try out another exercise. Don't fret if you are unable to do it – I actually don't know of anyone other than Jules who is able to pull it off."

Jules preened.