The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

The next morning, Head Sage Yue and Regent Prince Yuki took Raven and Mana through all the processes and current situation of the Pearl Kingdom. It was quite dismal, actually, and when they finished reviewing the brief summary of the reports, Mana and Raven stared at each other in dismay.

"Er – we may have restructure the economy of the Pearl Kingdom entirely," Mana murmured.

Raven nodded. "My thoughts exactly," he said quietly, rubbing his temples. "But we can't do it right away, given the situation with the Amber Kingdom. It would destabilise the country. We need to make a list of temporary measures that we can deploy immediately to keep the country stable while strengthening the borders. We will also have to take back the lands which have been encroached upon by the Amber Kingdom."

Head Sage Yue sighed. "My apologies, son. It is my incompetence that has brought us to this situation," he said in a miserable voice. "I couldn't even see the traitors right in front of my face."

"What is done is done, there is no point in dwelling over it unnecessarily," Raven said softly. "What we need to do right now is to boost the economy and take back the borders."

"We can ask Papa for help," Mana said. "We can hire the Mercenary Guild to sort out the borders." She looked at the financial reports and sighed. The Pearl Kingdom was officially on the brink of insolvency. It was only by selling lands to the Emerald Kingdom that they had somehow managed to stay afloat in the last several months.

"We can't afford the Mercenary Guild, I'm afraid," Regent Prince Yuki said, scratching his head awkwardly.

"Father – have we acquired the private properties and assets of all the traitors named by the former King Min?" Mana asked suddenly.

Head Sage Yue nodded. "We have," he said. "Those are annexed to the royal treasury as part of the personal assets of the reigning monarch and the royal family."

Raven cast a glance at the privileges of the royal family and the people at the Moon Temple.

"These privileges don't make sense to me," he said. "Why are we spending so much on the royal family and the Moon Temple without getting anything in return from them?"

Regent Prince Yuki smiled bitterly. "I asked the same question when I first entered the palace, and I was nearly beaten to death by my cousins and half-siblings," he murmured. "It was Uncle Yue who saved me, and my royal father withdrew all my princely privileges as penalty."

Head Sage Yue, too, looked at the accounts of the Moon Temple in dismay. "This can't be correct," he murmured. "I never signed off on so many expenses…"

"Someone is clearly siphoning funds from the Moon Temple, then," Mana said bluntly.

"I'm going to withdraw all these privileges," Raven said. "How many people are there in the royal family?"

"Forty nine, excluding you, me and Uncle Yue," Regent Prince Yuki said with a sigh. "Twenty one of them are imprisoned in the dungeons right now because of my royal father's confession, since they were part of the conspiracy that he was involved in. This includes my royal father's two siblings and their spouses. Out of the remaining twenty eight, seventeen are of our generation – seven of them are my half siblings, and the remaining ten are my cousins. As for the other eleven – they are the concubines who have not been given any status and who were not important enough for my royal father and my royal uncle and my royal aunt to be involved in their conspiracy. Some of them are former slaves, some used to be prostitutes and some were brought in for political alliance."

Raven and Mana exchanged a horrified glance.

"What do we do with them?" Mana asked quietly. "Do you want to rehabilitate and resettle them? The concubines? And the royals of our generation – should we get instructors for them, based on their talents? Or have them work on something useful?"

Raven sighed and nodded. "I suppose that's the only thing we can do," he murmured. "Father, Cousin Yuki – could you make a list noting down the characteristics and talents of these people, please? Then, perhaps, we could meet them one by one and figure out how to place them? We should take their preference into account as well."

"We have one more banquet tomorrow evening," Head Sage Yue murmured. "If you wish, we can start speaking with them this evening and finish it off by tomorrow first half."

Raven looked at Mana, silently asking for her opinion.

"Let's do that, then," Mana said. "If Father and Cousin Yuki have time right now, instead of preparing lists, can we sit together and discuss these royal family members one by one? I will take notes."

Head Sage Yue and Regent Prince Yuki nodded enthusiastically. It would certainly save some time if they did that.

Thus, the four of them sat together and discussed the details of each member of the royal family that had not been declared a traitor and what they could possibly do.

Raven and Mana had a headache by the time they finished discussing. Not surprisingly, the former slaves were ones who had the most potential in terms of practical skills and diligence, and the former prostitutes could also be considered all right. The ones from the political alliances were mostly resentful and useless, and if offered a chance, they might wish to return to their families. As for the royal children – it turned out that except two young children who were about five years old, the rest of the royal children of their generation were useless spoilt brats who had neither brains nor talent nor the will to do anything. And the ironical thing was the most of them were older than Mana and Raven, and even Yuki, in several cases.

"Well," Mana said. "Either they study, or they get to work. There is plenty of unskilled labour that can be done."

"They won't want to," Regent Prince Yuki said with a sigh.

"Then they can fend for themselves," Mana said. She looked at Raven. "You can tell them that I insist that the condition for any aid from the Emerald Kingdom would be contingent – and based on actual merit or diligence. Those who don't work or study and simply want to lead a luxurious life like a parasite on other people's money – they will be disinherited and expelled from the royal family of the Pearl Kingdom with immediate effect and without a single coin to their name."

Head Sage Yue and Regent Prince Yuki looked at her in surprise.

"Are you sure?" Head Sage Yue asked her in a hesitant voice. "It will generate a lot of ill will towards you within these people."

Mana huffed. "My Raven is not going to work for any parasites, and neither am I," she said. "And I don't care if they bear me any ill will. It's not like Raven is going to abandon me if these pesky people don't like me, right?" She shot Raven a glance.

Raven chuckled. "There is nothing except my death that will make me leave you, Mana," he said, patting her arm in a cajoling gesture.

Mana glared at him. "Don't say such ominous things," she scolded. "You are not allowed to die – and, besides, have you forgotten that we are fated soulmates? My life is tied to yours, so you are not allowed to leave me even in death, I'm going with you! You will have to put up with me forever!"

Regent Prince Yuki was startled. "Fated soulmates…?" he asked faintly. "Wow – that – that is just amazing!" His light eyes shone with admiration. "Cousin Raven and Cousin in Law Mana are really awesome!"

Raven smiled sweetly at Mana to coax her anger away. "You are right and I am sorry," he said softly. "Won't you forgive me?"

Mana pinched his cheeks playfully. "You are not allowed to talk about leaving me ever again, and you are not allowed to die!" she warned.

"Yes, yes, I will do as you say," Raven said.

Head Sage Yue and Regent Prince Yuki shared a glance that was half amused and half envious. The interactions of Mana and Raven were very sweet and quite funny, and it was evident that Raven was going to grow up into one of those men who doted on every whim and fancy of their wives, and that made them laugh – but it also made one yearn for a perfectly matched partner for oneself as well.

Head Sage Yue stood up and clapped his hands. "All right, we should go for lunch now," he said. "After lunch, we can start meeting up and speaking with the twenty eight people we need to settle."

They joined their family for lunch, and Mana and Raven discussed the issue briefly with King Jaren and Queen Carolina, with King Corvus listening in.. Everyone was in agreement with Raven and Mana.