Chapter 188: Lit The Lantern
"Another ritual here?" Zenith’s voice sounded quite curious while he stared still at Kylian’s eyes which seemed pretty anxious, as if he was bothered by something inside while putting his demand in front of him.
But by this time, he was aware that even if Kylian was bothered by something, he would try to deal with it all alone at first, considering what a tough cookie he always has been. But the least Zenith could do was lighten his mood, with a soft tease, "Babe, don’t tell me is it our wedding ritual? Did you plan that surprise for me by the time I was busy performing my prayer rites?"
Kylian was well aware that it was one of Zenith’s tactics to lighten up his mood, as he must’ve already sensed his anxiousness by now. But the unusual palpitations running inside him had already made Kylian quite uneasy as he rather scolded Zenith softly, "Stop joking all the time..."
"I am pretty serious, though! Even if you ask me right at this minute, I am ready to walk with you down the aisle, because I don’t want anybody else to stay next to me in this life...except my pretty little grumpy babe." With a warm smile curved on his lips, Zenith gently nudged Kylian’s pointed nose tip with his finger, as if he was trying to cheer him up with his silly actions.
But Kylian couldn’t bear to ignore those unusual feelings inside him as he grabbed onto Zenith’s cool, big hands and faced the elderly monk while declaring aloud, "We are prepared to do the ritual, Sir. Please tell us what we need to do..."
"Very well." As if the elderly man was waiting to hear these words, he gestured to the middle-aged monk standing close to them to arrange something that will be needed to perform that particular ritual.
Following his command, within a few minutes, he brought there a big red colored spherical paper lantern with lucky chime rings attached all around it, along with a small but pretty oil lamp which must be particularly placed inside that lantern. There were some mysterious ancient drawings all over the outer surface of the paper lantern but just watching their ritual’s proceeding, it was unknowingly making Kylian feel a bit anxious inside.
When the beautiful oil lamp was lit was handed it over to the elderly monk, he closed his eyes for a second and chanted something like a hymn in a low deep voice. After that, he averted his glance towards both the boys, especially Zenith who was curiously watching the whole procedure in contrast to Kylian who felt quite nervous.
"I should clarify it first before beginning the ritual, my children." Walking close to them, a small serene smile curved that monk’s lips but he mysteriously narrowed his eyes on them, before stretching his hand to hand over that red paper lantern and ignited oil lamp to them, as he continued to explain.