The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

Mana and Raven were woken up the next morning by an exuberant Azar, who had uncharacteristically woken up before either of them and was currently jumping on Mana's stomach.

Mana sat up sleepily and grabbed the dragon, hugging him like a teddy bear.

"Mommy! Mommy!" Azar chanted happily, nuzzling her face.

Raven rubbed his bleary eyes and it took him a moment to realise where he was. He had a very peaceful sleep with Mana and Azar next to him. He suddenly had the desire to grow up quickly and get married so that he could sleep like this every night. While his sleep quality had definitely improved since he had come to the Emerald Kingdom, he couldn't remember the last time he'd slept so well.

"Mana? Azar? What happened?" he asked.

Mana shrugged, looking half-asleep and hugging Azar tighter.

"Mommy! Daddy! Go to island!" Azar demanded.

Mana blinked. "Again?" she asked. "Did your elf buddy send you another gift?"

Azar giggled happily. "Elf buddy sent gift for Mommy!" he declared.

"Me? Why?" Mana asked, confused.

"Elf buddy like Mommy!" Azar said.

Raven frowned. "What do you mean? Why does your elf buddy like Mommy?" he asked.

Two identically coloured pairs of eyes turned to look at him.

Raven flushed.

Mana giggled. "Why, are you jealous, my darling fiancé?" she teased.

Raven turned redder. "No..." he murmured unconvincingly.

"Elf buddy says Mommy deserves a crown," Azar says cheerfully, completely ignoring Raven's little tantrum.

"What crown?" Raven asked, barely managing to stop himself from pouting. He'd make Mana his empress in the future and he'd give her crowns from every corner of the world! At the time, he didn't know that his decision for the future was taken just like this, in a moment of sleepy jealousy! Of course, later, he would also be very thankful for the gifts from Azar's elf buddy.

"Perhaps it is another magical artefact," Mana said, tapping her chin, blissfully unaware of Raven's thoughts. "Azar's sword has very powerful magic and is very suitable for him. Maybe his elf buddy figured that we'd need some extra help in dealing with your parents and sent us something?"

Azar's sword was indeed powerful and it was almost like a living thing in the hands of the little dragon – it changed its size to suit Azar and its movements were very fluid. Azar could even command the sword without touching it, which was pretty cool, Mana thought. The only problem was that Azar flatly refused to learn swordplay from anyone except Raven, although he allowed his Uncle Jules and Grandpapa to observe and give suggestions. So teaching Azar was also on Raven's daily list of to-to activities these days.

"Mommy! Daddy! Let's go!!" Azar said impatiently, tugging at their pyjamas.

"All right, all right, little one, let us at least get ready, ok?" Mana told the restless little fellow.

There was a knock on Mana's door and she snapped her fingers to open it. King Jaren and Jules stood outside, looking very worried.

"Mana! Raven is not…" King Jaren began, and then stopped abruptly, spotting Raven on bed. "Never mind," he said. "What happened?"

Mana briefly explained.

"I'm sorry," Raven said, his eyes downcast.

King Jaren blinked. "Eh? What for?"

Mana rolled her eyes. "He's concerned about propriety," she said.

Jules chuckled.

"Oh," King Jaren said, taken aback. Then he smiled. "Well, it's a good thing that at least one of you has that sense," he muttered. He waved his arm casually. "All that is good, but your welfare is the most important, got it?"

Raven nodded and Mana giggled.

"We'll be going out for a while," Mana said.

"Where?" Jules asked curiously.

"To Azar's island," Mana replied. King Jaren had handed over the island to the little dragon as his exclusive property recently. Not that it mattered to Azar; he had long regarded the island as his own anyway!

"I wish I could see it too," Jules murmured enviously.

"Azar? Can we take Uncle Jules along?" Raven asked promptly.

Azar nodded happily. "Azar show Uncle Jules my island!" he said, patting his chest proudly.

Jules laughed and tickled the dragon's chin.

"Let's go, let's go!" Azar said.

King Jaren looked on pitifully, clearly wanting to accompany them to the island, but with the envoys of the Pearl Kingdom and the Obsidian Kingdom milling about in his capital city, he couldn't run off now.

The clever little dragon sensed his disappointment. "Azar take Grandpapa next time," he said, patting King Jaren's face.

King Jaren was immediately won over. "Come, have breakfast with Grandpapa before you go, my little Azar," he said with a big smile. He looked over at Mana and Raven. "You two get ready quickly and come to the breakfast hall as well!"

Then he walked off with Azar in his arms.

Mana, Raven and Jules looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"I'll get someone replace the bedding in Raven's room," Jules said and slipped away with a merry wave.

Raven ran behind Jules – after all, his clothes and things were still in his room!

Mana smiled to herself and went to wash up.

A short while later, Mana and Raven appeared at the breakfast hall. King Jaren was in his usual pampering mode with Azar sitting in his lap and being plied with numerous delicacies. If Azar liked something, he'd pick it up from the plate and stuff it in King Jaren's mouth with an enthusiastic cry of, "Grandpapa! This is good!"

Grandpa, Grandma and Jules watched them with amusement.

Mana shook her head fondly and Raven began to mentally catalogue the herbs he'd need to make digestion pills for one adult human and one baby dragon. He quickly took stock of what he had in the secret space and was relieved to note that he had everything he needed in case either Azar or Papa got indigestion later.

Mana glanced at him strangely, wondering what was going on his pretty little head and nudged him with her elbow.

"Digestion pill ingredients," Raven murmured absently in response to her unasked question.

Mana was caught between a desire to laugh and an impulse to hug Raven for being such a sweet boy. She compromised by patting his shoulder.

The two children had their breakfast quickly. After that, King Jaren went off to court with a long face, and Mana, Raven and Jules climbed into the propulsion machine with Azar.

"It's pretty cool that you can handle it so well, Mana," Jules complimented her.

Mana grinned and started the ignition.

A few minutes later, the four of them arrived at the island. It was Jules's first visit, so he looked around curiously and wanted to explore, but Azar was too impatient to see his elf buddy's gift and dragged everyone to the spot where his egg used to be and where he had received the stone.

A big velvet jewellery case lay on the stone this time.

"Mommy! Elf buddy's gift for you!" Azar said, tugging at Mana's arm.

Mana picked up the box gingerly and opened it.

There was a brilliant flash of light and Azar flew around Mana's head in delight.

It really was a crown. Made of gold, exquisitely crafted, and set with emeralds, diamonds and orange sapphires. It glowed with powerful magic.

"Put it on! Put it on, Mommy!" Azar urged.

Mana put it on her head. The crown was originally quite large, of a size suitable for adults, but the moment Mana placed it on her head, it shrunk to fit her.

"Mommy pretty!" Azar declared.

"Really," Jules said. "My little sister is getting prettier by the day. If you weren't already engaged to Raven, I'd be preparing to fend off your suitors with my sword by now…"

Mana flushed. "Big Brother!" she complained in a whining tone. "Don't tease me."

"But you really are very pretty," Jules said, blinking his mismatched gemstone-like eyes innocently. "Isn't she, Raven?"

Raven nodded wordlessly, staring at Mana in a daze. The gold matched really well with Mana's hair, he thought. She usually left her hair unadorned, and Raven had never thought too deeply about it until now. But seeing her lovely look with the delicate crown on her head, he wanted her to wear gold in her hair more often.

Many years later, whenever Mana would look at a roomful of exquisite gold hair ornaments and hair accessories, she would often think back to this moment. Azar's elf buddy was definitely responsible for Raven's obsession with buying gold hair ornaments for Mana through the years!

Mana and Raven examined the velvet box carefully, but there was no clue about how the box got to the island and Azar wouldn't say anything except that his elf buddy was really nice. All they could find were the familiar s-w-i-l-1-3 stamped in one corner of the box.

All three human children were very impressed with the magic in the crown. It really did seem to be custom-made for Mana – not only enhancing her three magic elements, but also providing powerful defensive magic.

"Wear this at the engagement banquet in the Amber Kingdom," Jules suggested. "We'll all have to get a lot of outfits and Bella specifically said that we can't repeat our clothes or jewellery…but Amber Kingdom will probably be the most dangerous one for us, so it's better to reserve such a powerful magical tool for that."

Mana and Raven completely agreed with Jules's logic.

"Azar, how do we say thanks to your elf buddy?" Raven asked.

Mana wanted to know, too.. Azar's elf buddy had been very generous to both Azar and herself, and she wanted to give something in return, too.