The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

Two days later, the group arrived at the royal family's summer palace located on the highest peak of the Verdant Hills. Naver was barely recognisable now; Mana had insisted on buying him a few sets of clothes as soon as they passed through a town with some shops. They had stayed over in the town on their first night, and camped outside on the second night because Mana wanted to reach the Verdant Hills as early as possible.

As soon as they had entered the hilly town, Jules, Junior Physician Vale and a few guards and servants had taken one of the carriages and gone to check on Jules's grandmother. Mana had insisted that Jules's grandparents be moved into the summer palace immediately. Jules had been quite hesitant, but Mana had simply told him that it would be much more convenient for his grandmother to receive treatment at the summer palace instead of their remote house. Also, Physician Kale was old and it would be difficult for him to go back and forth.

Jules, a mere teenager from an ancient remote place, could hardly argue with a modern lawyer like Mana. He gave in and agreed to her demands soon enough.

So Jules went to fetch his grandparents and Mana took Naver to the summer palace, showing him around and finally allotting him a room next to her own. Jules and his grandparents would be given rooms further down the hall.

Naver watched her curiously. "Is your father, the king, also like you?" he asked Mana.

"Pretty much," Mana replied with a shrug. "I think I'm more even-tempered than him, though."

"Do you often pick up random people off the road and bring them home?" Naver asked. "Does your father let you?"

Mana giggled. "Papa would let me do pretty much everything." She fixed her lightly flecked emerald gaze on him. "I don't pick up random people," she said. "You and Jules are my friends now, and it is normal for friends to visit each other, isn't it?"

"Jules is a peasant and I'm a homeless beggar," Naver pointed out. "It doesn't get more random than that."

Mana shook her head stubbornly. "There's something special about both of you," she told him. "My spidey sense tingles, and it's almost never wrong." In fact, other than Liam, her instincts had always been spot on. She could be perfect representation of "love is blind", Mana thought wryly.

"Spidey sense? What's that?" Naver asked curiously.

"It's like an instinct, which tells you when there's danger, or when there's something extraordinary around," Mana explained. She realised that she had grown so comfortable with Naver that she sometimes slipped in modern phrases without noticing.

"You're rather strange sometimes," Naver murmured.

"Back at you," Mana retorted. "How many twelve-year-olds can claim to be renowned poison experts that people five times your age will bow down to?" She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Why were you in such a sorry state, though? Couldn't you just poison people who try to bully you?"

Naver sighed wearily. "I wish I could," he muttered. "I'm just too weak and useless."

"What nonsense," Mana said sternly. "I think you're absolutely amazing. In fact, the only person of your age who could probably be as amazing as you would be Prince Raven of the Obsidian Kingdom."

Naver stiffened. "How do you know that name?" he demanded.

Mana gave him a strange look. "Everyone has heard of Prince Raven, the eldest grandson of King Corvus, the current ruler of the Obsidian Kingdom. He is a once-in-a-millennium genius! Papa once told me that Prince Raven is so smart that his brain is equivalent to ten people's brains! Isn't that awesome?" She smiled ruefully. "If only I could be half as smart as Prince Raven…"

"It is strange of you to admire an enemy so much," Naver pointed out.

"Huh? Why would he be my enemy? We're a neutral country," Mana told him.

"Wasn't Prince Mars of the Amber Kingdom coming to visit your sister?" Naver pointed out.

Mana nodded. "Yes, they like each other and I think they may be betrothed soon."

Naver sighed. "You must be aware that the Amber Kingdom and the Obsidian Kingdom are mortal enemies, right? So, if the Princess of the Emerald Kingdom marries the Prince of the Amber Kingdom, aren't you naturally allying with the Amber Kingdom? That would make you an enemy of the Obsidian Kingdom."

"No way," Mana said firmly. "Papa says our Emerald Kingdom has always remained neutral and we'll always be so."

"And what if war breaks out between the Amber Kingdom and the Obsidian Kingdom? Wouldn't you naturally support your sister's family?" Naver asked archly.

Mana stamped her foot in frustration. "We've had almost a century of peace now," she said. "Why would a war break out? We'll just try our best to avoid it!"

"We have peace only because the Amber Kingdom hasn't gathered enough power to be able to oppose King Corvus yet," Naver said. "But he is getting old now, and he doesn't have a powerful successor."

"You know a lot about the Obsidian Kingdom," Mana observed.

Naver shrugged. "My master, who taught me all about poisons, was from the Obsidian Kingdom," he replied.

"Really? That's so cool!" Mana cried excitedly. "Have you been to the Obsidian Kingdom? How is it?" She was very curious about it. It was said that only those with dark magic were able to enter the island nation…but in the epic, Astra had been abducted and imprisoned there, and then Mars and his army had invaded the island…how could that be possible if only those with dark magic could enter? She had always wondered about such contradictory issues in the original epic, and her mother had been so frustrated with her endless questions that she had thrust a pile of detective stories at Mana to distract her.

"Why are you so interested in the Obsidian Kingdom anyway?" Naver asked her.

"Because it's so mysterious! And I'd like to meet Prince Raven some day and be friends with him," Mana confessed easily.

"Why? He's pretty awful. In the Pearl Kingdom, he is known as a cursed existence," Naver informed her. "I believe he holds a similar reputation all across the mainland."

Mana huffed. "I know your father is from the Pearl Kingdom, but you shouldn't pay too much attention to those sanctimonious hypocrites of the Moon Temple. They'll condemn anything that doesn't follow their own rules, which is ridiculous. It's like judging an apple by the standards of an orange and then calling it a cursed fruit!"

Naver stared at her for a long moment and then burst out laughing. "I've never seen someone like you," he gasped, the laughter still lingering on his pale face. "But your blasphemous words are strangely full of wisdom, I think."

Mana pouted. "Are you insulting me or complimenting me?" she demanded.

"Complimenting you, definitely," Naver replied. "But you know, Prince Raven isn't popular in the Obsidian Kingdom, either."

"Why not?" Mana asked. The book hadn't mentioned much of Emperor Raven's childhood, but the citizens of the Obsidian Kingdom had been fiercely loyal to him. How could that possibly happen if he wasn't popular with the people?

"He's a half-blood," Naver said flatly.

"So what?" Mana asked. "Mixed blood children are often smarter – just ask any decent physician and they'll tell you."

"His dark magic is incomplete," Naver told her.

Mana frowned. How had the Evil Emperor Raven mastered all five types of magic as mentioned in the legend if his dark magic was incomplete…? There were many pages dedicated to descriptions of the mighty power of the Evil Emperor Raven in the book – surely they would have mentioned his incomplete dark magic if that was the case, instead of calling him the master of all elements…?

"Is it incomplete, or is it simply not fully awakened?" Mana wondered out loud. "He could have multiple magic like me, or he could have been poisoned to suppress his magic."

Naver stared at her in disbelief.

Mana caught his look and explained quickly. "It happened to me. The Shadow Poison suppressed my magic, so my earth magic was very mediocre until now. However, when the Shadow Poison was revealed, not only did my earth magic potential go up to royal levels, but my fire and water magic also awakened. Those two are really weak, though, and Physician Kale says that I must develop all three to be able to unlock my true powers otherwise even my earth magic will be stuck again soon. Maybe it's something similar for Prince Raven?"

Naver sighed tiredly. "Princess Mana," he said quietly. "Are you certain you should be revealing such imperial secrets to me? You barely know me."

Mana blinked. "You are my friend and a renowned poison expert who's going to help me remove the Shadow Poison that has plagued me since before I was born. If I can't trust you, who else would I trust?" she asked innocently.

Naver chuckled. "All right, then. I'll try my best to live up to your trust," he said. "But tell me, why are you so interested in Prince Raven?"

"I like smart people," Mana said casually. She couldn't tell him that she knew what was supposed to happen in the future, and that she wanted to befriend the young Raven as soon as possible so that he wouldn't kill her father ten years later.

"You should have plenty of smart people around you already, don't you?" Naver pointed out. "And I think Jules and I are quite smart, too."

Mana giggled. "See, there are many different kinds of smart," she started explaining patiently. "There are book-smart people, who often possess naturally high intelligence and are rich in knowledge and have read many books, but are kind of helpless in real-life situations." She narrowed her eyes at Naver. "In fact, I think you might be one of them. You're so brilliant, and yet you got yourself into such a sorry state. If I knew as much about poisons as you do, I'd have poisoned everyone who looked at me wrongly until they were begging for mercy on their knees. It's fine to be nice and friendly and approachable, but sometimes you need to use force and stand up for yourself, otherwise some bad guys will walk all over you."

Naver stared at her, open admiration and astonishment writ large on his face.

"Then there are street-smart people," Mana continued her lecture. "These guys may or may not have bookish knowledge, but they know how to use whatever they know to live well. They are quick-witted and observe things around them and learn from it. They can gauge situations properly and act accordingly – for example, there are times when you should stay quiet and hide, and there are times when you need to go all out. I think Jules is quite street-smart."

"You are wise beyond your years," Naver murmured. "I don't think even fifty-year old imperial tutors can speak or explain as well as you do, let alone talk of such novel ideas." He smiled slightly. "So, what are you, book-smart or street-smart?"

"A bit of both!" Mana said proudly.

"But what's all this got to do with Prince Raven?" Naver asked.

"If Prince Raven's natural intelligence is equivalent of ten people, then his book-smartness should be at a level that he remembers everything he sees or hears even once…" Mana said.

"How could you possibly know that?" Naver demanded.

Mana eyed him thoughtfully. "You seem to know an awful lot about Prince Raven," she said mildly. "Have you met him? How is he?"

Naver laughed. "I do know him," he said.. "Though, apparently, not as well as you do."