Chapter 30: Only the Two of Us Remain
The mont those words were spoken…
both of them froze.
Ti seed to reverse in an instant!
Returning to that night when En fell in a pool of blood.
Back then, their father had spoken similar words to En in the sa disappointed tone.
And En’s reply—mixed with despair and prophecy—now echoed with absolute clarity in their minds.
“Yes, I changed.”
“People do change.”
“Father, one day, your other children—even you—will change!”
“In this world, aside from the eternal and unchanging gods, nothing remains the sa!”
A smile appeared on Ze’s face.
But that smile held only bitterness and self-mockery.
“So…”
“En had already seen everything that is happening now!”
he murmured.
As if speaking to Lei…
and also as if admitting it to himself.
“Yes! I changed!”
Ze’s voice suddenly rose.
“I beca a king!”
“A cold and selfish king, using every ans to maintain the dynasty and the bloodline of Apollo!”
“A… heartless king!”
His gaze snapped toward Lei.
“But what about you, Lei?!”
“You keep talking about building a divine nation, abandoning selfish desire—have you not changed at all?”
“Do you truly have no desires of your own?”
Lei fell silent, offering no answer.
He could not deny it.
Establishing the State and promoting divine authority—
was itself a manifestation of desire.
It was rely cloaked in sanctity.
Ze did not expect an answer.
He only wanted to vent the emotions buried within him.
And after the heated exchange…
their emotions strangely cald.
Father, En, Wa, Ya… those once vivid faces had long since returned to the sea of stars.
Now, in this vast and lonely world, they were each other’s only remaining kin bound by blood.
And yet—
they stood on opposing sides.
Confronting each other for the sake of different beliefs and paths.
In the end, Ze looked deeply at Lei.
Then he turned and left with the Divine Grace recipients behind him.
At the mont he was about to step out of the temple plaza—
he stopped.
Without turning back, he spoke the words buried deepest within his heart, filled with loneliness and fragility:
“Lei, in this world…”
“only the two of us remain.”
Lei looked at Ze’s back, which suddenly seed desolate.
His mind wavered…
and he responded softly, almost like a murmur in a dream.
“Yes…”
“only the two of us remain.”
……
Ze left with the Divine Grace recipients.
Holy Star City returned to its usual order.
But an invisible rift had already been planted.
Lei remained alone in the vast Temple of the Stars.
He knelt devoutly before the statue…
trying to calm the turmoil in his heart through prayer.
He recited the doctrines again and again.
Praying to that distant, unreachable god for guidance.
“Your Holiness.”
After an unknown amount of ti,
a voice broke the silence of the temple.
Lei ca back to his senses from prayer.
He noticed the visitor—it was his eldest disciple, You.
“You, what is it?”
Lei’s tone carried a hint of surprise at being interrupted.
You understood his habits during prayer well.
Unless it was sothing important, he would never enter lightly.
You lowered his head respectfully and reminded him.
“Your Holiness, it is… already late.”
Lei was slightly startled. He looked up through the high windows of the temple at the deep night sky, where countless stars were clearly visible.
Only then did he realize that this prayer had lasted an entire afternoon—until late at night.
Sothing that had never happened before.
In the past, one hour had always been enough.
“It’s already… night?”
he murmured, a trace of confusion in his voice.
“Yes, Your Holiness.”
You’s voice remained respectful.
Lei and You walked out of the temple together, looking up at the eternal, brilliant, yet indifferent starry sky.
The night wind brushed against Lei’s white papal robe.
After a long silence, he suddenly spoke.
“You, do you wish to possess Divine Grace?”
You’s body trembled violently.
Then joy surged across his face!
He imdiately knelt, his voice filled with excitent.
“Yes!”
“Your Holiness! I long to bathe in Divine Grace, to better serve our Lord and assist you!”
As Lei’s eldest disciple, designated as the next Pope, You held a highly respected position within the State.
But deep in his heart, there was an unease.
He was rely a mortal!
He could not display miracles like Lei.
He could not possess the golden hair and golden eyes that symbolized divine favor.
What he relied on…
was his administrative ability and loyalty to Lei.
Once Lei returned to the sea of stars,
how could he, a “mortal Pope,” make believers who had witnessed true Divine Grace sincerely submit?
The shock brought by the nearly hundred Divine Grace recipients from the Solar Dynasty today
had magnified this unease infinitely.
He had once believed he had already devoted body and soul to the gods, able to resist worldly temptations.
But when he witnessed that golden radiance with his own eyes—
his desire for “Divine Grace” deep within his heart…
surged forth uncontrollably!
As if Divine Grace itself were desire.
Drawing people in, making them long to possess it.
……
With the support of the Divine Grace system, the Solar Dynasty entered a phase of rapid expansion.
Relying on the advantages and conveniences brought by Divine Grace recipients,
the dynasty’s territory expanded drastically within three years.
Reaching nearly one million square kiloters!
To effectively govern this vast land,
Ze formally established a noble title system.
From lowest to highest:
Baron, Viscount, Count, Marquess, Duke, and at the very top—the one and only Solar King!
Through the granting of titles and the allocation of lands,
Ze successfully bound this million-square-kiloter territory to the erging class of Divine Grace nobles.
He constructed a system of rule centered on royal authority, with Divine Grace recipients as its branches.
However…
rapid territorial expansion also brought new problems.
The vast land,
combined with underdeveloped transportation and communication,
made the royal city’s control over remote regions extrely weak.
This also ant that events occurring in distant areas were difficult to detect.
……
Within a convoy heading toward a remote territory,
inside a luxurious carriage, a young noble tapped impatiently against the window fra.
“How much longer until we reach my barony?”
Roland·Ze, a newly appointed baron of the kingdom.
At this mont, his tone was filled with impatience toward the long journey and dissatisfaction with the remoteness of his future domain.
The steward beside him imdiately bowed and replied.
“My lord Roland, according to the kingdom’s map, we still have about three days of travel.”
“Fine, you may leave.”
Roland waved his hand impatiently.
The steward respectfully withdrew to the corner of the carriage.
At this mont, Roland looked out at the barren scenery passing by, his thoughts unsettled.
He was a ninth-generation descendant of the Ze family.
After generations of dilution,
his blood relation to the great Solar King Ze had already beco extrely faint.
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