The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

The second banquet passed peacefully, and plenty of people were satisfied with the actions taken by the new King Raven of the Pearl Kingdom. There were dissenters and detractors, of course, but the number of those was not significant, and the majority were in favour of King Raven and his fiancée Princess Mana. Plus, Head Sage Yue and Regent Prince Yuki had a lot of followers, and their unconditional support to King Raven meant that a large chunk of the Moon Temple as well as the general public were automatically in favour of King Raven.

Taking a cue from their monarchs, the people of the Emerald Kingdom, the Sapphire Kingdom and the Obsidian Kingdom offered to establish trade relationships with the Pearl Kingdom. Raven and Mana had already identified several products native to the Pearl Kingdom which were easily marketable in other kingdoms, and additionally, the Pearl Kingdom was very rich in biodiversity with a lot of indigenous flora and fauna – and Mana could already see the ingredients of many popular modern dishes easily available in the Pearl Kingdom. Lots of contracts for supply of these fruits and vegetables and spices and other items were quickly signed – Mana was a firm believer of the early mover advantage, after all.

On the other hand, the people of the Pearl Kingdom thought that Princess Mana of the Emerald Kingdom was doing them a favour for the sake of their new King Raven and she was putting in her own funds from her business into the Pearl Kingdom to improve the lives of the people of the Pearl Kingdom and that she would be facing a loss because of this, but she was still doing it because she loved her fiancé and prioritised his reputation among the people of his kingdom over her own business profits. Head Sage Yue and Regent Prince Yuki heard about this and did not refute it at all, so the belief became widespread – and the two men cleverly used this as an excuse for King Raven staying outside the Pearl Kingdom for long periods of time – after all, Raven and Mana needed to go out to earn the money they were pouring into the Pearl Kingdom, in the eyes of the citizens. This also made the workers that Mana and Raven were hiring in the Pearl Kingdom or the people they were collaborating with for any business in the Pearl Kingdom very determined to work extra hard to live up to the expectations of the two young royals who were sacrificing so much to help them! Head Sage Yue and Regent Prince Yuki actively encouraged this line of thought – and later, they would realise how much this helped in creating a long lasting goodwill for Raven and Mana in the Pearl Kingdom, and how powerfully it influenced the morale and culture of the Pearl Kingdom. From being the poorest of all kingdoms, Pearl Kingdom grew to be a prosperous kingdom where no one went hungry in a miraculously short time – and the credit for this was laid on the shoulders of the young King Raven.

However, that was yet to come.

For now, there was an uproar in the Pearl Kingdom the moment everyone learnt that their new King Raven was leaving the Pearl Kingdom and would not return for several months.

"King Raven! This is your kingdom now – you are the monarch of the Pearl Kingdom! How could you not stay here? You have just been crowned – you can't leave now!" the Prime Minister, who was a paragon of incompetence and someone Mana and Raven wanted to throw out as soon as they found a decent replacement, cried.

Raven arched an eyebrow. "Very well then, Prime Minister. I will abdicate. Please ask the ancestral spirits to choose another monarch for you," he said flatly.

Several level headed ministers jumped up at that – half to pacify Raven and half to scold the Prime Minister for questioning their new monarch like this. The rest of the courtiers simply sat back and watched the show.

"But who will do the work if King Raven is not here?" the Prime Minister asked angrily, pretending to be righteous – as if King Min had ever done anything! It had always been Head Sage Yue who was in charge of the final decisions, and King Min had merely been a doll to sit on the throne.

Raven was different, though. He was brainy and participative – and in less than two days, he had made monumental changes that changed the course of the Pearl Kingdom already. He had brought in a wave of hope and expectation not only amongst the commoners, but the courtiers as well.

"That is why we have Regent Prince Yuki," Head Sage Yue said in a cold voice. "King Raven's acceptance of the throne of the Pearl Kingdom is conditional. The ancestral spirits have already promised King Raven that the Pearl Kingdom shall not restrict his movements or cast any adverse implications upon his prior commitments."

"We finally have a good king who can bring progress, development and prosperity to the Pearl Kingdom," Regent Prince Yuki spoke up, glaring at the Prime Minister. "Do you have any idea how much the ancestral spirits had to persuade King Raven before he accepted the position? He already has a position in the royal family of the Emerald Kingdom, and King Corvus and Crown Princess Pica of the Obsidian Kingdom have already declared him to be their heir – do you even understand what that means? We are the ones who need King Raven – not the other way round. He already had a throne in a much more powerful and prosperous kingdom waiting for him – and the only reason why he agreed to be with us is because he is the son of Head Sage Yue and he felt sympathy for the people of the Pearl Kingdom. If we want the Pearl Kingdom t survive and flourish, we need King Raven more than anything!"

"Regent Prince Yuki is absolutely right," another minister said. "Prime Minister, do you think anyone other than King Raven is capable of procuring all the profitable business deals that we have signed in the last two days? Do you think that the Emerald Kingdom, the Obsidian Kingdom and even the Sapphire Kingdom would ever wish to collaborate with us and give us such high profits if not for King Raven?"

"Exactly," the finance minister chipped in. "Have you even seen the amount of capital King Raven and his fiancée Princess Mana of the Emerald Kingdom have put into our economy in the last two days, Prime Minister? And these are private funds of King Raven and Princess Mana – they are already helping us to this extent! Which monarch has ever done such a thing for the economy of the Pearl Kingdom?"

Raven frowned slightly. 'King Raven and Princess Mana' didn't sound right to his ears. Mana glanced at him, noticing that he was upset, and thought that he was in a bad mood because of the troublesome drama these people were causing early in the morning on the day of their departure. She had no idea that Raven was far more concerned about the compatibility of 'King Raven and Princess Mana'!

"Queen Mana," Raven said suddenly. "If you refer to me as King Raven, you must refer to Mana as my queen – and I have to make this announcement upfront. As long as I am the king of this country, there will be only one queen, and that is Queen Mana."

The Prime Minister frowned, his brow creased with anger. He had been planning to let one of his daughters marry the young King Raven and snatch the position of the queen.

"Your Majesty, you must take more wives and concubines and give us a number of imperial heirs. How could just Princess Mana – my apologies, Queen Mana – be adequate for you all by herself? You will have different needs and one little girl – no offence meant – would never be enough for that," the Prime Minister said, looking straight at Raven.

Raven took Mana's hand in response and stood up. "Perhaps the Prime Minister should choose another king. Excuse me, I shall now leave and leave the Pearl Kingdom in your capable hands," Raven said sarcastically and was ready to walk out, hand in hand with Mana.

The moment he took as step forward, however, jets of blue light shot out from the pillars around them and converged around the Prime Minister, imprisoning him within a cage like structure made of bars of this glow blue light. 

"King Raven is our chosen monarch!" the compound voice of the ancestral spirits roared. "Who dares question our authority? Which fool does not understand that King Raven is the ray of hope for the Pearl Kingdom and the master of the Holy Sceptre? Do you wish for the Pearl Kingdom to stop existing for good – because that is the outcome without King Raven on the throne of the Pearl Kingdom!"