The Strongest Brother Lost His Memory
Chapter 94

“...Thanks, Zahid.”

I spoke quietly. Then let out a long sigh and added,

“But I... I really didn’t take it. I swear. It’s unfair.”

“If I hadn’t known that, I wouldn’t have lied and said I took it in the first place.”

Zahid replied calmly, then firmly stamped his seal onto the letter.

The crest of a wolf with the word Dyfenril was cleanly imprinted.

As I blankly stared at the seal, he spoke abruptly without looking me in the eye.

“Anyway... what are you gonna do?”

His expression was so serious that even I, sitting across from him, tensed up.

“Huh? Why?”

“I’m the head of Dyfenril. I can’t stay here forever. After your birthday, I have to return to the duchy.”

What the—so that’s all?

I gave a short laugh and waved my hand dismissively.

“Of course you do. It’s fine. I really do like you, but I’m not gonna die without you. I’ll live well and grow up strong, so don’t worry.”

“...Yeah, I know that better than anyone. But still, you and that girl are family.”

‘That girl’—he must mean Chloe.

“You’ll have to keep living together, and stuff like this is probably gonna keep happening.”

Zahid furrowed his brows and muttered.

“Well... maybe it’ll get better when Julian comes back.”

“Ah.”

I smiled sheepishly and said,

“So you’re finally falling for me, huh...? ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) You’re worried about me, and you care, and next thing you know, boom—feelings. Textbook romance.”

“I’m being serious. Don’t joke.”

“That wasn’t a joke at all.”

“There’s gotta be some good solution...”

Zahid looked so grim that I just gave a big shrug and smiled.

“It’s fine. I’ve got a way.”

I waved the letter in my hand.

“First of all, I think Chloe’s a fake. I saw her back at the Temple once.”

“What? The Temple? Why are you only telling me that now?”

Zahid’s face turned hard in an instant.

I answered calmly.

“I just remembered now. But I don’t have proof. That’s why I’m planning to raid the scene on my birthday. It’s the only chance.”

“...The scene?”

“The moment she makes contact with the enemy.”

I told Zahid my plan right away.

I was going to summon Yuta to the Academy and catch him meeting with her.

“Ah.”

Zahid blinked, then slowly shook his head, lost in thought.

“That... might be a problem.”

“What?”

“Assistant Yuta isn’t at the Academy right now. I found out earlier from a letter sent to Dyfenril—he’s gone to the Orgon Duchy.”

The Orgon Duchy?

I knew he’d go there eventually, but already?

My eyes widened instantly.

No way.

Before the regression, Yuta went to the Orgon Duchy and tried to force a bond with the Divine Beast—but he died.

The Orgon Duchy’s Grass Divine Beast had kept refusing to accept Yuta as its master.

Wait, he’s going there earlier than before the regression!

Suddenly, my heart sank like a stone.

He can’t die already... I need him to drive out Chloe...

I found myself biting my nails.

No, more than that—it just... feels wrong.

Assistant Yuta.

He died before the regression, and I knew he would die again.

He’s known by everyone to be part of the Temple’s inner circle. I don’t even have much personal connection to him.

And yet...

Just the thought of someone I know dying—it made me feel strangely unsettled.

“...All I have to do is get this delivered, right?”

Zahid looked at the letter in my hand, catching on to the shift in my expression.

“To Assistant Yuta, as soon as possible?”

“Huh? Yeah...”

Seeing how my face had frozen up, Zahid probably assumed I was upset that the plan had gone off-track.

He spoke evenly, without much emotion.

“The duchy’s not like the Academy. An anonymous letter like this probably won’t get through.”

Then he snatched the letter from my hand.

“I’ll go deliver it myself.”

“What?”

“I’m on friendly terms with the Duke of Orgon, so I can come and go from the estate. I’ll drop it off somewhere Assistant Yuta’s sure to find it. Thankfully, the Orgon Duchy isn’t far.”

He stood up at once.

“I should be back by noon on your fake birthday.”

“Zahid...”

I stared at him, dazed, and said,

“I’m really grateful, but you don’t have to go that far...”

“I’m your fiancé.”

He looked at me directly with those violet eyes.

“I’ve never forgotten the weight of that.”

And just like that, my heart thudded.

The weight of a fiancé.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Over the face of the boy in front of me, I suddenly saw the image of the young man Zahid from before the regression, layered over him.

“I’ve never forgotten the weight of you and Fire, Rosie.”

“I’m sorry I can’t be of any help to you... Maybe if I left, that weight would be lighter?”

“No, Rosie. Just... give that weight a different name. Something a little more romantic.”

Moments like this always felt like time was standing still.

Like he’d suddenly remember everything and say, ‘I’m sorry I barked without knowing anything’ and pull me into a hug.

Seeing my blank expression, Zahid quietly added,

“You... sometimes look at me like you don’t even know who you’re seeing. But this is who I am.”

“...Huh?”

“Every time you do, it makes me feel like crap... but still.”

A trace of loneliness flickered through his eyes before vanishing. Then he turned back to his usual blank face.

“See you on your fake birthday. I’ll do whatever it takes to bring Assistant Yuta with me that day.”

“W-Wait!”

I grabbed Zahid’s wrist.

“Then before you go, take my divine power with you. We won’t see each other for a few days.”

Zahid flinched. Then he spoke in a low voice.

“...It’s okay. I don’t need it.”

“Huh?”

“Your divine power... actually, it hasn’t worked on me at all since your real birthday. It’s been a while since I stopped taking the suppressants.”

My eyes widened.

Zahid let out a faint sigh and continued.

“But... for some reason, I didn’t want to tell you that. So I kept it to myself. Sorry.”

Then he looked me in the eyes once more and, without hesitation, turned and ran off.

“Arf! Arf! Arf-arf!”

<Marry him! Marry him right now!>

Fire barked triumphantly, then followed after Zahid.

“...Hmm.”

Left alone in an instant, I blinked slowly and murmured.

One thing was clear.

“This birthday party is going to be an absolute disaster...”

But does it really matter? It’s not even my birthday—or Chloe’s.

* * *

At that very moment, in the Orgon Duchy—

“...Please, Liri, please...”

In a dark but lavish room, Yuta was kneeling with his hands clasped in desperate prayer.

“Liri, I’m begging you...”

And resting between his hands, a small rabbit had buried its head between its front paws.

“Liri... Please. Please choose me... I’ve explained everything...”

Yuta buried his face into the rabbit’s soft fur and whispered.

“Help me, Liri... You hate the Temple too, don’t you? I know you do. So please, help me...”

The Grass Divine Beast, the rabbit Liri, shook her head violently in refusal.

Her clenched eyes made it clear—Liri was suffering too. Yuta gently murmured, as if soothing her.

“Please... choose me already. There isn’t much time...”

Right now, Yuta had forcibly stolen Rosie’s divine power, and his body was on the verge of collapse.

If he were chosen by a Divine Beast in this state, the overload of foreign power would be too much to handle.

The result would be a detonation—his life sacrificed to contain the exploding powers.

And if he were completely burned out like that, Rosie’s divine power, stolen by Yuta, would never return to her.

Then Rosie could go on living in peace, unburdened.

“This is what I truly want. You know that, Liri...”

Yuta kept whispering to the unyielding Liri as she shook her head.

“Just choose me already... and please, kill me...”