The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

King Jaren was a complicated man, Mana concluded. She had been too appalled at what had happened at the gates of the imperial palace – but she had not expected that it was partly King Jaren's plan. It was subtle and understated, quite unlike the booming, cheerful persona of her Papa.

Still, things had gone well. Jules had already earned immense goodwill from the crowd, and so had Raven. It would be much easier to deal with things now.

The thing that bothered her the most was the desperate lack of evidence. By now, Mana had no doubt that Queen Sora was involved in everything from her mother's death to the latest volcano conspiracy…the question was, whether Queen Sora was smart enough to be the mastermind herself…or were there bigger enemies in the shadows behind her…

From the hints dropped by Grandpa, Grandma and Papa, Mana had been able to deduce that King Jaren's affair with Sora was not accidental – but rather, a deliberate plan. King Jaren had been drugged – probably with a potent aphrodisiac, and been taken advantage of. Whether Sora had done it because she was in love with her sister's husband or whether she simply wanted to be the Queen of the Emerald Kingdom…that was debatable. However, after this incident, King Jaren had been left with no choice but to take Sora as his second wife. Mana thought that it was quite likely he had never laid a finger on her after that day.

But the damage had already been done. Queen Dora, who was heavily pregnant at the time, suffered a shock – and from her actions at the time, Mana thought it was quite evident that she knew the truth, and the danger to her soon-to-be-born child. Thus, she had sought refuge with her parents and hidden Jules away. Perhaps she had been too fond of her sister to be able to convict Sora for treason, despite her sordid betrayal. Or, perhaps, by the time Queen Dora was able to figure out the truth, Princess Astra was well on her way into the world. Mana knew for sure that no matter the crimes of the parents, King Jaren and Queen Dora would not be able to bear to bring harm to an unborn, innocent child.

And thus, things continued until Mana was conceived – and then the sword of betrayal struck again. By now, perhaps Queen Dora was unwilling to deprive Astra of her mother…or perhaps it was too late by the time she realised that she had been poisoned. So she gathered up the poison and sacrificed herself to save the child in her belly – and Mana was born. The culprits knew well enough that the little princess was on borrowed time, so no one bothered much with her except her doting Papa.

However, this didn't explain the drowning incident at all. Since the culprits already knew that Mana hardly had any time left – perhaps a year or two at most – why would they make an attempt upon her life? It didn't make any sense – and if not for the drowning incident, the truth about the Shadow Poison would never have come to light. Could it be that the person who tried to kill Mana at the time was someone else, and not acting under Sora's instructions?

Princess Astra's pretty face flashed into Mana's mind. The original Mana had been quite enamoured of Prince Mars…could it be that Astra took offence to that and decided to kill off her little sister? Now that filter of the wrong version of 'The Legend of Mars' had been removed from Mana's eyes, she no longer thought of Astra as virtuous or Mars as valiant. Her intuition had told her these two were sly, pretentious creatures – and now she thought her gut reaction had been correct.

Mana thought back to the drowning incident, and how Astra had suspiciously beheaded the maid who had pushed Mana into the lake as soon as the maid had been about to reveal under whose instructions, she had been acting…

Mana's instincts told her that her conjecture was right. The drowning incident was caused by Astra, and not Sora.

But the volcano conspiracy appeared to be Sora's work – after all, her targets had always been her sister Dora and Dora's two children. She clearly could not tolerate any claimants to the throne of the Emerald Kingdom other than her own daughter.

And this made Mana worry even more. How had King Jaren remained safe so far? He clearly had no affection for Sora – quite the contrary. Papa lived like a widower devoted to the memory of his beloved late wife – and Sora was the Queen of the Emerald Kingdom only in name. Other than letting her run the imperial palace and giving her a generous allowance, King Jaren had absolutely nothing to do with her – although he had always doted on Astra as much as Mana.

But why hadn't Sora made an attempt on Papa's life yet? Was she waiting for Astra to become an adult to take the throne? Or did she have some lingering affection for King Jaren? Or…could it be that she had made numerous attempts on Papa's life in the last fifteen years…but had somehow failed? Papa did have the shadow guards to protect him, after all – and other than the imperial palace, everything else in the country was under Papa's control.

"What is my little sister thinking of so seriously?" Jules's calm voice jolted Mana out of her thoughts.

Mana looked up at the handsome young man. Jules was a capable person, she knew…and she could share her thoughts with him. So, she told him everything she had deduced so far.

Jules frowned when she finished, and his odd-coloured eyes flashed angrily.

"What do you think, Big Brother?" Mana asked quietly. "Am I being too paranoid?"

"I think you are right," Jules said, shaking his head. "Aunt Sora – no, she doesn't deserve to be called our aunt anymore – definitely has her eyes on the throne and wants both of us gone. Whether she wants it for herself or for her daughter…that remains to be seen." He sighed heavily. "Until I met her and found that she's a horrible shrew, I was hoping Astra would be like you…a sweet and adorable sister I could dote on. Turns out she inherited more from her mother than our Papa…"

Mana fell silent. "Maybe she thought I had designs on her sweetheart and was afraid something like our mother's situation might happen with her…"

"That doesn't justify her trying to murder you," Jules said sternly. "Besides, anyone with eyes could see that you dislike that Mars fellow!"

Mana felt a little guilty about hiding her origins from her Big Brother…after all, the original Mana had probably liked Mars…hadn't she? The 'corrected version' of 'The Legend of Mars' which came from the ancient master didn't really mention anything about it…and Princess Mana had died at the age of ten in the 'corrected version' as well. Mana still couldn't access the next part of the book…

"Do you think Papa knows…?" she asked Jules. "If I can reason it out…Papa probably thought of it a long time ago, right…?"

Jules sighed heavily. "He probably knows," he replied in a low voice. "Papa pretends to be carefree, but he is actually much more perceptive than any of us…" He sighed again. "But Astra is his child, too…and I don't think he loves her any less than he loves you or I…you saw for yourself how upset he was over our little fight with Astra yesterday. I think he wants to protect all his children…perhaps that is why he sent you away to the summer palace for such a long time…and it may also be part of the reason why he was so quick to accept Raven as your fiancé."

"You were pretty quick to accept Raven as my fiancé, too," Mana pointed out.

Jules shook his head. "Of the three of us, I've known him the longest. He was already my friend by the time we met you, remember? I know he's a decent person, and I already liked him very much before I met you." He paused. "But think about it…how long had Papa known him? I'm sure he knew 'of' Raven – pretty much everyone across the kingdoms knows about this little kid who defeated all the big scholars years ago…but other than that, no one knows anything about him, let alone the fact that his own family mistreated him. I figured it out because I spent a fair amount of time with him – but Papa didn't. He simply accepted him right away despite that!"

Jules's argument made sense to Mana. "So…Papa thinks that if I have a brilliant fiancé of my own, Big Sister will lose her murderous intent towards me…? Is Papa trying to protect me from her, or is he trying to protect her from the consequences of her actions…?" she wondered out loud.

"Probably both," Jules replied. "Papa must be in a dilemma…he doesn't want to wrong you…but he doesn't want to sentence her, either. His face hardened. "Don't worry, Mana. As long as your Big Brother is alive, I won't let anyone harm you again – not even our half-sister."

Mana smiled and hugged him. "I know, Big Brother," she said softly. "It's just…can we not tell Raven about this? He really likes Papa…especially since his own father is such a jerk. Raven will be very sad if he knows of this."

Jules shook his head sadly. "Mana…Raven probably knows already. Have you forgotten how smart he is? He sees much more than any of us…"

Mana sighed.

Jules rubbed her head. "Don't fuss. Papa's affection for Raven is no less than his love for you or I – I can definitely assure you of this much, at least.. It is very obvious."