The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

A few days later, King Jaren arranged for a music teacher for Raven, and Mana's art teacher wanted to teach Raven himself after seeing a few of his random doodles. Jules, who had already been taught music and art, decided that he would drop in on the younger ones from time to time. Besides, he also wanted to take a look at IMARI, and accompany Fox on the opening day.

Raven had chosen to learn the violin. Mana and Jules both played the piano, and Raven had already picked up a little bit of it in their company. In fact, he had initially planned to learn the piano as well. However, King Jaren had taken all the children to an amateur orchestra performance while they were still at Verdant Hills, and Raven had been enchanted by the violin. Mana had noticed this, and she had decided that when they returned to the capital, she would ask Papa to find a violin teacher for Raven. Mana herself used to play the violin back on earth, and she knew how helpful it could be to soothe one's nerves. As for the piano, the original Princess Mana had been just a beginner, so it wasn't too much trouble for Mana to learn now.

Without interference from Queen Sora and Princess Astra and their villainous minions, life at the imperial palace became quite peaceful. Grandpa and Grandma settled in well, too. King Jaren, too, appeared much more relaxed and happier than before. Fox had also started his studies at IMARI, and Jules was so fascinated by the institute that he kept making excuses to visit Fox, and ended up in IMARI at least twice a week.

"Big Brother, are you actually interested in IMARI or are you interested in Fox?" Mana teased Jules one day.

Jules threw a napkin at her. "Fox is already planning to woo Vanilla, don't you know?" he said with a frown. "Don't make things difficult for him."

Predictably, Raven came to Mana's rescue. "So Big Brother is interested in IMARI?" he asked Jules.

Jules nodded. "It is an amazing place…" he murmured dreamily.

"Why don't you join IMARI, then?" Mana asked. "Papa can recommend you, like he did for Fox."

Jules bit his lip. "Fox is different…he's a genius and his inventions are outstanding."

"Who says my Big Brother isn't clever?" Mana snapped angrily. "Besides, Fox is an exceptional case. If IMARI was full of people like him, wouldn't we have a whole lot of brilliant new things coming out of IMARI all the time? But that's not the case, right? People go there to learn, and I don't see why you can't spend some time there if you want to."

"I have to take governance lessons…" Jules said.

"I think a semester or two in IMARI will be helpful for you as the future king of the Emerald Kingdom," Mana said. "And if you don't want people to find out that Crown Prince Jules is attending IMARI, you can simply disguise yourself and take the entrance test under an assumed name instead of asking Papa for a recommendation."

"If you do well in the entrance test, you'll know if you have the aptitude to back your interest, and we can arrange our schedules for the governance lessons so that you're able to sneak away and attend the classes in IMARI," Raven added. "And if you fail miserably, then we'll forget all about it!"

Mana nodded. "Besides, you just need to have ideas for inventions, which doesn't need any mechanical expertise – Fox and the others will find a way to make it work! Just because you want to build something doesn't mean that you have to do it with your own hands, right?"

Jules narrowed his eyes at the two younger children. "I'm not sure if you two are encouraging me or discouraging me," he muttered.

Mana giggled. "Of course we're supporting you, Big Brother!" she said innocently.

Jules shook his head fondly and pinched her cheeks. "Why don't you show me how your piano lessons are coming along instead?" he asked.

Mana pouted. "You know I'm not as good as you," she grumbled.

"I'm five years older than you and my hands are bigger than yours," Jules pointed out. "You'll catch up." He turned to Raven. "How's the violin treating you?" he asked.

Raven smiled shyly. "I'm enjoying it very much," he replied.

"Excellent," Jules said, clapping his hands. "Why don't the two of you perform something together?"

"But we've never practised together!" Mana protested. "And we're learning completely different compositions!"

"Then…the two of you should compose something together," Jules said. "I'm sure all of us will enjoy it!"

Azar, who'd been snoozing peacefully on Jules's shoulder all this time, woke up at this moment. "Mommy! Daddy! Music!" he declared, his round eyes shining with eagerness.

How could Mana or Raven have the heart to turn down the little dragon?

"All right," Mana said. "But you have to give us some time."

"A week," Jules said.

"A week?!" Mana protested angrily. "How can you expect two little kids to compose a new song in a week?! Be reasonable, Big Brother!"

"One of those little kids is the prodigy with the brains of ten men and the other is my talented little sister," Jules said with a smirk. "You're right – a week is too unreasonable. I'll give you two hours. Prepare something while I fetch Papa, Grandpa and Grandma for the performance!"

"Music!" Azar said happily, flying around in circles.

Mana and Raven exchanged a dismayed look as Jules walked away with the little dragon, humming cheerfully to himself. This was clearly Big Brother's revenge for teasing him earlier, they thought.

"Er…did you have anything in mind?" Raven asked Mana in a mild voice.

Mana quickly ran through some of the piano and violin duets in her head, before settling on a relatively easy one that was within her skills to play – she wasn't too worried about Raven; she knew he would be able to play it once she showed him the score. She sent across a silent apology in her mind to the famous composer of her world whose work she was shamelessly going to plagiarize right now.

Mana quickly grabbed some paper and started noting down the score furiously. Raven watched her in amazement.

"I didn't know you could really compose something so quickly," he remarked, his rainbow eyes glowing with admiration.

Mana looked away guiltily. "It's not an original composition of mine," she replied honestly. "It's something I've heard before."

Raven eyed her silently for a long time, hesitant to speak up. Finally, he whispered, "…from your previous world…?"

Mana dropped her pen in shock and stared at him with wide eyes. Her heart pounded so hard against her ribcage that she felt it would jump out. Cold sweat dripped down her spine.

Raven was panicked by her reaction. "Mana?!" he called in a worried voice, grabbing her shoulders. "Mana, what's wrong?"

"…how…?" she whispered, unable to speak.

Raven hugged her tightly, rubbing her back until she calmed down. "It's all right," he murmured soothingly. "There's nothing to worry about…"

When Mana was finally calm again, she asked Raven fearfully, "How…when did you find out?"

"It's been a while," he said. "I…I hope you can tell me more about it later." He appeared to be shy and curious at the same time.

Mana sighed. This was certainly not the reaction she had expected when someone found out her secret! "Sure," she said with a shrug. "I'll tell you whatever you want to know…but you, too, have to tell me how you found out!"

Raven nodded and smiled at her.

Mana arched an eyebrow. "You're not afraid of me?" she asked quizzically.

Raven blinked, confusion writ large on his young face. "Why should I be afraid of you?" he retorted.

"What if I was some great, evil monster from another world…?" Mana snapped.

Raven shrugged nonchalantly. "You're you," he said simply. "And I like you very much."

Mana froze. Oh, heavens, this was totally unfair! This was just like an arrow straight to the heart! How could a child of twelve be so…smooth?! And with that adorably lovely little face, too! And if he was like this now, how much deadlier would he be once he grew up?!

Raven watched her dazed appearance with amusement for a while, and then reminded her politely that they still needed to practice the score she'd written down.

Mana came back to her senses with flaming cheeks and a moved heart. Let the kid grow up, she thought to herself, then she'd show him how well she could flirt with him!

She quickly explained the composition to Raven and they practised harmoniously a couple of times. Mana had been right about Raven's ability. Once he'd read the score properly, he played the entire song flawlessly on his violin. What a peerless genius!

Exactly two hours later, Jules appeared as promised, with Azar, Papa, Grandpa and Grandma. Jules hadn't really expected Mana and Raven to come up with a grand song or anything – he'd just wanted to tease them a little.

But the two children had actually managed to create such a beautiful song and played it so well! Everyone was delighted, and Azar was so charmed that he made them play it three times before he was satisfied!