Chapter 42: 42 – Raven’s Offer

Raven knocked on the door of King Jaren's study and peeked in. "Papa? Do you have some time to spare?" he asked quietly.

One of the first things King Jaren had done upon their arrival at the imperial palace was to relay strict instructions that Jules, Mana and Raven were never to be kept waiting if they wanted to see him – regardless of whether he was in his study or bedroom or court or anywhere. He had also specifically mentioned that Astra was not entitled to the same privilege any longer.

It had been a couple of days since their showdown with Princess Astra, and she was still grounded. King Jaren had taken Azar to his personal treasury where gifts and tributes from other kingdoms were stored and let him choose whatever he liked as an apology gift. Azar had chosen an interesting mechanical toy from the Sapphire Kingdom, and the little dragon had spent several hours playing with it. It was shaped like a miniature carriage and had a spring mechanism that used magic to wound up. Azar was currently small enough to ride in it easily, and enjoyed it very much!

King Jaren looked up from the memo he was reading and smiled tiredly at Raven. "Come on in, son," he said, waving his hand.

Raven walked in silently and took the seat indicated by King Jaren.

"You look very tired, Papa," he said softly. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

King Jaren chuckled. "Thank you, dear child," he said with a smile and ruffled Raven's here. "I'll definitely let you know when I need your help. For now, I just want all of you to focus on your studies – the faster you learn, the sooner I can hand off all this stuff to my children and retire!"

Raven observed him silently. Then he quickly withdrew some herbs from his space and prepared a sachet.

King Jaren watched him, fascinated. "What a refreshing fragrance," he murmured.

"I can't do much yet to help you," Raven murmured. "But at least I can prepare these things." He held out the sachet to King Jaren. "It will help you with your exhaustion while you work."

King Jaren took it gratefully and put it in his pocket right away. "This really helps, thank you, son."

Raven smiled shyly. "I'll make you another one to put next to your pillow…it'll help you sleep well," he offered.

King Jaren rewarded him with a broad smile. "My little Raven, you really are an amazing child! We're fortunate to have you," he praised.

Raven flushed a little, but smiled back. He was slowly getting used to exuberant praises from his new family. It was a wonderful feeling…and it made him afraid that he would be unable to survive if he had to return to his lonely life back in the Obsidian Kingdom.

"You had something to speak to me about, right?" King Jaren asked. "Tell me."

Raven hesitated and glanced around.

King Jaren took the hint and gestured with his fingers. A transparent magical barrier with a greenish tint flashed around them for a moment before fading.

"You may speak freely now," King Jaren assured Raven. "No one will be able to hear us now, even with magic spells."

Raven was relieved. "I…wanted to ask you about the situation in the imperial palace," he said quietly. "Are the investigations going well?"

King Jaren sighed heavily. "Not very well, I'm afraid," he replied.

Raven bit his lip nervously. "Papa…do you really not know the perpetrators?" he whispered.

King Jaren fell silent for a long time. "I do have an idea," he said finally.

"Then…are you unwilling to bring them to justice?" Raven asked.

"We don't have enough evidence," King Jaren told him. "In our Emerald Kingdom, we don't sentence anyone unless their crime is proved beyond reasonable doubt. I would rather let a criminal roam free than punish an innocent person."

If Mana had been part of the conversation, she would have appreciated this progressive school of thought, for sure.

Raven looked away.

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"You don't agree?" King Jaren asked.

"Aren't you also letting them destroy evidence, Papa…?" Raven spoke in a hushed voice. "You know as well as I do that it was Astra who tried to kill Mana back then by drowning her in the lake…isn't it clear from how Astra immediately beheaded the maid who was about to reveal the truth? And yet you let her get away with it, and even now, you're protecting her."

Rage flashed in King Jaren's brilliant emerald eyes for a moment before fading away. "I'm just a father trying to protect all his children," he murmured.

Raven shook his head. "Forgive me for saying this, but if you really believe that, I'm afraid you're deluding yourself," he said softly. "We have been in the imperial palace for less than three days, and I've had to detoxify Jules and Mana four times already. Twice, our food was poisoned. Once, poisoned incense was lit in their rooms, and once poison powder was dusted on their handkerchiefs."

King Jaren stood up abruptly. "Is that true?" he demanded angrily. "Why didn't you tell me before?!"

Raven shrugged. "It's not like you'd do anything about it. At most, you'd change the servants – which hardly matters. The servants are hardly more than serving bowls – unless you remove the poison from the cooking pot itself, changing the ingredients or changing the serving bowls wouldn't make a difference."

King Jaren fell back in his chair heavily and buried his face in his hands.

"Papa," Raven called gently. "I know this is difficult for you. I know you love Astra as much as you love Jules and Mana…perhaps even more. But I'm sorry, I can't let Mana be killed again."

King Jaren stared at the boy sitting calmly in front of him, and his face as white as a sheet.

Raven sighed. "You know it, too, don't you?" he asked. "Your daughter Mana actually died that day when she drowned in the pool. The Mana now is different from before, isn't she? I believe Mana's soul went to another world and lived out a life there – most likely the world the ancient master and his people came from. And her soul was pulled back here when the first Mana died. This can explain why she remembers her life here, but also has knowledge beyond our comprehension."

King Jaren smiled bitterly. "You really deserve your title as the child with the intelligence of ten grown men, Raven. You're only partly right, though," he said. "My Mana…the one from before…had an incomplete soul. It was only after she died that her soul was restored to a complete one – but it's not someone else; it is my own daughter." He looked down at his hands. "It was always much more than the Shadow Poison that ailed Mana – and perhaps that was the reason we didn't realise anything about the Shadow Poison until recently."

"Soul magic?!" Raven cried out in horror.

King Jaren nodded. "Half her soul was in another world…and it was pulled back to merge with the remaining half here. She must have died painfully in the other world, otherwise her soul wouldn't have lingered long enough for the bridge to work."

"You…you actually made a soul bridge?!" Raven shouted, his eyes flashing black.

King Jaren shook his head. "I don't have the ability to," he said. "Dora did. She arranged for it before her own death…she was always much wiser than I."

"So…since Astra's attempt at murdering Mana had the happy consequence of completing Mana's soul, you're letting her run free?" Raven asked bluntly.

King Jaren didn't respond.

"I can offer you a few options," Raven ploughed on. "I know you're caught between your children…but I have no such dilemma. I just want to protect Jules and Mana."

"Let's hear your offer, then," King Jaren said, eyeing the boy in front of him warily. An abandoned twelve-year-old child – all alone in a foreign country with no support except his own monstrous intelligence…what gave him such courage to come and insult the monarch of the only place that had offered him shelter? King Jaren didn't know if he should be annoyed with Raven suddenly challenging his authority like this, or if he should be pleased that this little boy was risking everything to protect Mana and Jules.

"I can make the truth potion, which forces people to answer any questions truthfully," Raven said. "That is the first option – if you really want to gather evidence and see justice served."

"What else?"

"The second is to trigger an epidemic in the imperial palace. You can choose who lives and who dies – the antidote is to be taken in advance, and I can guarantee that no one, not even my grandfather, would be able to tell that it was poison, not disease. You can even use this option in combination with the first to leverage Jules's popularity by calling it heaven's punishment on the guilty."

"What else?"

"The third option is to let Astra marry that Mars guy from the Amber Kingdom and let her go with him, and Queen Sora can fall ill and either retire to a remote village with her parents, or to a nunnery."

"Anything else?"

"The last option is that I take Jules, Mana and Azar – and perhaps Fox as well – and disappear forever."

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