The Strongest Brother Lost His Memory-Chapter 23Vol 2.

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Zahid was leaning sideways against the stone wall of the prison.

The imprisonment wasn’t bad. First of all, not having any guards was incredibly convenient.

Priests came to check on him at the times Yuta had specified, but he only needed to act a little during those moments.

All he had to do was close his eyes and make a pained expression, and they all left without thinking twice.

According to Yuta, the Temple considered it a huge success that they’d figured out how to administer tranquilizers through pipes.

‘Well, they’ve been desperate to figure out my weakness for ages.’

It made sense that they would go so far as to build a pipe just to sneak tranquilizers into him without the Temple noticing.

Now that he had Rosie’s divine power, that information was useless. It was nothing more than a way to deceive the enemy. Just like now.

‘They must all be happy. They were desperately waiting for Rosie.’

He imagined Rosie happy among her family and a bitter smile spread across his face.

When it came to waiting for her, he wasn’t behind anyone.

It was supposed to be a month at most.

He had waited nine years, but that one month felt unbearably long. Just because of the fact that Rosie was out there.

‘I need to put the ring on her.’

Zahid played with the two rings on his ring finger as he thought.

‘I need to get engaged again soon. No, it wouldn’t be bad to just jump straight to the wedding.’

He remembered the people around Rosie who breathed fire at him, but he cleanly ignored them. ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) Just like how Rosie, as a child, had pushed for the engagement and ignored not only them but even himself.

He slowly closed his eyes.

He could still vividly remember the warmth of Rosie’s body when he held her at the very top of the sinking Entoho. The softness of her skin and even the clinking of her skull-shaped ornaments.

‘Though she still makes that face sometimes....’

He couldn’t forget the expression that had briefly passed over Rosie’s face when he looked at her with the sea behind them.

It was the very expression he’d hated so much as a child.

Even though they were clearly alone, she had that look like she was thinking of someone else far away.

And that expression wasn’t bright or cheerful. It was such a sorrowful face that just looking at it made his heart ache.

He couldn’t even bring himself to press her about who she was thinking of.

‘Still, what can I do.’

But Zahid had no choice.

‘I wanted to see even that face.’

Even if his heart twisted in jealous agony over some unknown person, he still wanted to be by Rosie’s side.

He held on with just that feeling.

‘Whoever you are, in the end, I’m the one by Rosie’s side.’

Zahid gave a small laugh and blinked slowly. Remembering how Rosie had thrown herself into his arms, panting, when they were running inside the Entoho made his whole body ache.

He wanted to run out through the emergency exit Yuta had told him about, hold Rosie again, but he had to restrain himself.

The High Priest and Rosie couldn’t live under the same sky.

For Rosie’s safety, the High Priest had to be destroyed no matter what.

And the one to stand at the very front of that fight would always be him.

"Ruff, ruff, ruff..."

Fire yawned and barked as if grumbling.

Ever since arriving at the underground prison, Fire seemed to be in a bad mood, but he adapted incredibly well.

"Fire, is it hard because it’s unfamiliar... huh? You’re drinking water from there? How did you know that?"

"Ruff ruff ruff ruff!"

He not only claimed the flattest, most comfortable spot to lie on, but he also figured out exactly when and where food would be given.

But Zahid didn’t find this place unfamiliar either.

It felt somehow familiar... like it made him sentimental just being there.

That’s when it happened.

"Ruff ruff ruff ruff!"

Fire, who had just been grumbling, suddenly started barking like crazy.

"Fire, what’s wrong?"

"Ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff! Ruff ruff ruff!"

He even sprang to his feet.

Wondering what was going on, Zahid slowly opened his eyes.

-Hey.

As soon as he heard the slow but cheerful voice, Zahid’s face twisted in disbelief.

-How are you?

Rosie’s playful face appeared in the small mirror on the makeshift sink in the prison.

-I just came because I missed you. And I was worried.

For a moment, Zahid thought this might be a scheme by the Temple, and his eyes sharpened.

If not, maybe he missed Rosie so much he was hallucinating.

Rosie in the mirror kept talking softly.

-I did hear about a path I could take to see you... but you know I hate dark and cramped places, right? There’s no way I could use that kind of path. I probably wouldn’t even get in. You wouldn’t want me risking that kind of danger either, right? I’m super precious to you, after all.

But... she was just too exactly like the Rosie Noart he knew for it to be some kind of Temple trick...

Still, Zahid decided to stay silent for now.

"Ruff ruff ruff! Ruff ruff ruff ruff!"

And Fire barked next to Zahid, who was keeping quiet.

"Oh."

Rosie in the mirror seemed to be paying close attention to Fire’s barking, and then she said with a shocked expression:

-You're saying the food is better than you expected?

"Ruff ruff ruff ruff! Ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff!"

Fire barked even harder, and Rosie looked genuinely surprised and repeated:

-What? Five pieces of bread? They even give you vegetables and meat? And you get separate meals from him? Seriously, why is the food so good?

Rosie in the mirror even mumbled with deep resentment.

-I mean, even if you’re a duke, isn’t it too much to have this kind of discrimination even among prisoners?

Wait, was her being pissed about his food quality really necessary?

In the end, Zahid couldn’t hold back anymore and interrupted.

"...Did you really come to see me because you were worried?"

And ignoring Zahid, Fire barked like he was tattling.

"Ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff!"

-You really wanted to tell me that so badly? My god... Fire, were you really that miserable back when you couldn’t eat well? You poor thing...

"What do you mean couldn’t eat well? Do you know how well I fed him at the ducal estate..."

"Ruff ruff ruff ruff! Ruff ruff!"

-Huh? What’s that? You’re saying Zahid keeps talking nonsense because he doesn’t understand? Well, just ignore him. If he says anything, just go along with it like ‘sure, whatever.’

"What am I not understanding? I’m not talking nonsense."

At Zahid’s disgruntled words, Rosie looked straight at him and replied slowly.

-Mmm... sure, whatever.

"You little—!"

And as he blurted that out in disbelief, Zahid realized.

This was definitely Rosie Noart.

There was no one else who could shake his composure like this.

This kind of maddening feeling—only she could give him that. He had missed it so much.

Realizing that again, Zahid finally let out a low laugh.

And seeing that smile, Rosie’s face in the mirror turned bright red.

"Sorry."

Zahid, still sitting against the wall, apologized gently.

"Scared you when I glared at you at first, didn’t I?"

His features had only grown sharper as he got older. Even a slight cold expression was enough to make people around him shrink back, saying he looked scary.

He figured he must have shown Rosie that face at first, and he worried it might have hurt her.

-No, it’s fine.

Rosie shook her head with a bright smile.

He wondered if he still looked cute to her even when he made angry faces.

He used to hate being called cute when he was young, but now, as someone clearly not cute anymore, he even desperately wanted to hear that. He found himself smiling again.

Then Rosie, in her usual slow and kind of lifeless tone, started chattering away.

-Seeing how you treat everyone else like trash but become all soft with me, that contrast is really thrilling. Seriously, Zahid, you must really like me...

Zahid let out a small groan.

-People do say to watch out for those who treat others like shit but are nice only to you. It’s a valid point. But you’re not that much of a piece of shit, so I guess it’s okay?

Yeah, no doubt about it—this was Rosie Noart. No more confirmation needed.

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