Chapter 38: 38 - A Tepid Welcome

When the group finally arrived at the gates of the imperial palace, it was almost dinner time. Physician Kale had originally wanted to eat out in a restaurant, but after receiving the fifteenth letter from Queen Sora, he sighed despondently and decided they might as well return.

Three of Queen Sora's maids were waiting for Physician Kale at the main entrance of the imperial palace. They immediately urged him to accompany them.

Physician Kale shot King Jaren a beseeching look.

King Jaren frowned at the maids. "Is this the etiquette of the palace these days?" he asked coldly.

The maids trembled in fear. King Jaren was normally quite carefree and good-tempered, and everyone knew that the royals of the Emerald Kingdom weren't very strict about hierarchy and unnecessary formalities.

"You Majesty, we were unaware of the time of your arrival, so…" one of the maids spoke up.

"Oh? Is that so?" Mana asked pleasantly, but there was a hint of steel in her voice. "You were aware of Physician Kale's return, but unaware that he was travelling with the King and the Crown Prince and several other members of the royal family?"

"Princess Mana, we were just worried about our Queen's aide!" the maid cried.

"So, in your eyes, the Queen's aide is more important than the King of your country?" Mana demanded. "Papa, perhaps we have been too lenient with our servants. We need be more like Big Sister, who beheads her maids without a moment's hesitation."

"You can't do that! We're the Queen's personal maids!" the maid shouted.

"Interesting," Mana said. "Now we have random servants scolding a princess, eh?" She narrowed her eyes. "I remember you three. Weren't you chatting with Horth just before she tried to kill me? Perhaps you were part of the conspiracy to kill me…"

The three maids lost all colour.

The imperial guards at the gate could take it no more. The captain, who had been accompanying Mana since her journey to the summer palace, stepped forward.

"Princess, please allow us to arrest these maids and interrogate them. If they were involved in the assassination attempt on you, we cannot let them roam freely," he said.

"The Captain is right," King Jaren said, looking at Mana.

Mana nodded. "Please, Captain. I leave this in your able hands," she said.

The three maids were dragged away, kicking and screaming and cursing.

"In looking after my citizens, I have neglected my own home," King Jaren murmured ruefully. "Jules, Raven, I am ashamed that your first experience at the imperial palace is like this…"

"Don't worry about it, Papa," Jules said immediately.

"You're a good king, Papa," Raven chipped in.

King Jaren shook his head sadly.

Just then, the Steward and a team of servants and guards came running. All of them bowed before King Jaren.

"Your Majesty, my deepest apologies for not receiving you appropriately," the Steward said, gasping for breath. He had clearly run a great distance in a hurry. "We received a notice from the Queen's side yesterday stating that your return was delayed and you would be arriving next week. I just met the Captain of the imperial guards assigned to Princess Mana and realised our faux pas."

King Jaren sighed. The Steward had worked for him for over twenty years, and he had always trusted him without reservations…but now, King Jaren realised that he had allowed too many weeds to grow in the imperial palace – so much so that his precious flowers were at risk.

"It appears that the imperial palace of the Emerald Kingdom is too lofty for the king of the Emerald Kingdom," King Jaren said coldly. "I cannot afford such luxury."

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The Steward shivered. He knew exactly how dangerous King Jaren could be when he was angered.

King Jaren snapped his fingers, and two shadow guards – the exclusive unit of highly-trained secret guards who protected the reigning monarch and were completely devoted to the reigning monarch – appeared immediately. "I need the imperial palace cleaned up tonight," he ordered.

"Yes, Your Majesty," the shadow guards bowed and disappeared.

The Steward knelt on the ground and begged for mercy. "Your Majesty! I was wrong! I shouldn't have taken orders from the Queen!" he wailed. All the servants behind him knelt as well. "Please forgive us, Your Majesty!"

King Jaren turned his horse around wordlessly and left the imperial palace. Jules, Mana, Raven and Fox followed immediately, and so did Grandpa, Grandma and Physician Kale. The imperial guards accompanied them.

"Let's go to my house," Physician Kale suggested. "It's a little shabby, but there's plenty of space for everyone."

King Jaren shook his head. "I'm afraid you'll be abducted if we go to your house," he said. "Don't you think there will be more servants waiting at your gate to take you to treat this aide of the Queen?"

"If Aunt Sora had been half as concerned about me when I was nearly killed as she is about her aide with lost magic, I'd have given her full marks as my stepmother," Mana said viciously.

King Jaren touched her head. "I've wronged you, little one," he said sadly.

Mana shook her head. "It's not really your fault, Papa. I was hardly more than an idiot. You protected me well, otherwise I wouldn't have lived for ten years at all," she said softly. Her eyes hardened. "But I won't let Big Brother or Raven come to harm. Our family drama has gone on long enough. No matter who they are, they caused my mother's death and my Big Brother to be forced into hiding with Grandpa and Grandma for over fifteen years. I can't forgive that."

"Little Mana…" King Jaren began, but was interrupted by his young daughter.

"No, Papa. I lost a chance to grow up with my Big Brother. You lost a chance to see your own son grow up. Even if you and Big Brother are too nice to hold a grudge for this, I think it's absolutely unforgivable," she said angrily.

"I agree with Mana," Raven said. "Forgive me for saying this, Papa, but you are the master of the imperial palace…and the insolent behaviour of those maids towards Mana, and how the Steward completely ignored Jules, the Crown Prince…that's unacceptable."

"You don't have to deal with these things alone anymore, Papa," Jules said quietly. "Mana had recovered her magic as well as her intellect, I have returned to my rightful family, and Raven has joined us. The three of us are here with you from now on. You can rely on us."

Azar popped his little head out of the carrier on Raven's chest. "Grandpapa sad?" he asked.

King Jaren, who had knowingly avoided the affairs of the imperial palace for many years now because every inch of it reminded him of his late wife Queen Dora, felt extremely ashamed. These little children…they had far more sense than he did. All these years, he had simply cared enough to protect Mana, despite the niggling feeling at the back of his mind that there was something wrong with Dora's death, and ignored everything else, thinking it was pointless because neither revenge nor justice would bring Dora back to him. But now he realised that he had been wrong. He had bid farewell to his reason and let himself be overcome by grief upon losing Dora. He stared at Mana and Jules with misty eyes, and the figure of his beloved Dora seemed to float behind them. He could see the similarities in their features…why hadn't he realised this before. Dora was gone, but hadn't she left him these two beautiful children? Shouldn't he do his utmost to protect them, even if it meant turbulence in the imperial palace – even if he had to personally decapitate every single traitor, regardless of their station? The villains were getting more and more audacious – hadn't they just tried to kill not only Jules and Mana – but the entire population of Verdant Hills? If it hadn't been for Mana's extraordinary perception, if it hadn't been for the three children nearly exhausting themselves, if it hadn't been for a prodigious friend they had met by chance, if it hadn't been for the little dragon they accidentally found…wouldn't he have already lost them? He couldn't even bear to imagine any further…

A little black dragon head nudged his cheek, rousing King Jaren from his thoughts. "Grandpapa?" Azar was floating in front of his face and peering at him with his large, luminous eyes that matched Mana's.

King Jaren rubbed the baby dragon's head fondly.

"No worry, Grandpapa!" the little dragon declared. "Azar is here!"

"Yes, Papa," Mana said softly. "Not only Azar, but we're all here."

"You don't need to hesitate for our sake," Grandpa said quietly. "We know you were as wronged as Dora back then…but you bore with it because of us."

Grandma spoke up as well. "We were all blinded by sentiment at some point or the other…and even after bringing up Jules in hiding all these years, I was still unwilling to face facts…but we can no longer deny it. For the sake of this kingdom, for the sake of the heir to this kingdom…this bunch of parasites that has eaten its way into the imperial palace…we must get rid of it now."

"Exactly," Grandpa said. "We've already lost Dora, but we can't lose Dora's children."

King Jaren nodded.

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