The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

Mana and Raven were both quite nervous when they returned to their room after everyone dispersed.

"Do you think I might get chosen to sit on the throne of the Pearl Kingdom?" Raven asked quietly, once they were inside.

All sleep had been driven away by what had happened just now.

Mana sighed. "I think that there is a high likelihood that you might be chosen," she murmured. "Your fate is that of an emperor, and you are also the master of the Holy Sceptre of the Pearl Kingdom. Also, if the criteria for choosing the next monarch is merit or talent or intelligence – I am afraid that there is no one better than you."

She looked up at Raven's eyes, which had returned to their beautiful rainbow hue. "What do you think of this development, Raven? Do you want to be the next king of the Pearl Kingdom?" she asked.

Raven bit his lip nervously. "I don't know," he murmured. "I just want to be with you and our family…"

Mana narrowed her eyes. "But…?" she asked him, realising that there was something else going on in his mind.

"We would have the Pearl Kingdom under our control if I became the king here," he murmured. "Then we would be able to protect our loved ones better, wouldn't we?"

"But you will have to spend a significant amount of your time in the Pearl Kingdom, then," Mana said. "And given what we saw of King Min just now, I am afraid that you would constantly be in danger when you are here."

Raven shrugged. "If we see the bigger picture…" he began.

Mana grabbed his hands, which were ice cold right now. "Forget the bigger picture," she said. "If you want to be the king of the Pearl Kingdom, then you have my full support. But if you are just sacrificing yourself for some meagre perceived benefits, then there is no way we are going to let you do it."

Raven lowered his head, his feelings complicated. He had an inkling that something strange would probably take place really soon.

The truth was that he couldn't care less about the throne of any kingdom as long as he had his loving family. Without Mana, without Big Brother, without Papa, without little Azar – would there be any point in having great power or great riches? Not to mention the fact that the Pearl Kingdom neither had power nor had riches. If he did become the king of the Pearl Kingdom, he would have to work himself to the bones to make something of this country first – and he would also have to go head to head with the Amber Kingdom to reclaim the lands that they had encroached upon.

Perhaps he could do what his Grandfather said, and carry the black emperor token of the Obsidian Kingdom and the green protector pendant of the Emerald Kingdom. Perhaps the strong affiliation with these two powerful nations where he had already been claimed and acknowledged by the ancestral spirits would be enough to ward off the powers of the Pearl Kingdom or the Moon Temple that was instrumental in choosing the next king of the Pearl Kingdom.

"What if I did become the king of the Pearl Kingdom?" Raven asked softly. "Would you dislike me then, Mana?"

Mana rolled her eyes. "Do you think that it is even possible for me to dislike you?" she demanded, a hint of annoyance creeping into her voice. "No matter what it is, no matter what happens – I will always be by your side. Haven't I told you this before? Why do you keep forgetting it?" She huffed and pouted and crossed her arms to show her displeasure.

Raven smiled helplessly and came over to coax her. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he said softly. "Don't be angry, Mana, please?"

Mana huffed in response.

"You know how my heart hurts when you are upset, Mana," Raven whispered with a pitiful expression.

Mana couldn't help but pull him into a hug. "Then don't make me upset by saying stupid things like this," she said fiercely. "I like you more than anyone else in the world, how is it even possible for me to dislike you? If you say that ever again, I will not speak to you for three days straight!"

"All right, all right, I will never say it again, all right? Please don't be angry any more?" Raven pleaded, making an adorable puppy face that he had clearly learnt from Azar.

Mana knew she would never be able to resist that cute face. She sighed and gave in.

"You had better not say such nonsense again – no, you should not even think such nonsense again!" she warned.

Raven nodded in a demure, obedient manner.

They fell silent for a while.

Then Raven asked quietly, "If I really do get chosen – what should we do?"

Mana sighed as well and took his hand, patting it in a reassuring manner. "If you do get chosen and there is no option but for you to take over the throne of the Pearl Kingdom, then we will all support you, of course," she said.

Raven's rainbow eyes widened in surprise and then started to fill with tears.

Mana frowned at his reaction. "What, you think that we are going to abandon you – that *I* am going to abandon you just because a crown of a problematic country is dropped on your head?" she demanded.

Raven shook his head vigorously. After all, he had just been issued and warning, and he wouldn't dare to offend Mana right away again!

"Look, I know that you are troubled over this matter," Mana said softly, patting his fair cheeks affectionately. "I am worried, too. But there is nothing we can do by worrying about it, right? So we should just rest for a bit and see what happens tomorrow. If you do get chosen, then we will figure out what to do. But you have to remember that in any case, no matter what happens, I am always going to be by your side and I will always support you, and so will Papa and Big Brother. Got that?"

Raven nodded in a daze.

"Come on, then," Mana said, tugging at his sleeve. "We should get some rest. It won't be nice if we turn up tomorrow with panda eyes."

Raven cocked his head curiously at her and blinked slowly, looking like an adorable little kitten, and Mana barely resisted the urge to reach out and pet his hair like she would do for a cat. "What is panda eyes?" he asked in a curious voice.

Mana chuckled. "Pandas are these bears which look really cute," she told him. "They are chubby and their fur is black and white, and their eyes are ringed with black. You know how people have dark bags under their eyes when they don't sleep properly? That's what we refer to as 'panda eyes' because it looks kind of looks like that – well, not really, but still…"

Raven was intrigued. "Can you draw a panda for me?" he asked sweetly.

Mana blinked in surprise. Raven rarely asked her for anything, and she was inclined to spoil him on the rare occasions that he did ask for something.

"Of course," she said, pulling a sheet of paper and some pencils towards herself. Mana had drawn many things on papers since she had come to this world, and most of those things had already been brought to life by her extra ordinary family members and friends.

Very quickly, a cute panda began to take shape on the sheet of paper, and Raven watched with soft eyes and Mana focused on her sketching and then shaded the sketch meticulously, bringing a cute, furry creature to life on the sheet of paper.

When she was done, she handed the sheet of paper to Raven.

"How is it? This is more or less what a panda bear looks like," she said, her emerald eyes shining excitedly. "They are really cute, aren't they?" she asked Raven.

Raven looked at the creature on the paper and thought that it really was rather cute.

"How big is a panda?" Raven asked her, staring at the drawing intently. "Can you carry it around like Papa carries Azar and Alya?"

Mana stared at Raven for a moment and then burst out laughing.

"No, no," she said, waving her arms comically. "You can't carry a panda in your arms!"

When she was done laughing, she held out her hand. "Give me the drawing. I will draw a human figure next to it to show you the scale, all right?"

Raven obediently handed the sheet back to her and she quickly drew a human figure next to the panda – a human figure that looked suspiciously similar to Raven.

Raven's eyes widened when he saw the human figure. "So big?" he murmured.

Mana chuckled. "Come on, then, let's get some rest now. I will tell you the story about a really powerful panda warrior…" she cajoled.

The two of them fell asleep soon enough.. Everyone else who had been involved in this incident was destined to spend a restless night.