The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

While Mana would have loved to extract more information from Naver about the Obsidian Kingdom and the mysterious Prince Raven, once Jules arrived with his grandparents, they all got busy.

Junior Physician Vale reported to Mana as soon as he returned. He had given some medicine to Jules's grandmother and she felt better already, but hers was an illness that really did require Physician Kale's expertise.

Mana thanked him and sent him off to rest. Then she went to greet Jules and his family. For some reason, her heart thumped with excitement at the thought of meeting them.

Jules spotted her before she saw him and bounded to her side like a large, affectionate dog.

"Princess Mana! Do you want to meet my grandparents?" he asked excitedly.

Mana nodded. "I'd love to," she replied, and meant it. "Are the rooms to your liking?"

Jules grinned. "How could it not be? We're in a royal palace! With our little princess! It's awesome!"

"I'm glad," Mana replied, relieved.

Jules led her into his grandparents' room. The elderly couple saw Mana walking behind Jules and froze in shock.

"Dora…?" Jules' grandmother whispered, her eyes brimming with tears.

Mana knew that she looked a lot like her late mother Queen Dora. Her earlier half-formed hypothesis began to solidify.

"I am her daughter, Mana," she said politely. She observed the old couple carefully. They were quite regal in appearance, despite their ordinary clothes. Clearly, they were of noble lineage.

"We apologise, Princess Mana," the elderly gentleman said quietly.

Mana waved away their apology casually. "No need," she said. "Jules is my friend, so his grandparents are like my own. Besides, it is very rare for me to come across people who knew my late mother…if you don't mind…could you tell me a bit about her afterwards, when you're feeling better?"

The elderly lady couldn't hold back her tears anymore. She reached out a trembling hand and caressed Mana's face with infinite affection, as if seeing her own granddaughter after a long, long time.

"You're just like her…so kind and gentle and beautiful…" she murmured.

"Grandma, you wouldn't say that if you'd seen her kicking Prince Liam right where it hurts!" Jules declared with a roguish grin. "That was really cool!"

Mana rolled her eyes. "You saved me from that evil prince's clutches, so I was just repaying the favour," she retorted.

Jules eyed her bandaged hand and frowned. "Isn't your hand better yet?"

Mana sighed. "I told you before, healing magic doesn't work on me because of the Shadow Poison. It has to heal by itself."

Jules's grandfather dropped the cup he was holding. "Shadow Poison? Princess Mana is infected with the Shadow Poison?" he asked faintly.

"My mother was poisoned when she was carrying me, and it passed to me when I was born," Mana said softly. "No one knew about it…Physician Kale only discovered it a few weeks ago when I nearly drowned in a pond."

"What?! You nearly drowned?!" Jules cried angrily. "You didn't mention that!"

Mana giggled. Jules really resembled her older brother…this kind of overprotective nature was too similar. "Well, I can tell you now, if you sit down properly and listen," she said.

Then she spotted Naver hovering nervously by the door and called him in as well.

Jules quickly introduced Naver to his grandparents, mentioning that he was a renowned poison expert who would be helping Mana deal with the Shadow Poison.

"Are you sure it's ok for me to be here?" Naver asked softly.

"Of course," Mana said immediately. "I'd have to tell you all the details later anyway, so we might as well do it now. I think Physician Kale would have told you most of it already."

Never didn't protest anymore and took a seat next to her.

Mana narrated all about the drowning incident and what happened afterwards, and quickly went over Physician Kale's diagnosis as well. She even revealed her triple magic potential.

"So King Jaren really did write to King Corvus…" Naver murmured.

Mana nodded. "I don't know if Papa received a reply yet, though."

Jules then proceeded to tell his grandparents about their encounter with the two princes of the Amber Kingdom and how Mana got her hand injured.

When he finished his tale, Jules's grandparents were staring at Mana with teary-eyed affection.

"My dear child…you have suffered so much," Jules's grandmother cried softly.

Mana fixed her steady gaze on the elderly couple and took a deep breath. "I have a question for you," she said. "Jules…is he my Big Brother?"

Everyone stared at her in shock.

Finally, Jules's grandfather smiled at her. "Why do you think so?"

Mana met his amber eyes steadily. "My mother gave birth to a stillborn prince almost sixteen years ago, just after the entire incident with Queen Sora happened," she said quietly. "Soon after, my maternal grandparents died in a fire which burnt down their entire estate, and that my mother was quite unstable for a long time afterwards. Papa still looks pained when it is mentioned…so there was probably more to it than met the eye. I heard from the maids that things back then were really chaotic until Princess Astra was born." She turned to Jules and tugged at his hair. "Look at his hair – it's just like mine, and I'm told I inherited my mother's hair." She pointed at Jules's green eye. "This is the exact same colour as Papa and Big Sister." She pointed at his amber eye. "This, I believe, is the same as one of mother's – mother had mismatched eyes like him, didn't she?" Mana pointed at Jules's grandfather. "An amber eye from you, showing fire magic." Next, she pointed at Jules's grandmother. "A silver eye from you, showing water magic." She turned back to Jules and grabbed his hand. "So, Jules has dual magic like my mother, and his face is almost the same as my father's…and he's almost sixteen…the same age my Big Brother would have been if he had lived."

Mana turned her gaze back to the elderly couple. "Also," she said softly, placing a hand on her own chest. "I can feel it here."

"I felt it, too, the first time I saw you," Jules said hoarsely. "When the rogue Liam caught hold of you, my blood boiled over and something in my heart screamed that I had to protect you…I acted on instinct without thinking." He turned to his grandparents. "Grandma, Grandpa…it's true, isn't it? Mana really is my little sister, isn't she?"

The elderly couple nodded.

"What a clever little girl you are," the elderly lady said. "Come, give Grandma a hug."

Mana flew into her arms immediately. "Grandma! Grandpa!" she called out sweetly, her heart filled with emotion. These two people had given up everything to protect their grandson and raise him in secret. One look at Jules and you could see that he had been brought up lovingly, despite the lack of his parents. Mana couldn't help but feel soft when faced with such familial love. Also, these people were not mentioned in the book at all, so she decided that she was free to act on her gut feeling.

After a while, Jules dragged her away from his grandparents. "She's my little sister, I want to hug her too!" he insisted, and engulfed her in his arms exactly how King Jaren did.

"Papa also hugs me like this," Mana whispered in his ear.

Jules chuckled and released her.

"Grandma, Grandpa – Papa doesn't know, does he?" she asked bluntly.

The former duke and duchess shook their heads. "No one other than Dora knew," Grandma said quietly. "After Sora's incident, we realised that someone was trying to harm Dora and the child in her womb. So we set up this entire ruse and disappeared with the child to keep him safe. Our original plan was to return him to the palace when Dora finished her investigation…but then she died. We received a letter from her before you were born. Dora had realised that someone had used the Shadow Poison on her, and she had pulled it into her own body to protect you from its effects…she knew she wouldn't be able to live much longer, but she was determined to give birth to you safely. She also instructed us to keep Jules hidden until his sixteenth birthday to keep him safe or until the perpetrators behind the conspiracy were caught, whichever was earlier. The next thing we heard was that Queen Dora had died in childbirth but the little princess had survived. We never imagined that the Shadow Poison had affected you, too…"

"Mother was right," Mana said thoughtfully. "Big Brother would have been in grave danger."

Grandpa leaned forward. "Do you know who the culprits are?" he asked.

Mana shook her head. "I have some suspicions, but I don't know for sure. I wouldn't want to accuse any innocents." She looked up at the old duke. "Grandpa, you have your own suspicions, don't you?"

Grandpa laughed and ruffled her hair affectionately. "You clever little imp," he murmured. "I do have some ideas."

"So what should we do now?" Grandma asked. "Should we tell Jaren and Sora about Jules, or should we wait till his sixteenth birthday?"

Mana exchanged a look with her grandfather. It looked like their suspicions lay along similar lines. Perhaps she would seek him out later for a private chat.

"How is Sora doing?" Grandma asked Mana. "You spoke of Astra, but didn't mention your aunt…"

Mana shrugged. "I haven't seen her in ages," she replied truthfully.

Grandma was taken aback. "Does Sora…not get along well with Jaren?" she asked hesitantly.

"I don't know," Mana replied. "Aunt Sora doesn't interact much with anyone other than her own daughter. I don't think she likes me anyway, so I think it's better for me to keep out of her way, too. Papa doesn't say anything, but he does try to prevent Aunt Sora and I from meeting each other in indirect ways."

"And Jaren…he treats you well?" Grandma asked.

Mana giggled. "Haven't you heard the people say that I'm the apple of his eye? Papa loved both Big Sister and me, but I think I'm his favourite."

Grandma nodded, satisfied.

Mana stood up and brushed her skirt. "Grandma, Grandpa, I'll let you two rest now. I'll show Big Brother and Naver around the summer palace.. We'll see you at dinner!" She pulled Jules and Naver by the arm, dragging the two of them out of the door.