The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

More people turned up to meet the new Crown Prince Jules the next morning – the inn had become famous overnight. It was bound to happen if most members of the royal family patronised it, anyway.

Jules worked his magic on the crowd again, and after a fulfilling, homely breakfast, the group decided to return to the imperial palace. By the time they were ready to leave, though, a bunch of ministers and high-ranking officials had turned up at the inn to receive them and accompany them back to the imperial palace.

This time, there was no trouble at all, despite Papa's warning that there would be plenty of drama. Neatly organised guards and servants were waiting at the gates, and they experienced the courteous and efficient service worthy of a royal palace. Lavish rooms had been prepared for Grandpa, Grandma, Jules and Raven – all near Mana's chambers. Physician Kale and Fox were also appointed imperial guest rooms near Mana. Azar would stay with either Mana or Raven, depending on his mood.

If the servants and guards were shocked at the sudden appearance of a little dragon in Mana's arms, they didn't show it. Curious eyes fell on Azar, though, but none of them bothered to give an explanation – and after last evening, no one dared to misbehave.

The shadow guards had clearly done a great job, Mana thought to herself. No one had turned up to call Physician Kale over, either – which surprised them. After so many letters demanding that Physician Kale return immediately to the imperial palace to treat the Queen's aide…now that he was actually in the imperial palace, no one came to bother him? Could one evening's clean up lead to such a major change? Or, perhaps, the Queen was so busy dealing with the aftermath of King Jaren's anger that she had no energy to spare for her aide.

In any case, Physician Kale was quite pleased. He had always disliked Queen Sora and Princess Astra, even though he was unfailingly polite.

"Let me know if you don't like your rooms," Mana said generously, playing the hostess. "I'll have them changed right away if you don't!"

Everyone was fairly pleased with their rooms, though, so there was no need to make any changes.

Grandpa and Grandma were familiar with the imperial palace and decided to take a rest, but Jules, Fox and Raven were not, so Mana offered to show them around. Thus, the youngsters quickly freshened up and ran off by themselves.

Azar sat on the shoulder of his Uncle Jules, who was the tallest among the four of them, insisting he had a better view. The little dragon had been very annoyed the previous evening after the debacle at the imperial palace, because he was sensitive to malicious intent, and had wandered off into the shared space of Mana and Raven by himself. Mana had wondered if they should keep Azar in the shared storage space and hide his existence from the people of the imperial palace – but then discarded the idea after discussing with Raven. There was no other creature in the shared space that Azar could play with – and Mana and Raven didn't want him to be lonely. He was just a baby, after all – wouldn't he get lonely and scared easily if left by himself?

Mana gave the boys a nice tour of the imperial palace for over an hour. Then they decided to return to her room and call for some refreshments.

Soon after, Mana's doors were thrown open and an extremely angry Princess Astra barged in.

"Mana!" she yelled. "What's this nonsense I'm hearing?! I thought Papa was simply joking around when he mentioned it earlier – but you – did you actually get engaged to that filthy brat from the Obsidian Kingdom?!"

"Mind your language!" Mana snapped. "You have absolutely no right to disrespect my fiancé!"

"How dare you?!" Astra cried, and raised her hand to hit Mana.

Two shadows flashed past Mana. Raven quickly pulled Mana behind him protectively, and Jules caught Astra's wrist in an iron grip. "Hard to believe that we share a parent," he said coldly. "I had not expected my half-sister to be such a shrew."

"Who the hell are you?!" Astra shouted. "Let me go! I'll have you whipped to death!"

"Did you hit your head somewhere and lose all your brains while I was gone, Big Sister?" Mana asked with a smirk. "You can't even recognise our Big Brother, the Crown Prince of the Emerald Kingdom, even though he looks just like Papa?"

"Nonsense! I am Papa's heir!" Astra hissed.

Jules and Mana burst out laughing.

"You didn't tell me she was delusional," Jules complained to Mana.

"I didn't know it, either," Mana said with a careless shrug. "I just thought she was murderous and callous, but somewhat clever to be able to maintain a virtuous façade in front of outsiders." Her brow wrinkled in distaste. "I think I overestimated her."

"How dare you speak to me like this!" Astra cried angrily and called in her guards. "I want them beaten to death right now!" she ordered, pointing her free hand at Jules, Mana and Raven.

"Isn't harming the Crown Prince a capital offence in this kingdom?" Fox asked mildly.

The guards, who had drawn their swords already, froze.

"Don't listen to this nonsense!" Astra commanded. "They're frauds, all of them!"

Mana shrugged. "Don't say we didn't warn you afterwards," she said. Her eyes gleamed with authority, and the guards couldn't help but take a step back.

"Why is it so noisy here?" came King Jaren's booming voice.

Astra's guards quickly put away their swords and assumed a respectful position.

"Grandpapa!" Azar cried and leaped into King Jaren's arms. "Bad woman insult Daddy, bad woman hurt Mommy and Uncle Jules!" he complained. "Bad woman evil, evil, evil!"

King Jaren frowned. "What's going on?" he asked.

Jules released Astra's arm.

"A shrew walked in claiming to be your heir, insulted Raven, tried to hit Mana, threatened to whip me to death and ordered her guards to beat Mana, Raven and me to death," Jules said bluntly. "These guards had already drawn their swords and were advancing on us – they quickly retreated when they heard your voice."

"Papa, no!" Astra wailed loudly. "They're just bullying me! How can you believe outsiders and a disgusting little reptile and doubt me?!"

Azar burst into tears. "Evil woman call me names," he sobbed.

Mana and Raven rushed forward and snatched Azar from King Jaren's arms.

"Don't cry, little one," Mana cooed and rubbed his little head while Raven held him close and stroked his scales soothingly.

"Don't listen to the evil woman," Raven said. "The evil woman is disgusting."

"Our little Azar is the most beautiful baby in the world!" Mana said.

"Yes, our Azar is the best!" Raven chipped in.

"Listen to your Mommy and Daddy," Jules told the little dragon, blocking Azar from Astra's malicious gaze. "Aren't you my good little nephew? Why should you listen to some random bad woman?"

"Bad women will have bad eyes, right? So the bad woman can't see how lovely and precious you are," Fox joined the other three in coaxing the little dragon.

"How about this? Since Azar is so good, Mommy and Daddy will make a big chocolate cake and a big bottle of vanilla milkshake for Azar?" Mana offered.

"No give to bad woman?" Azar asked, his tears finally subsiding.

"We will definitely not give any to the bad woman," Raven said firmly. "Chocolate cake and vanilla milkshake is only for our beautiful Azar!"

"Azar share with Mommy and Daddy and Uncle Jules and Uncle Fox and Grandpapa," the little dragon said happily.

Having cajoled their precious baby successfully, the four youngsters heaved a sigh of relief.

Mana glared at Astra, who was staring at them in utter shock, wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

"Get out," Mana said, her voice dripping ice. "You are not welcome here." Her eyes glowed with magic.

Raven's eyes glowed dangerously as well. "If you upset my son ever again, I will forget that you share blood with Mana, Jules and Papa," he warned in soft voice.

King Jaren rubbed his temples tiredly. "Astra, apologise to Azar," he said in a flat voice. "And then you shall apologise to everyone else as well."

"Papa, how could you blatantly favour them like this?!" Astra sobbed dramatically. "They're all lying!"

"Get out!" Mana snapped. "Take your theatrics elsewhere!"

"I'm your older sister! You can't talk to me like this!" Astra yelled at Mana.

"Perhaps you should learn to mind your own language first and curb your own shrewish temper before you lecture others," Jules pointed out.

"I just came to visit because I was worried about my little sister…and you all are bullying me!" Astra cried pathetically. Her lovely face showed just the right amount of grievance.

Mana wanted to clap for her mentally. If this young woman was on earth, she would have become an award-winning actress, for sure!

Even King Jaren looked fed up by now. "Astra," he said firmly. "Either you apologise right now, or you're grounded for a week. It's your choice."

"I'm not going to apologise!" Astra cried.

King Jaren clapped his hands and several guards appeared. "Lock Princess Astra in her room for a week. If she tries to escape or if anyone tries to help her out, you have my permission to whip them, regardless of their station."

Astra was dragged away.

King Jaren looked miserable. "I'm sorry," he said. "I…"

Mana and Jules patted his arm comfortingly.

"It's been difficult for you, Papa," Raven said quietly.