The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

King Corvus stared at Azar, fascinated. Then he flashed the dragon a big grin and said, "I won't harm your Daddy." He added quickly, "Or your Mommy, for that matter. I just want to see how powerful Raven has become."

Azar snorted and didn't move from his protective position in front of Mana and Raven.

Raven's eyes were still flashing black and the shadows around him hadn't receded yet. He glared at King Corvus, and the powerful magical aura emanating from him made the floor tremble.

Having learnt her lesson from the disaster last time in the matter with Astra, Mana didn't even try to stop Raven. Instead, she put her hand on his shoulder and let her own magic boost his.

Green electricity cackled around the dark shadows, fully in sync with each other.

King Corvus stared at the two children with his eyes wide open in shock.

"You…you two can already combine your magic?!" he cried.

King Jaren smiled slightly. "They've been able to do it for a long time now," he said, pride dripping from his voice and his smug smile.

"Amazing," King Corvus murmured. "You really are our fated child, it seems. Raven – come back to the Obsidian Kingdom with me after the festivities are done. You can bring little Mana and your dragon child, too."

"No," Raven spat. "The Emerald Kingdom is my home and I'll stay here. I'm not your toy to be used and discarded at will, King Corvus." He looked his mother, who was standing next to King Corvus and looking at Raven with bright and proud eyes. "Mother, I'm sorry. Mana and I promised to visit you in the summer, but with the situation like this, I'm afraid that we'll have to revoke our promise," he said. His voice remained calm and mild, but there was an undercurrent of steel in it.

It was very, very impressive that a twelve year old could pull it off and project himself so masterfully.

Crown Princess Pica's face fell and she stared accusingly at her own father. "What's wrong with you, Father?" she complained. "We were just starting to get along and Mana and Raven were going to visit us in the summer – and now you've ruined everything!"

King Corvus blinked. "What? What am I ruining? I'm just testing my own grandson!" he snapped.

"He's not your grandson any longer. You relinquished his guardianship to me when you threw him out and abandoned him at the border of the Emerald Kingdom months ago. I have your letter, with your magical signature, and Raven has also accepted me as his magical guardian," King Jaren informed the older king. "You have no moral right to call him your grandson after the terrible way you have treated him all his life – and you have given up the ties of blood and magic by yourself; no one forced you to. And now Raven is as much my child as Mana or Jules."

King Corvus stared at King Jaren, stunned. "Raven…his magic actually accepted you?!" he cried out in alarm.

"Yes," King Jaren said, letting his own magic flow out smoothly in a green wave that merged seamlessly with the combined magic of Raven and Mana and changed its shape to form a protective barrier engulfing the two children.

King Corvus stared at the display blankly, as if unable to believe his eyes.

"So that's why you have been permitting Raven to attend imperial lessons like governance and other kingly trainings…" King Corvus murmured in a daze after some time, looking at King Jaren.

"Well, Raven is my child, too, of course I will treat him at part with Jules and Mana. Besides, he is so talented, he can easily catch up with Jules despite his young age, and Jules is already much brighter than I was at his age," King Jaren replied in a perfectly matter of fact voice.

King Corvus shook himself and visibly gathered himself slowly but steadily. By his side, Crown Princess Pica was shooting her father accusing looks.

"Father, how could you give away MY son just like that without even telling me about it?! I thought you'd sent him to the Emerald Kingdom for training or something!" she complained loudly.

King Corvus glared at her. "If you had been a decent enough mother – or if you had cared the least bit for the boy before this, you'd have known what was happening with him. Weren't you all too happy when I sent him away, saying it was good riddance to bad rubbish and how we didn't need a half-blood from the Pearl Kingdom polluting our royal bloodline?!" he thundered. "And if it hadn't been that you nearly killed the boy with your extreme methods – would I be forced to send him away as soon as a chance arose?!"

"Send him away?" King Jaren mocked before Crown Princess Pica could say a word. "I asked you for help on my little Mana's behalf because she was suffering from the effects of the Shadow Poison. You sent me a letter saying that your grandson Raven can be used to absorb the Shadow Poison from Mana and if he somehow manages to survive that, I was free to keep him if I wanted or throw him if I didn't. You call that 'sending him away'?! And that's not all – you didn't even ensure that he came to me safe and sound – no, you chose to leave him penniless and destitute at the border of the Pearl Kingdom and the Emerald Kingdom. It was only by a stroke of luck that Jules happened to meet Raven!"

"Papa is right," Jules spoke up. "When I met Raven, he was an inch away from being beaten to death by hooligans from the Pearl Kingdom – and he was too starved and weak to be able to protect himself, even. It was sheer luck that I happened to be in the vicinity."

"Yes, if Big Brother hadn't been there, I'd have been dead months ago," Raven said quietly. "Meeting Mana was also a fortunate coincidence. I owe my life to my new family."

"Hey, don't say stuff like this," Mana said, putting her arm around Raven. "If we start keeping count, your side will be heavier. You got rid of the Shadow Poison from me – and since then, how many times have you saved me or Big Brother or Papa or the people of the Emerald Kingdom?"

Raven flushed and gave her a shy smile.

"Mana is absolutely right," King Jaren said, smiling at the children. "It is my privilege and pride to have a child like you, Raven. Looking at you all – Jules and Bella and Mana and you – it makes me want to dance with joy. Can there be such a happy and proud parent like me in this world?"

All four children grinned at their beloved Papa.

King Corvus, on the other hand, had a brewing thunderstorm on his face.

"How could you agree to this?!" he asked Raven furiously. "You're the fated child of the Obsidian Kingdom – you're the one that's supposed to unify the Obsidian Kingdom and expand its territories and make it the greatest kingdom in the world…how could you go and recognise the monarch of another country as your guardian?!"