The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

Once the ancestral spirits had spoken, no one dared to say anything. Everyone who had expressed dissenting opinions about the eligibility of Raven as the new king of the Pearl Kingdom because of his departure from the Pearl Kingdom soon after his coronation as well as those who had not really accepted Raven as the new king of the Pearl Kingdom – including the Prime Minister – fell to their knees, almost forced to do so by the power of the ancestral spirits.

"King Raven – Your Majesty – please forgive me!" the Prime Minister cried, kneeling in front of Raven.

All the others apologised as well and begged for forgiveness.

Head Sage Yue crossed his arms. "You dare to disrespect the ancestral spirits by questioning their decision and you dare to insult His Majesty King Raven by questioning his conduct – none of you are fit to be a part of this court. It is no wonder that the Pearl Kingdom has sunken into such depths of treachery and betrayal and poverty that our ancestral spirits have been reduced to forcibly bringing in a twelve year old child as the king, and he has already achieved more in two days that we have in two decades! We should be ashamed of ourselves and follow His Majesty King Raven, just as mandated by the ancestral spirits of the Pearl Kingdom!" he announced.

"You are dismissed," Regent Prince Yuki said in a cold voice. "Cousin Raven and I can't afford to work with people who do not wish for the betterment of the Pearl Kingdom and are caught up with their petty little gains instead."

Mana smiled to herself. Head Sage Yue and Regent Prince Yuki were really going all out.

All the people who were kneeling on the ground started pleading for mercy with Regent Prince Yuki and Head Sage Yue.

Unfortunately for them, both Head Sage Yue and Regent Prince Yuki ignored them.

"Father, would you be accompanying us to the Obsidian Kingdom?" Mana asked Head Sage Yue suddenly.

Head Sage Yue bit his lip nervously. To be honest, he really, really wanted to go and attend the banquets in the Obsidian Kingdom – after all, it was for his only son. However, there were two major issues here – first and foremost, Head Sage Yue was enemy number one as far as the Obsidian Kingdom was concerned, and also, given the current status and situation of the Pearl Kingdom, it would be unwise for Head Sage Yue to leave the Pearl Kingdom. Regent Prince Yuki was hard working and a capable fellow in general, but he had just been handed such a big responsibility, and he had not gathered enough power to stand on his own yet. Also, Head Sage Yue had no doubt that even with the warning that was issued by the ancestral spirits just now, there would still be many people who would try to come up with their own nefarious schemes to bully Regent Prince Yuki.

On top of that, Raven's authority, even though it had been validated by the ancestral spirits and his ownership of the ancient Holy Sceptre was an unexpected but tremendous advantage for them.

Head Sage Yue sighed and shook his head. "I would love to," he said wistfully. "But unfortunately, at this moment, I cannot be away from the Pearl Kingdom for a long time."

The reluctance in his voice and on his face was very clear to Mana.

Mana looked at Raven. "In that case, do you think that it would be all right if we left half an hour later?" she asked. "I have something to discuss with all the heads of state and the primary decision makers of each country – I won't take up too much time. We can go to the Obsidian Kingdom right after this."

Raven eyed Mana curiously. "Sure," he said immediately. After all, he rarely refused Mana anything!

"Thanks," Mana said to him, smiling sweetly.

Raven smiled back in response. Then he asked her, "Who all do you want in this meeting?"

Mana tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Papa, Big Brother Jules, Big Sister Bella, Aunt Carolina, Grandpa, Grandma, Grandfather, Mother, Father Aqi, Rook, Father, Cousin Yuki, Fox, Vanilla," she said to Raven. Then she hesitated for a bit. "I'd also want Big Sister Astra and Big Brother in Law Mars to be present on behalf of the Amber Kingdom," she added.

Raven raised his eyebrows in surprise, but he didn't object to Mana's decision at all. Instead, he simply called over some attendants and sent them to invite all the people Mana wanted to meet to a large meeting room.

This implicit show of trust from Raven's side warmed Mana's heart.

Head Sage Yue and Regent Prince Yuki were very curious as they accompanied Raven and Mana to the meeting room to which everyone would be shown to by the attendants Raven had just sent out.

"Why do you want to meet all the decision makers of the five kingdoms?" Regent Prince Yuki asked curiously.

Mana smiled slightly. "We have a lot of international cross border business dealings now, don't we?" she asked.

Regent Prince Yuki nodded. "Yes, and I think it was you and Cousin Raven who started the whole thing," he murmured. "In the Pearl Kingdom, we have been rather envious of the kingdoms which had a good trade relationship with the Emerald Kingdom – and everyone knows that the royal family of the Emerald Kingdom have golden fingers when it comes to business!"

Raven chuckled. "I can't say I disagree with that," he said, putting an arm around Mana's shoulders.

Mana laughed patted Raven's hand. The boy was getting more and more openly affectionate towards her as well as other people these days, she thought to herself, feeling rather proud and happy about the whole thing. Raven had come so far in the months that she had known him…

"But what's that got to do with the meeting that you want to hold now, Mana?" Head Sage Yue asked – he was also very curious about what wonderful new idea had occurred to Mana today morning – Head Sage Yue, more than anyone else, was in awe of Mana's skills at the complexities of business, and at how much she had helped Raven and the Pearl Kingdom in the last two days! The girl was truly a treasure, he thought to himself, and her ideas were just amazing. And she was exceptionally good at handling business deals end to end, and she would even insist on writing down the terms and conditions of each transaction they made, no matter how big or small, and her insights into these terms and conditions were outstanding, and it made a lot of things very clear right from the start, and she always made sure that both parties to a transaction understood exactly what their role would be and the specific tasks that they would have to do.

Head Sage Yue had never seen anyone else handle these things so easily and with so many new ideas and plans and strategies that simply blew his mind when he saw her at work. Mana was truly a blessing from the heavens sent to Raven to make up for his miserable past, Head Sage Yue thought, as he watched Mana and Raven interact with each other. The two children cared very deeply about each other, and barring unforeseen circumstances, the two of them would get married once they reached a marriageable age. Head Sage Yue was looking forward to that very much – of course, he was smart enough to hide it away in his head for now. And more than that, Head Sage Yue really, really wanted to know what big plans Mana had in her brilliant little mind that she urgently needed to speak with the decision makers of each of the five kingdoms!

Mana looked at the three eager faces staring at her as if she was about to whip out a black forest cake for all of them and was quite amused.

She smiled and explained, "You see, when any dispute arises within any of our kingdoms, there are laws within each kingdom that take care of it. However, now that we are frequently dealing with cross border transactions – which is a good thing, especially for the merchants, because that is the only thing which will lead us to progress. However, disputes will still happen sometimes – and when that happens in these cross border transaction – like, say, I had an agreement with someone from the Amber Kingdom for certain raw materials to be sent over to me before the tenth day of each month, and let's say that these raw materials are absolutely necessary for my business, and I have made my plans accordingly. However, the person from the Amber Kingdom suddenly tells me that he will no longer be able to supply the raw materials to me as he had promised earlier. Now, this means that my entire business is affected very badly and I suffer a huge loss.. What should I do then? We are from different kingdoms, and our laws are different."