The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

Three days later, Raven woke up, attributing his revival partly to Azar and partly to the legacy of the ancient master. He also confirmed the bloodline issue of the hellfire dagger.

King Jaren was so relieved when Raven woke up that he burst into tears, making the three children feel quite guilty for the farce they had played out in order to push Papa into action. Perhaps, once things had settled down a bit, they could tell him the truth.

Raven, who was hugged by the weeping king of the Emerald Kingdom, shot a helpless look at Mana and Jules.

"I'm all right, Papa," Raven said softly, patting the older man's back awkwardly.

"I'm sorry," King Jaren sobbed. "If I hadn't been so pig-headed earlier, you wouldn't have been hurt…"

"Don't be so eager to take the blame for other people, Papa," Mana spoke up. "We know it's been very difficult for you, and we're very proud of what you've achieved in the last three days. Thanks to that, we all can look forward to a peaceful like in the imperial palace now."

King Jaren shook his head fiercely.

"Mana is right, Papa," Jules said. "You've suffered the worst of this for many years now. Let's put it behind us and move on now."

"And let's hope Astra comes to her senses soon," Grandma muttered.

King Jaren finally released Raven and wiped his face. Mana silently passed him a glass of water, and once he was done drinking, she handed Azar to him. The little dragon nuzzled his Grandpapa's face with his small head to comfort him, and finally a smile bloomed on King Jaren's face.

Mana, Raven and Jules heaved a sigh of relief. Azar's cuteness could let them get away with a lot of things!

"Are you really all right?" King Jaren asked Raven, patting the little dragon pulling at his beard.

Raven nodded. "Don't worry, Papa," he said lightly. "My fire magic isn't related to the royals of the Amber Kingdom at all, so I had a lucky escape…also, we have our little Azar on our side, don't we?"

"Azar good boy!" the little dragon declared proudly.

"You're definitely the best," King Jaren told Azar in a solemn voice. "You're the miracle our family has been blessed with!"

Azar tugged harder on King Jaren's beard. "Grandpapa, take this off!" he demanded.

King Jaren's flabbergasted look made everyone laugh.

"You would definitely look more handsome without that moustache and beard," Grandpa remarked.

"We can hardly see your face under all that," Grandma added. "You used to be such a handsome boy, why do you hide your face under all that hair?"

King Jaren blushed furiously. "Don't tease me," he murmured.

"Well, I'd like to see how my face will look when I grow up," Jules said mildly.

"I think Mana may have inherited her jawline and chin from Papa, but we can't say that for sure…" Raven poured oil in the fire.

"Papa, I've never seen your full face!" Mana complained.

Azar tugged at his Grandpapa's beard again to emphasise his point.

King Jaren shook his head with a chuckle. "All right, all right, I give in," he said, throwing up his arms in a gesture of surrender. "I'll shave them off today."

Mana clapped her hands. "Let's get it done right away!" she announced.

And thus, a group of servants were summoned and half an hour later, amidst a flurry of delighted squeals, a clean-shaven King Jaren appeared.

Grandpa and Grandma smiled approvingly, while Mana, Jules and Raven gaped at their Papa, open mouthed.

Azar flew up to King Jaren's face. "Grandpapa pretty!" he declared.

"Papa! You're stunning!" Mana exclaimed. "You've always been good-looking, but I never realised you were actually this handsome!"

"It was a crime to let you hide that face under a shaggy beard," Jules said. "If I'm half as handsome as you later on, I'll thank my stars for my good genes!"

"Papa and Jules look like brothers now," Raven observed. "Were you deliberately trying to look middle-aged earlier, Papa?"

King Jaren blushed furiously. He couldn't admit that he had grown out his beard after Dora's death to ward off unwelcome advances from interested women and men who wanted to join his non-existent harem.

"All right, stop making fun of me now," he told everyone.

Mana pouted. "We're not making fun of you," she said. "We're very serious!"

King Jaren chuckled and patted her head indulgently.

Grandpa cleared his throat loudly and everyone fell silent.

"We have another matter to dispose of, now that Raven is awake," Grandpa said.

The three children looked at him enquiringly.

Grandpa took out a wooden box and gave it to Raven. "We think that you're the right person to inherit this dagger – well, Mana and Jules are susceptible to it anyway, and I'd die before I let Astra or any of my half-brother's brood get their hands on it."

Raven froze. "Is it what I think it is…?" he whispered.

King Jaren ruffled his hair. "If our clever little Raven thinks that this is the hellfire dagger, then you're right, of course," he said cheerfully. "You are the only person we can trust who would never do anything to harm Mana and Jules, and therefore, you are the only person we can trust with this inheritance."

Raven looked down at the box in his lap. His hands trembled with emotion. "Papa, Grandpa, this…this is too precious…!" he cried.

"Nonsense," Grandpa said. "It's a weapon against the royal bloodline of the Amber Kingdom…I suppose we could try to destroy it, given the danger it poses to our Jules and Mana, but on second thought, Jaren, Grandma and I felt that it is better given to a trustworthy person. If things do come to a head with the Amber Kingdom at some point in the future, you may need it to deal with them. As such, we found the best child around to inherit it!"

"You don't have to take it if you don't want to," Mana said softly, patting her fiancé's shaking shoulder.

Raven shook his head. "I…I'm just overwhelmed by your trust in me," he whispered.

"It's no less than what you deserve, you silly boy," Jules said lightly. "Did you forget that we're family now? You are ours as much as we are yours."

"And honestly, who else but you could we trust with Mana and Raven's safety?" Grandma asked. "If we're unable to destroy the dagger, and it finds its way back to the Amber Kingdom…who do you think they'll target first?"

Amber Kingdom's ambition was clear as water – no one could deny that they had been eyeing the Emerald Kingdom for a very long time now, despite their friendly relations on the surface.

"We also found that the dagger was not bound to Sora," Grandpa said. "Which is why she wasn't able to stab you with its full strength, thankfully, but it also means that it's real master is still someone else. So, there's a good chance that we'll be unable to destroy it, and it also means that the real master may follow its trail and recover it."

"Stop putting pressure on Raven, all of you," Mana snapped. "It is completely his choice whether he wants to keep such a dangerous thing with him or not. Isn't it going to be troublesome for him if other people find out that he has it?"

"Oh, that won't happen," King Jaren told her. "As soon as Raven claims it and the trace of the real master is gone, we're going to spread the news that we managed to break the hellfire dagger and that's why Raven recovered. We don't want to leak any unnecessary information about Azar's powers or the ancient master's legacy that Raven has – there are too many greedy people in the world, and some things should remain on a need-to-know-basis."

Jules nodded. "Fox told us the same thing when we were leaving the cave…not even his parents know the details about what we found there. All they know is that we found some old texts which no one can read yet, and even then he's sworn them to secrecy. The hunters who found the cave know even less than that – Fox's parents told them that an eccentric antique collector took a fancy to the stuff they found in the cave and paid ridiculous amounts of money to get them."

"Did we pay ridiculous amounts of money?" Mana asked. "I thought it was quite fair."

"It's a poor village, Mana," Raven said. "What you paid them is more than what they would earn in five years, probably."

Mana frowned. "Did I upset their economy…?" she muttered.

Everyone gave her a blank look.

Mana shook her head. "Anyway, back to the main point," she said. "It's fine if Raven doesn't want to keep the dagger – let him choose for himself. If we can't destroy it, we'll stick it in Azar's island or somewhere equally remote." She gave King Jaren a meaningful glance.

King Jaren immediately understood that she was referring to their spaces. He nodded.

Raven looked up at Grandpa. "If I claim the hellfire dagger, does it mean that no one other than myself will be able to use it without my express permission?" he asked.

Grandpa nodded.

"Then I'll be happy to claim this inheritance," Raven said firmly. He opened the box and picked up the dagger.

"It'll need a drop of your blood here, and your thumbprint here," Grandpa pointed out the specific spots.

Raven followed his instructions. There was a brilliant flash of fiery flames for a moment, and the colour of the hilt of the hellfire dagger changed from amber to an opalescent rainbow.

The three adults smiled at Raven.

"It's yours now," Grandpa told him.