Chapter 71: 71 – Conquering Villains With Pastries

"What are you doing?" King Jaren asked, startling the kitchen staff. After all, it wasn't everyday that the king himself descended upon the imperial kitchen. Although…his children were frequent visitors…

"We're making pastries," Mana said, expertly topping the chocolate pastries with tiny chocolate chips and raspberries. By her side, Raven was placing fruit slices on the vanilla pastries.

"Pastries!" Azar repeated happily, nestled in his Grandpapa's arms. It had, in fact, been Azar's nose that had pulled King Jaren and the little dragon to the kitchen.

"Why?" King Jaren asked.

"It's a part of our grand plans to conquer big villains," Mana replied.

"So…do your Papa and your dragon baby get a share?" King Jaren asked, eyeing the pastries covetously.

Mana and Raven looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"Of course," Raven said finally, managing to gather his bearings before Mana. "Papa and Azar get the biggest shares."

King Jaren beamed at him. "That's my good son!" he praised.

"We're also delivering some to Raven's parents," Mana declared.

"Only a small portion," Raven added hurriedly.

King Jaren narrowed his eyes. "You two are going by yourselves?" he asked. "Shall I accompany you?"

"No need," Mana said hurriedly. King Jaren's temper was even more fiery than her own, and he was far more powerful. If Head Sage Yue or Crown Princess Pica said something remotely offensive to or about Raven, King Jaren would beat them up badly enough to cause an international incident – given his reaction yesterday, he was probably looking for an excuse to do so. Not that Mana wouldn't applaud him for teaching them a lesson – she fully agreed that those two deserved to be beaten up! But now was not the right time, especially since Raven was in a delicate frame of mind. A more subtle approach was needed.

King Jaren raised an eyebrow.

"It's under control at the moment," Mana told him. "We know you've got our back, Papa."

"If they say one bad word about Raven…" King Jaren began.

"I know, I know," Mana said, throwing up her hands in a gesture of surrender. "We won't tolerate it at all. We'll throw the pastries on their faces and walk out, and you'll have them thrown out of the Emerald Kingdom forever!"

King Jaren was finally satisfied. "Remember it well," he said. "I won't have my children put up with any nonsense, got it?"

Mana and Raven nodded in unison.

Soon after, Mana and Raven divided the pastries – King Jaren and Azar kept an eagle eye on the distribution, ensuring that the two children kept their promise and gave them the biggest shares. As a result of their childish behaviour, though, Mana and Raven were in a great mood when they headed for the imperial guest house with two small boxes of pastries for Head Sage Yue and Crown Princess Pica.

Incidentally, they ran into the two people in question at the gates of the imperial guesthouse. King Jaren had allocated the most distant guesthouses to them to minimise their contact with each other, but it appeared that they still managed to get in each other's way anyway.

Head Sage Yue and Crown Princess Pica were glaring daggers at each other.

"You have no right to claim Raven as your son," Crown Princess Pica hissed angrily. "I was the one who gave birth to him, and I was the one who brought him up!"

"Half his blood is mine," Head Sage Yue said coldly. "Whether you accept it or not, I am his father, and you can't stop me from seeing him or taking him to the Pearl Kingdom."

Crown Princess Pica sneered. "Pearl Kingdom? What can your pitiful state give him? You were the ones denouncing my son as the cursed child all these years…and now that he's become powerful and established ties with the Emerald Kingdom and the Sapphire Kingdom, you suddenly want to be his father? Did you forget you nearly killed him when he was born? If it hadn't been for your mother, who let my father escape with me and my son, we'd both be dead. I was in a coma for three months after Raven's birth, thanks to you."

"You were the one who deceived me back then!" Head Sage Yue shouted.

"Oh? And you didn't conceal your identity? Do you think I would have let a sanctimonious hypocrite from the Moon Temple touch me if I knew who you were?" Crown Princess Pica challenged. "Don't try to shift all the blame on to me, Yue."

"Don't pretend that you've loved and cared for him well for all these years!" Head Sage Yue spat. "Even I know that Raven is unfavoured in the imperial palace of the Obsidian Kingdom."

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"Yes, I didn't like him earlier because he was a weakling," Crown Princess Pica confessed readily. "Everyone knows it's quite normal in the Obsidian Kingdom. He was all brains and no magical strength – I used to be afraid that your blood ate away all the power mine should have brought to him! Thankfully, he just needed some help from the little girl to awaken his powers."

"Shameless!" Head Sage Yue said coldly. "You are a terrible mother!"

"I'll be the first to admit that I'm not an exemplary mother, but I have never denied that Raven is my child or tried to kill him," Crown Princess Pica retorted. "But you – you don't even deserve to be called a father."

"Raven has acknowledged me as his father," Head Sage Yue said proudly. "I will take him to the Pearl Kingdom later and train him in the Moon Temple. He won't be able to become a Sage because of his mixed blood, but he can ascend to the throne of the Pearl Kingdom, for sure."

Crown Princess Pica burst out laughing. "Why would my son even want to be the king of your pathetic little kingdom that lives off the charity of the Emerald Kingdom?" she mocked. "He's going to be my heir, and he'll have the throne of the Obsidian Kingdom after me."

Head Sage Yue froze. "You…you're making Raven your heir? And your father agreed?" he asked blankly. "How is that possible?"

Crown Princess Pica smirked. "Naturally. We of the Obsidian Kingdom aren't hypocrites like you lot. We respect strength, and Raven has grown magnificently powerful. I'm very proud to call him my heir," she declared.

"He's an obedient, well-behaved, intellectual child – you barbarians don't deserve him!" Head Sage Yue protested. "I'll take him away with me!"

"Oh, you can try all you want, Yue," Crown Princess Pica mocked. "I'll happily ally with King Jaren and keep my son between the Emerald Kingdom and the Obsidian Kingdom. After all, we've all seen how much King Jaren loves the boy – he's the one who rightly deserves to be called Papa by Raven!"

Mana was beginning to get a headache listening to their quarrel, to be honest. She and Raven had ducked behind a pillar on instinct when they'd seen the two people facing off each other, and now they were forced to listen to all this.

Raven was already trembling. Mana had her arm looped around his waist, so she could feel how his heart rate accelerated and how much their words were affecting him.

"Should we step out and pretend that we didn't hear them fighting?" Mana whispered in Raven's ear.

Raven nodded. He took several deep breaths and calmed himself down.

Mana was quite amazed at his self-control. "You're amazing," she whispered, giving him a light kiss on the cheek.

The tips of his ears flushed red.

The two of them stepped out together, hand-in-hand.

"Papa said they're staying in the imperial guest house," Mana said loudly, pretending that they had just arrived. "We can just ask the guards which villas have been assigned to them."

"All right," Raven said, pretending to agree with her.

Then both the children stopped, looking at Head Sage Yue and Crown Princess Pica in astonishment.

"We were just coming to find you," Mana said with a smile, and greeted both of them politely.

Raven greeted them as well.

Both Head Sage Yue and Crown Princess Pica struggled to control their expressions and greeted Mana and Raven.

"Why were you looking for us?" Head Sage Yue asked curiously. "Also, Princess Mana, I must thank you for the recommendation last evening. That fruit custard was delicious. Why don't the two of you come with me and have some tea?"

Not willing to be left behind, Crown Princess Pica said, "Come, my little darlings. Let Mother treat you to some tea and snacks. Little Mana, I also have to thank you for directing me to the clothing store! And Raven – son, you're quite a celebrity here! The moment the shop owner heard that I was your mother, he gave me a big discount!"

Mana resisted the urge to roll her eyes with great difficulty.

Raven said politely, "I'm afraid we can't stay today, we have some work at IMARI." He gave them a small smile. "Mana and I made pastries today and we thought you may want to try some, so we brought it over. Papa and Big Brother and Big Sister Bella – they're all very fond of our pastries."

Mana gave him a mental thumbs up! That was a perfect delivery!

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