The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

"Raven? Raven!" Mana called out, panicked, holding the limp figure in her arms.

Jules, Bella and King Jaren rushed over immediately. King Jaren also instructed a servant to get Imperial Physician Kale over right away.

"Daddy?!" Azar whined pitifully. "Daddy, wake up!" The little dragon's eyes filled with tears.

King Jaren handed Azar to Jules, who immediately stroked his little dragon nephew's scales with gentle fingers, trying to calm the baby down.

"Raven will be fine, don't worry, little one," Bella said soothingly, also reaching out and patting the little dragon.

King Jaren patted Mana's head and picked up the unconscious Raven in his arms.

"Papa…what's wrong with Raven…?" Mana whispered fearfully.

"No matter what's wrong with him, we'll cure him," King Jaren said. "Nothing will happen to our Raven, I promise."

"I'm sure Physician Kale will be able to help," Jules murmured.

Bella slipped an arm around Mana's shoulders, comforting her.

Too impatient to wait for the elderly physician to come over, King Jaren strode out of the room with Raven in his arms, and the other children hurried after him.

As they neared the medical wing, they ran into Imperial Physician Kale and Junior Imperial Physician Vale rushing out to meet them.

"Oh, you're already here!" Imperial Physician Kale said as soon as he saw them. "Come on, quickly! Bring the boy in!"

He pretty much dragged King Jaren into the medical wing, to a room that had already been set up by the assistants.

"Everyone out!" Imperial Physician Kale barked. "Young Vale, you stay here to assist me."

King Jaren, Mana, Azar, Jules and Bella refused to budge.

"Examine him quickly," Mana urged.

The elderly physician ignored her and checked over Raven. "What on earth happened?" he demanded. "Why is he in such a mess? His magic seems to be raging within him!"

"He got really, really angry and there was a powerful burst of magic that flowed out of him, and then he calmed down and brought it under control. Then he fainted," Mana said nervously.

Imperial Physician Kale frowned deeply. "He calmed himself down?" he asked.

Mana shook her head guiltily. "I…I asked him to calm down…" she murmured. "Is that what caused him to be like this?"

"It is dangerous to cut off an outward rush of magic in the middle," Junior Imperial Physician Vale told her. "In extreme cases, it can even be fatal."

Mana wobbled precariously and Jules caught her. "I should have just let him decimate Astra!" she murmured viciously. "None of us would ever have to worry again about so many things!"

Jules patted his little sister's back soothingly to comfort her, but secretly, he was beginning to agree with Mana. Raven and Mana were very dear to him – and Astra, even though she was his half-sister, was much worse than a stranger – she was an enemy, repeatedly trying to harm Mana. Jules' gem-like mismatched eyes flashed with anger.

Bella caught his eye and nodded subtly. At least the two of them were on the same page. The two of them could find a way to deal with Astra and the horrible villains of the Amber Kingdom and protect their two younger ones! After all, as the older brother and sister-in-law, didn't it fall upon their shoulders to take care of Mana and Raven when they faced a difficult or dangerous situation?

"How do we make him better?" King Jaren asked anxiously. "There must be a way out, right?"

Imperial Physician Kale sighed. "His magic is too powerful and his control over his emotions does not appear to be very stable," he said quietly. He frowned and eyed Raven. "I seem to remember that Prince Raven was quite level-headed before, what caused him to lose his temper so badly that his magic was affected this much?"

King Jaren sighed, too. "He has been through a lot of emotional ups and downs lately," he murmured.

"But how can we make him stable?" Bella asked.

At the same time, Jules also spoke up. "Raven being emotional isn't a bad thing, right? He has been opening up little by little these days, instead of bottling up everything like earlier," he said. "Surely that is much worse than him expressing his emotions?"

Imperial Physician Kale shook his head. "I'm not saying that. It is definitely healthier for him to be more expressive. The problem comes when he loses control," he said. "Vale and I will try to stabilise him artificially now, before his raging magic causes any permanent damage. But, going forward, this will definitely become a problem."

"So, what can we do? Is there any medicine or any tool which can help Raven?" Bella asked.

Junior Imperial Physician Vale tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Master, wasn't there a mention of an external tool used by one of the ancient physicians that helped her channel her magic?" he asked Imperial Physician Kale.

The elderly physician stroked his beard, contemplating. "I remember the thing you mentioned," he said. "It was called a 'wand' – but the art of making a wand was lost centuries ago. I'm afraid there no longer exist any magical craftsmen in our world who can make one for him…"

Mana recalled the fake wands that were such a rage in her original earth…if any of those could have helped Raven…

"What is a wand made of?" she asked loudly. "Is it made of wood or metal? Is it inset with a magical stone or part of a powerful magical beast?" She remembered reading about both kinds of wands in fantasy tales that she used to love.

Both Junior Imperial Physician Vale and Imperial Physician Kale stared at her in shock.

"There are records of both," Junior Imperial Physician Vale said finally.

"How on earth did you know that?" Imperial Physician Kale demanded.

Mana shrugged. "So…how do we figure out what kind of wand Raven needs?" she asked instead.

The two physicians shrugged helplessly.

"We have no idea at all," Junior Imperial Physician Vale said. "We only know about it because it was mentioned in a book very briefly – the art of wand making has been lost for a very long time, as Master said."

"Is there any other way to help Raven stabilise his magic?" Jules asked.

"Keep him happy and calm," Imperial Physician Kale said bluntly. "Stress or anger will trigger him – there must be a threshold, of course, and trigger points – but I would advise against experimenting to find those out."

"Mana being threatened or put in danger must be his trigger point," King Jaren said with a heavy sigh. "Oh, Raven, dear child, you never have it easy, do you?"

No one had an appropriate response to that.

"We will start researching on wands," Bella said finally. "I'll also ask my mother, in case she has any idea."

"Maybe Fox will have an idea," Jules muttered.

Mana nodded. "Both of you go to IMARI and check with Fox, and also check the library there. I'll see if I can find something in the imperial library here," she said.

"I'll have people search in the imperial library," King Jaren said immediately. "And I'll look it up myself as well." He reached out and patted Mana's hair. "You stay here with Raven, my dear. When he wakes up, he will surely want to see you."

Mana couldn't argue against that. Thus, everyone else went off, and Imperial Physician Kale and Junior Imperial Physician Vale busied themselves, trying to stabilise Raven.

Azar, who had remained surprisingly quiet until now, muzzled Mana's face with his little dark head. "Mommy, Elf Buddy sent treasure for Papa. Elf Buddy said it will help Papa wake up!" he whispered.

Mana immediately made her excuses and ran away with Azar in her arms. A few minutes later, the two of them were rushing to their 'usual gift spot' in Azar's island.

There was indeed a box waiting for them, with the initials s-w-i-l-1-3 once again. Mana didn't even open the box; she simply picked it up and rushed back to the imperial palace.

Half an hour after Mana and Azar returned to the medical wing, Raven opened his eyes weakly.

"What happened?" he asked in a hoarse voice.

"How are you feeling?" Mana asked.

Raven was silent for a long time.

Guessing correctly that he wasn't feeling all that well, Mana quickly called Junior Imperial Physician Vale and Imperial Physician Kale. Both physicians examined Raven and said his raging magic was slightly better now.

Mana thrust the box into Raven's arms. "Azar's Elf Buddy sent this for you," she said.

"Will help Daddy!" Azar chipped in.

Raven smiled slightly and opened the box.

Both Junior Imperial Physician Vale and Imperial Physician Kale froze in shock for a moment.

"That's a magic wand!" Junior Imperial Physician Vale and Imperial Physician Kale cried out at the same time.

The two physicians went on to explain the concept to Raven, and he picked up the wand and gave it a wave.

Colour immediately returned to Raven's face and he smiled. "It really works!" he said.

"Thanks to Elf Buddy!" Azar said happily.