The Strongest Brother Lost His Memory

The atmosphere completely shifted because of Fire.
Zahid sighed deeply, as though he had a headache.
This was because Fire, with his massive tail wagging, was pressed right up against me.

"That's strange..."
Zahid muttered, looking stunned.
"I’ve never seen Fire follow anyone other than me... What exactly did you do?"

"Well."
I paused for a moment, then answered gently.
"...Existence?"

PM 3:11 – Rosie is giving a completely unnecessary answer unnecessarily gently.
"What... I’ll explain."
I spoke to Zahid, who looked extremely exhausted.

"From now on, your fiancée won’t change. Because soon, you'll be able to move around again."
Right now, Zahid couldn’t do anything for the Duchy because of his mana overload.
Honestly, just sitting up and talking with me was him barely holding on mentally.

"What do you mean by that?"
Zahid asked sharply, and I responded calmly.
"I’ve requested the production of sedatives from the Magic Tower. The Magic Tower is no longer struggling financially."

This was something I had already arranged through Shulva.
Normally, the Magic Tower would have gone bankrupt at this point.
Because of the announcement of the Lomsuk mines, the price of mana stones crashed, and they couldn’t survive the financial strain.
And the organization that would have taken over the Magic Tower in this case would have been the Temple.

So, even after the revelation that the Lomsuk mines were almost depleted, the Magic Tower still wouldn’t have been able to produce the sedatives.
The Temple’s approval hadn’t come through.
‘But this time, I stopped the bankruptcy.’

I had invested a massive sum of 137 billion gold into the Magic Tower.
Of course, I made more than three times that amount, but at the same time, I helped the Magic Tower avoid bankruptcy during a tough period.
‘And I had them use the remaining amount to make the sedatives.’

For a while, the Magic Tower had been reluctant to make the sedatives, worried about the Temple's gaze.
No matter how much money was offered, they expressed difficulty in making the sedatives.
But now that there was no risk of being absorbed by the Temple...

So they agreed to produce the sedatives in large quantities, as I requested.
"When I head back to the Noart Count Family, I’ll visit the Magic Tower directly to hurry them along, but anyway, if you wait, the sedatives should arrive soon."
"...What?"

"With that, we can calm your mana overload. So, you’ll be able to lead your family from now on."
Zahid didn’t seem very pleased.
Instead, he looked at me with a somewhat confused expression and slowly said:

"If the Magic Tower has started making the sedatives, then you can just buy them from the Dyfenril Duchy. There’s no need for Noart to get involved."
"I made such a large advance order that even if you want to buy it, you probably won’t be able to for a while. Just take it. Sister has a lot of money. Consider it an engagement gift."
Zahid made an even stranger face at my words.

"You."
"Not you. Rosie."
"Why are you going this far?"

Zahid asked with a bewildered look on his face.
And I answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Because I want to stay engaged to you. I don’t want to receive the annulment letter."

"So what’s the point?"
Zahid spoke with a frustrated tone.
"My mana overload stopping wouldn’t be a good thing for the Noart Count Family. You all would lose the justification for interfering in Dyfenril’s matters."

He furrowed his brow and pressed on.
"Great Noble’s meeting? The Noart Count can’t represent me for that for much longer. Is those few years really that important?"
"Not really."

"Then why are you still engaged to me...?"
I silently looked at Zahid.
From now °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° on, the Temple would start tormenting Zahid even more.

Because the Temple was still after Fire.
‘The Grand Minister wants to have all four of your Divine Beasts. So I have to stay by Zahid’s side and protect this one.’
And then...

"When you don’t fix that hopeless kid and somehow keep him by your side to marry him, just don’t get involved. Ah, um, honestly, this was a bit personal. You can ignore it."
When I heard that before, my path was already decided.
In the end, I made my first confession, one from a long time ago.

"I like you."
I, too, was honestly adding a bit of selfishness to it.
"I like you."

Before the regression, I had never been able to say these words.
I had always felt like I would become a bigger burden to Zahid, adding more weight to his already heavy load.
I felt like I might cry, but I held it back and smiled as I spoke.

"I really like you, Zahid."
PM 3:19 – Rosie's appearance-centered thinking hasn’t changed at all. She confesses to the arrogant boy she’s meeting for the first time.
"...Huh?"

Zahid’s face went blank.
He stared at me, holding the bouquet, looking bewildered.
"I told you. I like you."

I said it gently again.
"Of course, the current you is a bit hopeless, but I think it’d be really nice if I could sweet-talk you and marry you after you become an adult."
"Hey, hey, what... what are you saying...?"

"But if we’re going to do that, we have to keep being involved. If we’re engaged like this, it’ll be more convenient and better."
This was something Zahid had subtly hinted at before the regression.
But just because Zahid wanted it back then didn’t mean he would want it now.

"I don’t believe it! When, when did you see me to say something like that...?"
"I’m the one confessing, so why are you acting shy? You don’t even need to turn red. Don’t be embarrassed. What’s so weird about liking someone?"
"You’re making it more embarrassing!"

PM 3:21 – Talking seriously about liking someone, being embarrassed... It’s so ridiculous.
Honestly, it’s too funny. What are these kids doing? Shouldn’t you be at least thirteen like me to be discussing love?
"Anyway, let’s do this."

I looked at Zahid, whose ears were bright red, and said kindly.
"Fifteen years. I’ll wait until then."
Honestly, I knew this engagement was forced.

"After fifteen years, if you still don’t like me, I’ll give up cleanly and accept the annulment."
"...Fifteen years? Are you joking? At that age, everyone with a fiancée is already getting married. Isn’t this just saying you’ll marry me without thinking? Absolutely not!"
"Hmph."

I’ve been caught.
It was just something I said to see his reaction...
In the end, I reluctantly said the period I had originally planned.

"Then, until adulthood."
"Eh?"
"I’ll wait until you come of age. If you don’t like me by then, it’s fine to break off the engagement."

Zahid still had a long way to go until adulthood.
Well, I’d have to try to make Zahid like me again by then.
Just like how my amnesiac brother started liking me again.

"...But you will like me. I’m sure I’m right."
Even Zahid, who had lost his memory, might end up liking me again.
PM 3:25 – Rosie is backing off a bit. Seems like she’s worried about the reversal of feelings during puberty.

I smiled brightly and asked,
"What do you think?"
"Honestly, I think this is nonsense."

Zahid laughed in disbelief.
"But well, if you’re going to get the sedative like that, I don’t see a reason to refuse. Since I don’t plan on getting married anyway, there’s no loss in staying engaged until I come of age."
He emphasized the word ‘adulthood’ clearly.

It seemed like he wanted to make sure I got the message: "I’m definitely going to break off the engagement."
"You’re so fickle, so I think your feelings will change in the middle."
"Not me, Rosie. And my feelings won’t change. Don’t hold onto that hope. It would be more natural if you liked me."

PM 3:28 – Anyway, they’re engaged. Looking at it now, it seems like things have gone as Rosie wanted.
After adulthood, a broken engagement would naturally occur if someone’s feelings change, even without conditions like these, right?
"Don’t hold onto hope. I won’t ever like you."

"Hmph."
PM 3:29 – It's funny watching him stubbornly deny it with his ears red. I think it’ll be fun when Zahid cries, clinging to Rosie, begging her not to leave him later.