The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

While Mana and Raven were speaking with the citizens inside the protective barrier, the Town Mayor and the Junior Priest of the Moon Temple were being helped up by their servants. They patted their robes and glared at the crowd.

"In the name of Moon Deity, I demand that this barrier be taken down at once!" the Junior Priest shouted. "And the person who cast this barrier shall be punished by law! For daring to cause intentional harm to the government official, the Town Mayor, and myself, the representative of the Moon Temple, the person who cast this barrier must be publicly whipped with no less than fifty lashes!"

Mana narrowed her eyes, and so did Raven.

Mana turned to an elderly person who had a scholarly air around him. "Say, what is the punishment for disrespect to the monarch and threatening the monarch in public?" she asked in a pleasant voice.

The elderly man smiled slightly. "Your Highness, the punishment should be immediate beheading," he said. "It is not only threatening the monarch in public and disrespect to the monarch, but also threatening a superior of the Moon Temple and disrespect to the Moon Deity by insulting the chosen successor of the Moon Temple," he explained.

Mana grinned at the man. "Thank you, Uncle," she said politely, her green eyes sparkling. She turned to Raven. "Do you want to take down the barrier now?" she asked.

Raven could see the mischief brewing in her eyes. He smiled as well. "If you want me to," he replied.

Outside the barrier, the Town Mayor shouted, "If you don't take down this barrier right now, I will raise a formal complaint against you in front of His Majesty and then all of you here will be beheaded for treason!"

The common people in the crowd, who had been frightened earlier, were now full of vigour since they had the king himself protecting them. Instead of cowering in front of the official's threats, they simply sneered at the group outside.

The Town Mayor and the Junior Priest and their servants were incensed. The magical barrier was transparent with a light golden glow, so they were able to see the people inside perfectly, and they could see these lowly commoners sneering at them as well! Their faces turned red with anger. Who was it that dared to erect such a protective barrier for these beggars?!

The group had been unhappy to begin with – they had received a message from the imperial capital city that their new King Raven and the foreign dignitaries would be arriving at the port town today and would be taking a ship to the Obsidian Kingdom from here. They had to wake up early in the morning and get ready and then come and greet their new king, who was just a little boy to begin with – but then again, they had heard that the Emerald Kingdom was backing this little boy and he was even engaged to be married to the younger daughter of King Jaren of the Emerald Kingdom – which basically meant that they were welcoming a golden goose into the Pearl Kingdom, so, naturally, they had to be nice to these two children and make a good impression so that they could reap the benefits later! After all, King Jaren would never let his precious daughter live in poverty, would he? And they had also heard that the boy Raven was quite brilliant and had been learning business in the Emerald Kingdom, and had good relationships with the Sapphire Kingdom as well as the Obsidian Kingdom, where his mother was. So, overall, it was a good thing for all of them!

However, before they could meet the new King Raven, they had run into this bunch of commoners instead, and now they were even being looked down upon by these people!

Mana took Raven's hand and laced her fingers through his. "I think you can take down the barrier now," she said. "Our people are safe now, aren't they?"

The citizens of the Pearl Kingdom smiled warmly at the two royal children when they heard this.

Raven nodded and removed the barrier the next moment.

The moment the protective barrier faded away, the Town Mayor shouted, "Who cast the barrier? Come out here this instant!"

"I did," Raven said in a cold voice.

The crowd in front of Raven parted, and the Town Mayor and the Junior Priest of the Moon Temple finally caught a glimpse of the two royal children.

The Town Mayor's face went pale as soon as his eyes landed on the young boy's face – or, more specifically, the royal pendant that hung around his neck – how could the Town Mayor not know that the royal crown of the Pearl Kingdom transformed itself into a royal pendant like this when the ruling monarch was outside the court? This young boy was their new King Raven!

The Junior Priest of the Moon Temple, on the other hand, also saw the bracelet on Raven's wrist that showed him to be the successor of Head Sage Yue, and he, too, immediately recognised that this young boy was the son of Head Sage Yue and their new King Raven as well as the successor of the Moon Temple!

And they had just insulted and threatened this person!

Both the Town Mayor and the Junior Priest fell to their knees.

"Your – Your Majesty, this servant apologises for being such a blind bat!" the Town Mayor cried, bending over and bowing his head.

The Junior Priest repeated the same gesture.

Seeing the two of them like this, all their servants immediately realised what was happening and all of them fell to their knees as well, and offered abject apologies to Raven with their heads bowed low.

"It is not to me that you need to apologise," Raven said in a cold voice. "You owe an apology to the citizens of this port town, and you owe an apology to the Pearl Kingdom as well as the Moon Temple!"