The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

Then Astra grabbed hold of Mana's shoulders. "Mana, you are a business genius, aren't you? You must have some way for me to earn enough money to pay the renowned Poison Expert Naver!"

Mana shook her head sadly. "Big Sister, actually I don't…" she murmured.

"No, no, I'm sure you do!" Astra insisted, shaking Mana's shoulders.

Raven clenched his fists, and controlled himself with great difficulty (and only because Mana lowered her head and shot him a warning glance, telling him silently not to take action). But that didn't stop Raven from wanting to grab this horrible girl Astra and throw her off Mana! How dare this filthy woman lay her hands on his precious Mana?!

Perhaps Raven's aura was a little too strong, but Astra suddenly felt a chill run down her spine and she hurriedly stepped away from Mana.

"Mana," she begged, putting on her best pleading and pitiful expression – that of a classic damsel in distress. "Can't you help me somehow? Can't you help me make some money…?" she asked tearfully, even letting tears well up in her eyes.

Mana wanted to clap – what an accomplished actress! Had Astra been born in the modern world, she would most definitely have been an award winning movie queen – perhaps she would have even made it to Hollywood's elite list!

"I do have some ideas," Mana said hesitantly. "But it will need some permissions in the Amber Kingdom and some protection and safeguarding of the assets and also some initial investments…" she trailed off, letting her words linger.

"I'll get you all the permits you need, and I'll take charge of protecting and safeguarding your business in the Amber Kingdom!" Astra promised immediately. "I'll also get Mars to put in some initial investments and we can all make money from it – that would help right? Will it generate enough money to buy the love potion regularly from the renowned Poison Expert Naver?" she asked anxiously.

"It should," Mana said.

For the next half an hour, Mana and Raven brainwashed Astra into sponsoring their business plans in the Amber Kingdom – Astra and Mars would not only invest in the business, but they would also take care of safeguarding the desert lands that Mana, Raven and Jules had just bought, and all the transportation charges would be paid by them. Astra's eyes glowed at the thought of being able to make money from those cheap and useless dates, and she thought that she would be able to rake up a good reputation among the general public of the Amber Kingdom with this as well – after all, if the public loved and supported the future wife of the Crown Prince Mars of the Amber Kingdom – surely King Orion, too, would have a better opinion of her and stop trying to push Mars into looking at other people?

Mana and Raven were clever enough to leave a profit margin for Astra and Mars as well, even though a large chunk of their earnings would be redirected to the renowned Poison Expert Naver in exchange for a regular supply of the love potion.

"But Big Sister Astra, you will really have to figure out a way to let Big Brother in Law Mars drink the undiluted love potion, even if it tastes horrible – otherwise, even with all this, we will not be able to get enough of the love potion from the renowned Poison Expert Naver," Mana said worriedly. "He only makes it twice a year, and it can't even be stored for more than two weeks…"

Astra was aware of this problem, too, and she was determined to come up with a solution for this as well – twice a year, she could surely make Mars drink something unpleasant for her sake, couldn't she?

Of course, Astra had no idea that it was a trick being played on her and Mars by Mana and Raven – the actual love potion was tasteless and odourless – but Raven would deliberately make it disgusting especially for them! And not just that, after drinking the undiluted love potion, Mars would reek of cow dung and horse urine for several days afterwards – and everyone would run away from him during those days, thinking that he had some body odour problems that was especially severe – everyone except Astra, that is, who was clever enough to buy a temporary scent blocking potion from the renowned Poison Expert Naver as well. And Mars would think that his dear Princess Astra was so devoted to him even during his bad days – and even King Orion and the others would revise their opinion of Princess Astra of the Emerald Kingdom from a brainless pretty face to a devoted brainless pretty face. The fact that Astra was actually quite clever and managed to outsmart all of them on this matter was something that would never occur to those conceited fools of the Amber Kingdom at all.

Still, that was none of Mana's concern. She was happy enough with this stuff – and besides, any money that came to the renowned Poison Expert Naver actually came to Raven's pocket, so why would Mana complain? All the money they were spending would come to them anyway, and the little that went to Astra and Mars could be considered as business expense in exchange for the permits and the security money for running a successful business in the Amber Kingdom.

And Astra thought that she had gotten the good end of the deal when she walked off, feeling very accomplished.

Mana and Raven looked at each other and shared a smile – a proper bout of laughter would have to be delayed for a while. And, of course, they had to share the good news with Jules and Bella as well…

King Jaren was waiting for them worriedly when Astra came back with the two younger children. King Jaren quickly looked over Mana and Raven, and when he saw that both the children were perfectly fine and their eyes were glowing mischievously, he heaved a sigh of relief.

Thus the day came to an end, and everyone was shown to their rooms in the imperial guest house to rest.

Mana and Raven immediately dragged Jules and Bells into their room to tell them what had happened, and the four youngsters laughed for a long, long time behind the safety of their own privacy barriers.

"Should we tell Papa?" Bella asked suddenly.

Mana shrugged casually. "If he asks, we will tell him," she said with a devious smile on her small face. "It's not like we are doing anything bad – well, not really, really bad, at least. We are just going to make some stinky people stink," she said mischievously.

Jules and Bella burst out laughing.

"You two are really something else, Mana and Raven," Jules said, clutching his stomach, which hurt after laughing so much. He was just short of rolling around on the floor with laughter, trying to imagine how Mars would look when he really had to drink something that foul!

Serves him right, Jules thought fiercely. Who asked Mars and Astra to mess with their dear little Mana and Raven? And that moron Mars even wanted to target Mana and Raven! Jules's blood still boiled with anger when he thought back to how Mars had made indecent proposals to both Mana and Raven and had tried to convince both of them to be his concubines! Jules had been very close to sneaking away in the middle of the night to murder the other crown prince. How dare he set his sights on their precious Mana and Raven?!

It was a good thing that Mana and Raven could be crafty and ruthless when they needed to be. For now, their methods were the best and the least troublesome – but in the future, if Mars and Astra came looking for trouble with Mana and Raven again…

Jules clenched his fists. He had to get stronger. As the big brother to both Mana and Raven, how could he make the two younger ones sort out all their troubles by themselves? Wasn't it the duty of the older sibling to protect the younger ones?

Jules was determined to grow more and more powerful until he would be able to crush anyone and everyone that so much as looked at his family in the wrong way!

A soft and warm hand slipped into Jules's clenched fists and made him relax. Bella, who could see the thoughts of her fiancé from the expression on his face and his clenched fists, fully agreed with Jules on this matter, and her thoughts were the same. Bella adored Mana and Raven as much as she would have if they had been her own younger siblings, and she disliked Mars and Astra quite a bit, especially since she knew that both of them had evil designs on Mana and Raven – and even on Jules. And Bella was as determined to protect the ones she loved as Jules was.

"Someone is at the door," Mana said suddenly.