Chapter 167: My Guiding Light
Among the memories that had tormented Zenith’s heart from a very young age, the incident in the mountain shrine was the first one that transformed the innocent child inside him in the path of becoming a ruthless devil.
However, while growing up, those scarred memories from the past were one of the reasons why Zenith sought sleeping pills, drugs, or multiple sex partners just to get rid of the insomnia that was followed by his dark past. However, after turning into an addict for sleeping pills, a few parts of his memories were distorted and had completely slipped out of his mind.
The main reason Zenith was hesitant to follow Kylian to the temple was because this place stood as the symbol of his first sin, which he tended to avoid visiting on their first date. It was one of the events from his tainted past which he didn’t want to reminisce about, at least not today.
The funeral meeting for Zorina from that day was never held again and thus, Zenith never stepped foot inside this temple either to avoid facing the sinful deed he had committed there as a child.
But as a result of his distorted memories from the overdose of drugs and sleeping pills, he had completely forgotten about his previous encounter with that divine monk. But now, coming back to the same shrine after a long gap of 13 years as a circle of life, when his gentle hands patted his head, miraculously that memory he had forgotten from the past became lucid to him!
A gush of mixed emotions surged inside Zenith, making his chest feel stifled with a tangible pain. He couldn’t stop himself from tearing up, feeling overwhelmed with emotions when his words vividly echoed inside his head.
Upon meeting the serene smile of that monk, before he could squeeze a word out, he tenderly asked Zenith, "I hope, now you’ve recognized me, my child. I apologize for not being able to bring your mother back, but do you remember now what I told you that day? You’re back here again...with the guiding light of your life, right?"
"I...I...am sorry..." Pearl white teardrops streamed down his distressed onyx eyes as Zenith’s voice trembled hard, reliving his kind touch on his head after so many years. He had completely forgotten the existence of this memory until now, but as if his touch had divine spiritual energy that was helping him calm down the palpitations growing in his chest, "I...I did something awful that day...Looking back now, I realize I was wrong...but I was too foolish to apologize—"
"It wasn’t completely your fault, my child. You were broken by the person you had considered as your own."