The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

"Good morning, Mana," a deep, beautiful male voice reached her ears, and Mana's consciousness latched on to it.

This voice was just too beautiful, she thought – there was no other way to define it, and it made one want to know more about the owner of the voice.

Mana blinked slowly, and then rubbed the sleep out of her eyes with her fingers as she sat up.

She did a double take when she caught a look at her surroundings. Why did it look like a modern luxury hotel from her previous world?!

"Are you up now? Would you like to eat something?" the beautiful voice asked her in a gentle, indulgent tone.

Mana's head whipped around, and she caught sight of a beautiful back dressed in the plush bathrobe with the logo of a luxury brand of hotels. She knew this particular hotel brand very well; her family had some investments in it. They were one of the most expensive and exotic hotel chains in the world.

The man had an amazing figure even with the plush bathrobe, she realised, and the bits of his calves that she could see were perfect in a way she could never have imagined. The plush bathrobe ended a little below the knees, and the man's feet were encased in the plush hotel slippers which matched the bathrobe.

It was then that Mana realised that the bed was a large one, and room she was in seemed to be similar to a honeymoon suite. Moreover, the covers next to her were rumpled, and it was clear that she had not been the only occupant of the bed.

Mana rubbed her eyes again. And it was only then that she noticed that her hands were adult sized. Mana quickly threw off the covers, and saw that her legs were adult sized, too, and she was dressed in a lingerie set that could only be called 'bridal'.

"Mana? Is something wrong? Are you feeling unwell?" the beautiful voice of the man with the perfect back and perfect calves sounded close to Mana's ear.

Mana blinked slowly and turned her head to face him.

Her breath froze in her chest.

This face was too beautiful, too sinful. On one hand, Mana couldn't breathe, and on the other, her heart thudded in her chest, banging against her rib cage so hard that she felt that her heart would leap out of her body.

But that inky black hair and those rainbow eyes were all too familiar, and the beautiful face easily matched the one Mana knew as well as her own in the new magical world of 'The Legend of Mars'.

"Raven," she breathed, her hand automatically coming up to caress that ethereally gorgeous face with gentle fingers. "You are Raven, aren't you?"

The man chuckled softly. "Of course I am," he murmured, pressing a soft kiss against Mana's temple. "Who else would I be?"

Mana breathed a sigh of relief.

"Where are we?" she asked softly.

The grown up Raven frowned, and the ridge on his perfect brow made Mana want to smooth it away with her fingers.

He touched Mana's forehead with his fair, elegant and long fingers, checking for a fever.

"There's no fever," he murmured, almost to himself. "Mana – are you feeling unwell?"

"I'm not sure," Mana replied.

"Does it hurt?" Raven asked gently, his eyes impossibly soft and full of adoration. "Should I help you take a bath?"

Mana flushed and shook her head. "I can manage myself," she replied quickly. "Where are we, Raven? What's going on? How did we grow up and come here all of a sudden?"

Alarm and panic flooded the handsome face of the grown up version of Raven.

"Mana, you – don't you remember…?" he asked in a whisper, hurt filling his rainbow eyes. A small flicker of darkness shot through his irises, and Mana knew that to be a sign of his despair. Her heart clenched in her chest.

She took his hand in her own smaller ones, and realised that his hands were trembling with emotion.

"Raven," she said quietly. "Please tell me what is going on…"

Raven took a deep breath and struggled visibly to bring his emotions under control.

"Mana," he asked quietly. "Do you remember that we got married yesterday…?"

The vulnerability and insecurity in his voice tore at Mana's heart, but she couldn't bring herself to lie outright. She really didn't remember having grown up enough to marry him. The last thing she remembered was Raven being a lovely young boy twelve, and her being a young girl of ten.

"I remember being engaged to you, and I am glad that we are married now," Mana said quietly. "How old are we now, Raven?"

Raven's expression cleared a little at her words. "I am twenty six and you are twenty four," he said softly.

"Where are we?" Mana asked.

"Country H," Raven replied. "In the City of Lights. I thought that you would like to visit your favourite city after we got married, and now that you have three weeks off from your law firm – we could get married and also have a nice vacation to ourselves. Your Big Brother said that we could stay here for a week, and then spend another week in Island J…"

Mana blinked. It looked like she was actually back in the previous world, the modern world that she had remembered – and Raven was somehow here, too. And her Big Brother was alive…!

"And what about your work?" Mana asked Raven, trying to get some information out about Raven's status in this world.

"Fox and Vanilla will manage in my absence," Raven said casually, his eyes brightening. "Don't worry about the company, Mana."

Mana chatted with Raven for a while, and managed to gather plenty of information without making Raven upset. Her parents were still alive, too, and Liam was the one in a coma this time – it turned out that before the accident had happened, Raven had somehow turned up and saved Mana and her family…! And on Raven's side of the family, there were his estranged parents who barely had any contact with him, and a strict grandfather who had raised him, none of whom cared about him. However, Raven had grown up as a neglected but wealthy child and the sole heir of a huge business empire in this life – unlike the poor situation in his previous life. Mana and Raven had met when they were children, and they had become friends, and then later, they had started dating. Liam was one of Mana's jilted suitors and he had tried to get his revenge on Mana by causing that accident, but this time, Liam was the one who had ended up in the hospital, paralysed.

Mana had no complaints at all.

"You really are my blessing from the heavens," she murmured, caressing Raven's gorgeous face again.

She couldn't stop herself from staring at his ethereally beautiful face. She had always known that Raven would grow up into an earth-shattering beauty, but the result that she saw with her own eyes right now was far beyond what she had expected. He was so beautiful that Mana wanted to keep looking at him for the rest of her life!

But Mana also wanted to meet her parents and her Big Brother in this life – she didn't know when she would be pulled back into the magical world, which had become her real home now in her heart. But before she was sent back, she wanted to meet her parents and her Big Brother from this life, and wanted to reassure herself that they were all right, even if it was a mere fantasy.

"I want to see my family," Mana said to Raven in a soft whisper. "Please, Raven, may I?"

Her family lived in Country B, and it would take them at least five or six hours to fly to Country H, where Mana and Raven currently were.

Raven froze. "Do you want to cancel our vacation and go back?" he asked in a quiet voice.

Mana shook her head. "I just want to see my family," she said. "And I want to stay with you, too. You are my husband now, aren't you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. The term 'husband' rolled off her tongue easily, and it felt so very right.

Raven flushed, and Mana chuckled internally. It seemed like Raven's shyness and her ability to tease him remained unchanged no matter which world they were in.

"All right," Raven said with a sigh. "I will have your family flown down to here today. They can join us for dinner. Would that be all right, Mana?" he asked. He didn't seem very happy about it – naturally, Mana thought – who would want their in laws, no matter now nice, to invade their honeymoon?

Mana nodded happily and thought that it also seemed like Raven's endless indulgence of her was not limited to one world, either.

Then Mana looped her arms around Raven's neck and kissed his cheek. "Raven, husband," she whispered in his ear.. "I love you."