Chapter 24: Coronation
Ze brushed his hand over the patterns depicting radiance and bestowed grace.
The earliest desire had stemd from En’s unwillingness, from En’s fear of death.
The desire now stemd from him and Wa—from their longing for divine grace.
…And what about the future?
Would there be new desires that would burn him to ashes?
He did not know.
This stone tablet seed like a mirror.
It reflected the past, and also revealed the unfathomable fog of the future.
In the end, Ze carried the stone tablet and walked out of the temple step by step.
He did not return to his residence, but instead ca to Ya’s door.
“Ya.”
His voice was hoarse.
“I… am going to be crowned.”
Inside, there was silence for a long ti—so long that Ze thought Ya would not respond. Finally, the wooden door was slowly pushed open.
When he saw Ya behind the door, Ze stood frozen in place.
In just one night,
Ya’s brilliant golden hair, once like sunlight, had turned completely silver!
Her once lively and gentle eyes
now held only a depthless, near-dead indifference.
The imnse grief seed to have drained all color and emotion from her.
She rely glanced at Ze faintly, her gaze hollow, as if looking at a stranger.
Ze’s throat tightened. He handed the stone tablet from his arms to her.
Ya’s gaze fell upon the tablet.
When she saw the line—
“Desire is the root of human suffering, because desire can never be satisfied.”
she did not take the tablet.
She simply stared at those words.
Ze did not insist. He placed the tablet aside, then turned and walked toward the throne that was destined to be lonely.
Behind him,
Ya no longer maintained that numb expression.
She clutched the cold stone tablet tightly with both hands, as if trying to embed it into her very flesh and blood.
She collapsed to her knees.
The grief, regret…
and the accusation against the cruelty of fate that she had suppressed for so long—
at this mont burst forth into heart-wrenching sobs that echoed through the quiet morning air.
……
Several days later, the Sun Dynasty held the coronation ceremony for its second Sun King.
The ceremony was still held before the temple.
But the atmosphere was completely different from the jubilant celebration during Apollo’s coronation.
A suppressed sorrow filled the air.
The people gathered below, their faces still carrying lingering grief and confusion about the future.
Ze wore ceremonial robes similar to those his father had worn.
Step by step, he ascended the altar.
His pace was slow yet steady, his back carrying a sense of weariness and solitude far beyond his age.
There were no cheers, no praises.
Only the sound of wind whipping through the banners.
He faced the rising sun, yet felt no warmth at all.
He took the wooden staff stained with En’s blood and raised it high.
“I, Ze, son of Apollo, hereby declare that I inherit the throne of the Sun King!”
His voice was loud.
“I will follow the 《Sun Laws》, protect the territory of the dynasty, and continue… my father’s will!”
He did not say “lead the dynasty to prosperity,” nor did he ntion divine grace.
He knew that in the eyes of God…
all of this held no aning.
He was rely fulfilling a responsibility, a vow of atonent.
“Sun King!”
“King Ze!”
After a brief silence,
the people below let out uneven shouts.
Within those cries, there was little heartfelt reverence.
What remained was more an acknowledgnt of a settled fact, and a longing for stable order.
Ya did not appear at the coronation.
So said they saw her holding that stone tablet, leaving the royal city, her destination unknown.
Ze stood atop the altar, overlooking his kingdom.
He had gained the throne, yet his heart was barren.
He raised his head and looked toward the clear blue sky.
There was no longer his father’s starlight, nor the gaze of God.
Only endless solitude…
and the warning carved upon that stone tablet, accompanying him through his long life.
A new era of the dynasty had begun, yet it was shrouded in a shadow that would never disperse.
……
Year One.
God did not descend.
Ze sat upon the throne, his appearance unchanged.
He was not anxious.
He had ti—to repent, to prove himself, to wait for that starlight to descend once more.
He governed diligently, managing the dynasty in an orderly manner.
Year Five.
Prayers received no response; the temple remained empty.
Ze began to feel uneasy.
In the dead of night…
he would always think alone.
Was it because of the sin of “fratricide” that had tainted divine grace, causing God to completely abandon him?
Unwilling to cast His gaze upon this land…
ruled by a sinner?
Year Ten.
Ze felt his body beginning to age.
He began to panic.
For the first ti, he clearly realized
his lifespan was not infinite.
He might spend his entire life in endless waiting and repentance, only to die without ever attaining redemption.
Year Twenty.
Silver had appeared at Ze’s temples.
He spent almost all his ti outside of governance within the cold temple.
He knelt before the divine statue, repeatedly recounting his sins, repenting for the ambition and blindness of the past.
He beca taciturn, his brows shrouded in an unrelenting gloom and obsession.
Under his rule, the dynasty even developed further.
But his heart was trapped within that temple.
Trapped within the endless longing for God’s shadow and the endless condemnation of himself.
……
Just as Ze was about to be crushed by the long wait,
an urgent ssage from the distant frontier left everyone in disbelief!
On the eastern border of the dynasty, there had appeared others who possessed divine grace!
And not just one!
This news jolted Ze awake from repentance, followed by imnse fear and even deeper confusion.
Divine grace…
was it not exclusive to them?
Could it be…
that God had already descended, yet refused to see him?
That God had bestowed grace elsewhere, deliberately avoiding the land ruled by him, a sinner?
A sense of abandonnt enveloped him.
Ze led soldiers from the royal city along with a group of ministers, traveling day and night to the eastern frontier.
There, he t those five people.
They were very young, dressed in leather armor unlike the dynasty’s standard attire, their eyes clear and full of vitality.
A faint power flowed around them—of the sa origin as Ze’s.
They looked at Ze’s well-equipped and imposing group without fear, only pure curiosity.
The leading young man stepped forward. His gaze fell upon Ze as he spoke.
“You are Ze?”
Addressing him so directly caused the loyal chief attendant beside Ze to erupt in anger, shouting sharply.
“How dare you!”
“You should address our leader as ‘King’!”
“King?”
The five youths looked at one another.
Genuine confusion appeared on their faces, clearly having no understanding of this title or what it represented.
Ze raised his hand to stop the attendant.
Titles ant nothing to him at this mont.
All his attention was fixed on that familiar fluctuation of divine grace.
He looked at the leading youth, his voice trembling slightly with excitent and a certain fear.
“Your power…”
“Your divine grace—where did it co from?”
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