The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

Dawe tried to wrangle a lot of information out of Mana and Raven over the meal in various subtle ways – but he was no match for Mana. After all, it was not for nothing that Mana was known as the goddess of negotiations in her law firm, and she could hold her own easily with people thrice her age and experience – let alone a devious seven year old.

After interacting more with Dawe, Mana understood Raven's apprehensions perfectly. To be so calculating at such a young age – Dawe's ability for deception was far above Astra's, she thought, wondering once again about the boy's father. Crown Princess Pica didn't have a shred of diplomacy in her – so it must have come from Dawe's father, right?

Rook and Crown Princess Pica kept enquiring greedily about Raven's adventures in the Emerald Kingdom, and Mana told them a lot of things without the slightest effort to hide how brilliant and powerful Raven had become. At the start, Raven was quite embarrassed at her blatant showing off, but as the meal progressed and Rook and Pica became more and more enamoured with Raven's accomplishments, he let go of his embarrassment and began to enjoy it.

Enca, who had been strangely silent all this while, spoke up suddenly. She turned to Raven and smiled brightly. "Well, since Big Brother Raven is so talented and has defeated so many people, I will forgive you for being better than me in art and music," she said imperiously. "But you have to treat me well from now on and let me win, otherwise I'll never call you my favourite big brother!"

Crown Princess Pica glared at her only daughter. "You told me at the time that Raven switched your paintings and claimed your credit," she said with a frown. "Was that a lie?"

Enca squirmed uncomfortably for a while, but she was a little girl, after all. After a while, under her mother's glare, she broke down. "I…I…Dawe told me it'd better to switch the paintings – otherwise you'd not punish Big Brother Raven!" she cried anxiously.

Mana narrowed her eyes at Dawe, who was making a suspiciously innocent face at his mother at the moment, as if he had no idea what Enca was talking about. Throwing his own twin sister under the bus to save his own skin – how ruthless!

Crown Princess Pica glared at the twins and her eyes held the promise of a proper scolding later. Then she turned to Raven and apologised. It was a curt but sincere apology – and while it couldn't make up for Raven's miserable childhood, it was still something rare, and it made Raven become stunned for a long moment.

Finally, unable to say anything, he simply nodded at his mother.

Rook, however, was incensed on Raven's behalf – conveniently forgetting that he, too, was one of the biggest reasons why Raven had been miserable in the Obsidian Kingdom. But then, Rook had always been quite open about his affections or the opposite. If Rook liked you, he'd tell you to your face, and if he disliked you, he'd still tell it to your face…he was exactly like Princess Pica in this regard. However, although the ten year old wasn't as conversant with deceit and guile as Dawe, he did understand that Raven had been terribly wronged.

"You're a bad girl, framing Big Brother Raven like that!" he scolded Enca right away. He turned to Dawe. "And you, you're even worse for misguiding our sister like this!"

The little girl burst into tears immediately.

Dawe finally lost his temper as well. "It's not like you treated Big Brother Raven any better, Big Brother Rook!" he accused viciously. "You were the one who broke his arm and threw him into a well!"

Rook was stunned for a moment, and then guilt flooded his features.

Mana's eyes began to glow eerily, and Raven quietly slipped his hand into hers, trying to reassure her.

With a pale face, Rook turned to Raven. "Big Brother Raven, I've been very bad to you," he murmured, and then a determined look appeared on his face. "You can break my arm and throw me into a well, too! I saw there's a well in the back garden of the imperial guesthouse…we can check if it is deep enough," he said.

Enca spoke up tearfully as well. "They're not as good as yours, but you can steal all my paintings, too, Big Brother Raven! No, I'll give you my best painting kit!" she said with a tear stained face.

Raven sighed. "I'm not going to break your arm, Rook," he said quietly. "And I don't want your paintings or your painting kit, Enca."

"You can break both my arms," Rook said in a trembling voice.

Raven shook his head. "Of course not," he said. "Why would I even want to break your arm in the first place?" He reached out and patted Rook on the shoulder. "Let bygones be bygones, all right? We can try to get along in the future if you want."

Rook burst into tears. "You're too nice, Big Brother Raven!" he cried and threw himself into Raven's arms, sobbing on his shoulder.

Raven sighed yet again and patted the younger boy's back awkwardly. When Rook was finally done, he handed his own spotlessly clean handkerchief to the boy.

Rook wiped his face and looked at Raven seriously. "Big Brother Raven, I promise that I will always be your follower from now on!" he declared, holding up his right hand in the most traditional and formal and solemn gesture of promise in the Obsidian Kingdom.

Raven was shocked into silence, and Dawe and Enca stared at Rook with their mouths hanging open. Crown Princess Pica had a small smile on her face.

"This is the traditional oath of a lifetime in our Obsidian Kingdom," she explained to Mana, who was looking quite confused. "Rook just swore to be Raven's subordinate for life."

Mana was taken aback. She glanced at the stunned Raven and rubbed his arm. She could see the sheen of moisture in Raven's rainbow eyes. He was clearly touched by Rook's grand gesture.

Seeing that Raven was not in a position to speak at all, Mana turned to Rook. The boy suddenly became much more appealing to her eye now, and she even thought that the shape of his chin and the tilt of his eyes was a little like Raven.

"I think Raven would prefer having an adorable younger brother to love instead of just a subordinate, you know," she said gently.

Rook grinned brightly. "Really?" he asked, his dark, liquid eyes sparkling just like his mother's.

Raven nodded and gave him a hug. "Don't talk about breaking your arm ever again," he murmured. "I don't want to harm you, and I don't want you to be harmed by other people either, including yourself. It is enough for me that you apologised sincerely."

Rook's grin grew wider. "Yes, Big Brother!" he agreed immediately. Then, after a while, he asked hesitantly, "Can I…can I spar with you sometime?" His cheeks were flushed pink.

This shy look suited Rook better than the belligerent look from this morning, Mana thought.

Raven smiled slightly and nodded.

"I want to spar with Big Brother Raven, too!" Enca said immediately.

"Me too!" Dawe said.

"You haven't earned that privilege yet," Crown Princess Pica told the twins. She turned to Raven and Rook and hugged them both, and then kissed their brow. "I'm very proud of both of you and I'm very happy that you made up. Rook, you have to protect your Big Brother from now on, all right?" she said seriously.

Rook nodded eagerly. "I will!" he promised.

"Good," Crown Princess Pica said.

"Protect him…?" Dawe said faintly. "Mother, are you already choosing Big Brother Raven as your heir?!" His little face was twisted in anger.

Rook, on the other hand, looked even more excited. "Yes, yes, Big Brother Raven is so awesome, he should be the heir!" he said.

"That depends on Raven," Crown Princess Pica said, shooting Raven and Mana a meaningful look.

Raven smiled wryly. "We will answer you when we go to the Obsidian Kingdom in a few weeks, Mother," he said. "Meanwhile, we also wanted to check if you'd like us to visit in summer. We could stay for a few weeks, then."

Crown Princess Pica laughed merrily and ruffled her eldest son's hair. "It's your home son. You come home with little Mana whenever you want to.. I'd love to have you two over anytime, be it summer or winter!" she said happily.