Episode 173
After resolving things with Sarah, Lucius awakened his power, and Artius regained consciousness. Just as Elonia was ready to stand tall again, a new trial arrived.
“El!”
“Your Highness!”
It was the Asta brothers. They had rushed to the Imperial Palace as soon as they sensed the commotion at the annex, but they couldn’t see Elonia until the next day.
Elonia, frantically trying to come up with an excuse, was engulfed in their embrace.
“W-what?”
“Thank goodness, you’re safe…”
“We’re truly relieved…”
Elonia blinked, then smiled weakly and patted their backs.
“I guess I’m lucky to have so many people worried about me.”
“Of course. You’re our sister.”
“Coming from someone with no friends.”
“You don’t have friends either, Brother.”
“At least I don’t boast about it like you.”
“Ahaha!”
It had been a while since she had witnessed their bickering, which had only annoyed her during her academy days. Elonia burst into laughter.
Llewellyn and Alberich stopped growling at each other and started chuckling as well.
Elonia stepped back from their embrace. The Asta brothers knew, without asking,
Elonia wouldn’t break down again.
Llewellyn asked,
“Where’s His Majesty?”
“Looking for Felix.”
“Busy right after recovering.”
Llewellyn then turned his gaze towards the young man standing quietly in the corner, observing their conversation.
“Hey, you.”
Lucius turned his red eyes towards Llewellyn. Llewellyn, striking a defiant pose, said,
“I heard.”
Was he looking for a fight again? Llewellyn ran a hand through his curly hair, his posture clearly confrontational.
Just as Elonia and Alberich were about to intervene, Llewellyn said something completely unexpected.
“Thanks.”
“Llewellyn, don’t start a fight… Huh?”
“…What?”
Lucius was equally surprised.
“…Did I hear that correctly?”
Lucius’s usually calm expression crumbled, as if he had heard something unbelievable.
Even Alberich, Llewellyn’s closest relative, couldn’t hide his surprise and placed a hand on Llewellyn’s forehead.
“Are you sick?”
Llewellyn, flustered by their reactions, retorted angrily,
“Why are you all looking at me like that?! Even I wouldn’t pick a fight with someone who saved my family!”
Llewellyn knew himself well. But the other three, still finding it hard to believe, whispered amongst themselves.
“Gaia Academy really changed him…”
“I never thought I’d hear him say ‘thank you’… He never even apologized to his brother…”
“Could it be that I unknowingly hold some leverage over Young Master Llewellyn?”
“Hey!”
Llewellyn’s face turned redder than his hair. He fumed, his face flushed like a ripe peach.
“He might be annoying, but Elonia and His Majesty wouldn’t be safe without him! Mother always said to be polite, especially when someone has done you a favor!”
“Ah, yes…”
Lucius was bewildered. Llewellyn’s mother was Duchess Asta. He had never met her, but he respected her for raising Llewellyn to express gratitude.
He had only retorted because Llewellyn had provoked him. He held no ill feelings towards him. After all, he was Elonia’s cousin.
“Well, I accept your thanks.”
Just as he was about to offer his hand as a sign of truce,
Rumble! CRACK!
“…!”
A deafening thunderclap shook the building. They looked up at the sky, expecting rain, but dark clouds were gathering rapidly. Alberich glared at Llewellyn and grumbled,
“Strange things happen when you act out of character.”
“No, this isn’t…”
“Move, Alberich!”
Lucius and Elonia rushed to the window. Llewellyn, also sensing something was wrong with the clouds, followed them.
The dark clouds swirled around the Main Palace, engulfing the entire Imperial Palace before settling.
Lucius spotted a figure standing atop the spire of the Main Palace and murmured in disbelief,
“Why is Tristan at the Imperial Palace…?”
That morning,
Artius had dispatched knights to search for the headquarters of the Church of the Resurrection God.
“King Felix must be hiding there. Contact me immediately upon finding him. Avoid any rash movements.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
The knights began searching the deserted Peace Treaty Zone.
Felix and Tristan, hidden deep within a subspace beneath the Peace Treaty Zone, felt a sense of unease.
They wouldn’t be discovered here.
But they couldn’t hide forever.
Felix slammed his fist on the ground, frustrated by the lack of contact.
“Damn it, why isn’t the army here yet?!”
Tristan knew why.
His carefully constructed tower of faith had crumbled. His power had weakened. Olivia and Simon must be interfering at the palace.
Tristan gently took Felix’s hand. Felix, his anger instantly replaced by concern, asked,
“Tristan, don’t worry. The army will arrive soon. Then those Ravanta soldiers…”
“Your Majesty.”
Tristan interrupted him. He had never interrupted Felix before, and Felix was taken aback. But he quickly composed himself, held Tristan’s shoulders, and met his gaze.
“Yes, tell me.”
“Your Majesty, it’s over.”
Tristan’s shoulders slumped.
The sixteen years he had spent with Felix had felt like compensation for the centuries he had suffered. But happiness was fleeting.
As a former slave, Tristan knew when to give up.
Felix, sensing his despair, asked anxiously,
“Tristan, don’t tell me…”
“Something must have happened in Heilan. I shouldn’t have spared the prince and princess.”
“Tristan.”
“It’s all my fault. Lucius awakened his divine power, and I’m growing weaker. I can’t hold on much longer. This subspace will collapse soon.”
Felix’s face contorted in anguish.
“Tristan.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“I dreamed of creating a new world with you. But it’s meaningless without you.”
“Your Majesty, I’m content knowing I was loved by you.”
“No!”
Felix’s green eyes clouded over.
He clutched his chest and asked desperately,
“All you need is faith, right?”
“…Your Majesty, surely not.”
Tristan had once told Felix that faith could be obtained not only through belief but also through sacrifice.
Felix was planning to sacrifice himself.
“If you become a god, I’ll be resurrected. So use me as a sacrifice and punish the traitors.”
“Your Majesty, it’s too reckless. It’s a gamble.”
Felix hated gambling. And yet, he was willing to gamble his own life.
Tristan didn’t want to lose Felix either. He pushed him away and shook his head.
“I won’t hear of it.”
“Tristan, you deserve to be compensated for the years you suffered.”
“…!”
Tristan’s shoulders trembled.
He rarely showed weakness. Felix, trying to coax him like a child, said,
“Didn’t you promise to stay with me until the end? Please keep your promise.”
“Your Majesty…”
“Tristan.”
Their gazes met, filled with a desperate intensity. They, who had brought death and destruction upon others, now saw themselves as the most tragic lovers in the world, pitying each other.
Felix’s smooth hand caressed Tristan’s pale face. Tears welled up in Tristan’s gray eyes.
Tristan, feeling the warmth of his touch, nodded.
Felix smiled faintly.
But.
“I still can’t gamble with Your Majesty’s life.”
“Why?!”
Felix cried out in frustration.
But Tristan stood firm. He hadn’t given up completely.
He had something to protect.
“Using Your Majesty’s life to protect Your Majesty is illogical.”
“It’s fine! You can resurrect me, can’t you?!”
Tristan shook his head.
He couldn’t sacrifice Felix, not the man who had freed him. Felix might be cruel and ruthless to others, but to Tristan, he was his savior.
He couldn’t become a god by sacrificing him.
Tristan closed his eyes, then opened them slowly, his expression resolute. Felix, sensing his determination, asked hopefully,
“Have you changed your mind?”
“No. I can’t sacrifice Your Majesty.”
“Tristan!”
Felix cried out again, frustrated by his repeated refusals. Tristan looked at him and smiled.
“Don’t worry. I haven’t given up either.”
“…?”
Felix frowned, puzzled.
Tristan spread his pale hands, unleashing his power.
“If there’s no faith, we’ll create it. That’s how we started.”
Felix’s face brightened.
Yes, this was the Tristan he loved.
The persistent man who never gave up.
Tristan began to dismantle the subspace. It was better to use this power to gather faith.
“Let’s go, Your Majesty.”
Tristan and Felix emerged from the collapsing subspace and ascended to the top of the Imperial Palace. Tristan surveyed the magnificent buildings below and stretched his hand towards the sky.
Black smoke erupted from his hand, forming small dark clouds that unleashed bolts of lightning.
Rumble! CRACK!
The lightning strike signaled the beginning. The dark clouds spread rapidly, engulfing the entire Imperial Palace under the clear sky.
Incomplete Holy Power rained down from the black clouds, slowly coalescing into human figures on the ground.
“Tristan, what are you doing?”
“I’ll use their longing to instill hope for resurrection. That hope will turn into faith in me.”
They were just puppets for now, but when they encountered living humans, they would transform into the people those humans missed the most.
Tristan looked down at the most magnificent palace, at the arrogant little god leaning out of an open window, and murmured,
“Let’s see whose love is more sublime, Lucius.”