Chapter 47: 47 – The Perils Of Beauty

When news of the destruction of the hellfire dagger reached the Amber Kingdom, King Orion's first reaction was relief, followed by a twinge of disappointment. A big danger to him and his heirs was now gone…but so was the chance to destroy two of his enemies. Overall, though, it wasn't too big a loss for him.

On the other hand, the Flame Duke, Grandpa's half-brother, gnashed his teeth in anger. As the true owner of the hellfire dagger, he had felt the dagger's presence disappear as soon as Raven had claimed it and he had no means to distinguish its shifting allegiance from its destruction.

"I can't believe that my older half-brother actually destroyed our most precious family heirloom just to save that filthy little brat from the Obsidian Kingdom!" he snarled.

"Calm yourself, Flame Duke," King Orion said. "What is done is done. Now that you have lost your most important pawn in the Emerald Kingdom, how do you plan to proceed?"

"We have waited this long, we may as well wait for a while," the Flame Duke replied, suppressing his rage. His infernal older half-brother was still alive! And even raised Dora's son in hiding! Could things get any worse?! All their plans from fifteen years ago had gone awry!

King Orion raised an eyebrow.

"We all know what a sentimental fool King Jaren is," the Flame Duke said. "He will protect Princess Astra, and she will pretend to repent and win back his affections soon enough. Once she is married to our Crown Prince Mars, they all will lower their guards. After that, we can take care of Crown Prince Jules and Princess Mana one by one, and Princess Astra will remain the only heir to the throne of the Emerald Kingdom, as we originally planned."

King Orion huffed impatiently. "What about Prince Liam's lost magic? Were you able to find out anything about it?" he demanded.

The Flame Duke shook his head. "Not much," he said. "Sora's aide, who had also lost her magic, was beheaded, and now Sora has lost her magic, too. It seems to be Princess Mana's doing. After Prince Raven removed the Shadow Poison from her, she has become a powerful triple elemental magician, it seems."

"Nonsense! How can a ten-year-old little girl destroy the magic of two people thousands of miles away?!" King Orion thundered.

"Your Majesty…Prince Raven is a precocious child, despite his questionable and dubious bloodline. It is said that he has the intelligence of ten grown men. It is quite possible that he and Princess Mana invented a spell together to reflect on the array masters of those two arrays we set up for the volcanic eruption…" the Flame Duke said.

"Find out more about this," King Orion ordered. "And if that little Princess Mana is really as powerful as you think her to be, we should discard Astra and get Mana instead!"

"Your Majesty, she is Dora's daughter!" the Flame Duke protested.

"How does it matter whose daughter she is as long as she is devoted to Mars?" King Orion demanded. "I seem to remember Mars mentioning that this little girl was quite infatuated with him…I'll have him woo her slowly until we know more. Meanwhile, you find out what you can about the state of affairs in the Emerald Kingdom."

Back in the imperial palace of the Emerald Kingdom, Princess Mana was blissfully unaware of the nefarious plans being hatched in the Amber Kingdom to make the legendary male lead Crown Prince Mars court her. Instead, she was busy teasing her Papa, who had caused a sensation when he appeared in court without his shaggy beard for the first time in many years.

A man who was handsome even with that rugged moustache and beard could only be devastatingly handsome without it. Especially in his royal robes.

Two ministers, three advisors, five officers and seven servants had fainted when King Jaren appeared and walked to the throne in his usual elegant manner. Dozens more suffered from nosebleeds.

King Jaren hadn't understood immediately what the matter was; he had been worried that some infection had broken out amongst his courtiers. It wasn't until the Prime Minister, with blood dripping down her own nose, bowed and requested that the courtiers be permitted a couple of days to adjust themselves to their king's newfound beauty, that King Jaren realised where the problem lay.

He'd never been so embarrassed in his life.

But the Prime Minister had been right. Exactly as she had predicted, after two days of mooning over King Jaren's gorgeousness, everyone calmed down and returned to their ordinary efficient selves.

Now it was the citizens clamouring for a glimpse of their beloved king and his new look. Everyday petitions signed by thousands of citizens would be sent to the court to request King Jaren to make a public appearance.

"Now you know why I kept the shaggy beard," King Jaren complained to Mana, Jules, Raven and Azar after several days of putting up with it. "You guys made me shave it off, and look what happened."

"But isn't this good, Papa?" Mana asked, blinking innocently. "The citizens of the Emerald Kingdom really love you!"

"And they'll love you even more when they see how much more handsome you are now compared to before!" Jules added.

"Grandpapa pretty now!" Azar said happily. "No prickly!"

King Jaren looked pitifully at Raven. "At least you're on my side, aren't you?" he begged.

Raven laughed. "Isn't it good that you're so handsome and so well-loved, Papa?" he teased. "All other monarchs across the kingdoms would be so jealous of you!"

King Jaren huffed angrily.

"Just you wait till you grow up, you three!" he threatened. "I'll be the one laughing when there are hoards of people chasing the three of you because of your looks!"

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"But you'll protect us, won't you, Papa?" Raven made the most adorable face he could, the one that made Mana agree to whatever he said.

If it worked on the daughter, it would naturally work on the father.

"Of course I will," King Jaren said immediately. "I'll see who dares cast their eyes on my precious children!"

The happy little family chatted pleasantly for a while. King Jaren enquired about their lessons and personally checked on the progress of each of them.

"How are your swimming lessons coming along?" he asked Raven.

"He's better than a fish now," Mana said crossly. "He's thrice as fast as me, and even a bit faster than Big Brother."

"That's good, then," King Jaren said, ruffling Raven's hair. "I'll never have to worry about either of you drowning again!"

"Is there anything else you want to learn?" he asked.

"I think Raven should learn some music and painting," Mana said. "He's got very dextrous fingers, and his swordplay looks like a dance."

"Ah, yes," King Jaren said. "I completely forgot. All of you need to learn ballroom dancing before the banquet."

"I know the basics," Jules said. "Grandpa taught me enough that I wouldn't embarrass myself."

"Basics?" Mana questioned archly. "Grandma told me that Big Brother dances like a dream and that they took you to a public practice area once and you were so good that most of the girls and boys there started chasing you!"

King Jaren laughed heartily, pride shining in his emerald eyes – and also a hint of vengeance from their earlier conversation. "Then Jules can teach you two," he said. "The royal dance instructor is a pain to deal with."

Mana dipped into the old Mana's memories – she had seen the thin, delicate man of indeterminable age a few times, and he always seemed to be relentlessly pursuing King Jaren. And now that her dear Papa had progressed from a ruggedly handsome fellow to a drop-dead gorgeous epitome of male beauty, she couldn't even begin to imagine how much more troublesome the infatuated man would be!

Now, Mana wouldn't let her Papa deal with a pesky, stalkerish fellow…but that didn't mean that she wouldn't tease him. She told Raven and Jules about the guy gleefully.

Unlike Mana, both Raven and Jules turned serious.

"Papa, we'll get rid of this annoying guy for you," Jules said in a solemn voice.

"Would you like him to be dead or disabled?" Raven asked, examining his nails casually with the perfect air of an evil villain.

King Jaren laughed and hugged the two boys. "Thank you for caring about your old Papa," he said. "There's no need to kill the guy, he'll retire soon anyway."

"Retire?!" Mana asked incredulously. "He's that old?!"

"He's at least a decade older than your Grandpa," King Jaren told her.

"What on earth does he put on his face? How does he look so young?" Mana demanded. "Papa! I need to find out his skincare regime!"

King Jaren frowned. "You're too young to worry about all this nonsense," he said firmly. "Little Mana, concentrate on growing up healthy and happy instead of running after cosmetic beauty. I guarantee that you'll grow into a natural beauty by the time you're an adult!"

"Will I have a face that launches a thousand ships?" Mana demanded.

"I will launch ten thousand ships for you if you want," Raven told her.

"I'll add another ten thousand for my little sister," Jules said.

"Then Papa will add another ten thousand," King Jaren said.

"So you'll have a face that launches thirty thousand ships," Raven told her.

Mana giggled happily.

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