The Strongest Brother Lost His Memory-Chapter 68Vol 2.

I clung to his hem and cried for a long time.

Zahid’s comforting words—“You went through so much”—made it feel like all the sorrow I’d been holding back for years had finally burst free.

I was grateful that he, whom I had failed to save in my past life, was now alive and standing before me.

“Thank you.”

Zahid cupped my cheeks and kissed all over my tear-soaked face.

“Thank you, Rosie...”

I threw my arms around him and sobbed like a child for a long while.

“...Why are you just crying...”

Zahid whispered with a sigh as he gently soothed me.

“You kept yelling at me to remember everything—now you have nothing to say?”

At that, I choked back my sobs with a wheeze.

After wiping my tears roughly on his collar, I finally managed to speak.

“Zahid.”

“Yeah.”

He smiled gently, gazing at me as if he’d answer anything I asked.

So I started with a long-standing question I’d always carried in my heart.

“Why did you lie and say you were twenty-five?”

The softness in Zahid’s eyes began to shift into confusion.

Sniffling with wounded indignation, I said,

“You... you liked me that much? Still, you can’t just go around lying to people like that... You should’ve shown your true self to the person you liked. It was going to come out eventually...”

Zahid let out a soft sigh. Then he said in a low voice,

“Are you done saying everything you want to say?”

“Yeah.”

“Then can I do what I want too?”

“You’re going to kiss me?”

Zahid, who had ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ been staring at me with vaguely hollow eyes, gave a faint laugh.

“How long have you known? Makes all that restraint feel pointless.”

“If I hadn’t figured it out in this situation, I’d be an idiot.”

Without answering my sharp observation, he leaned in and pressed his lips to mine.

So much for saying right after I woke up that he’d been holding himself back—he must’ve really wanted to kiss me.

* * *

All four marks were now complete on my thigh.

Blue, green, brown, and red—four marks in total, like a four-leaf clover.

Zahid, staring fixedly at them, once again pressed his lips to my thigh.

We nearly ended up rolling around in the mud again, but Fire’s sharp barking helped snap us out of it.

“Anyway, I’m your Divine Beast’s master now.”

“Mmm.”

Zahid tilted his head, eyeing me suspiciously.

“How does it feel to be the Divine Beast’s master? Do you feel overflowing with power?”

“No. Honestly, nothing feels different.”

I answered with confidence.

“But there was an oracle. So if I go to Arhad and meet Aietar, I should be able to become the true master of the Temple.”

Zahid still looked uneasy.

But at the word “oracle,” he didn’t argue further.

There was no use expressing anxiety here. What mattered was having a positive mindset.

Zahid also didn’t bring up my earlier interruption—no “Why did you block my awakening?” or “What now?”

When Fire swept his front paw once, flames lit up across the stalactites, illuminating the cave.

“I’m really grateful, but don’t ever do that again. You hate cramped, dark places.”

Zahid sighed deeply, as if saying it was obvious what kind of state I must’ve been in when I arrived.

“It was the power of love.”

I replied while retying my hair, which had become a complete mess.

“I only barely made it because I love you. Though if I hadn’t had the luminous artifact, I wouldn’t have made it at all.”

“I’ve told you many times—there’s really no need to add that last part.”

Zahid pressed down on my head playfully.

Thanks to that, the hair I’d just tied came undone again, and I glared at him. He clung to me, kissing my cheek like even that was adorable.

“Woof woof! Woof woof woof!”

<Let’s get out already!>

Fire barked, flicking his tail toward Athena’s eyes.

Still wrapped in Zahid’s arms, I relayed the message.

“He says cut it out. You’re not some starving beast cub—what the hell do you think you’re doing all the time?”

Zahid shrugged.

“He’s saying that, but he looks pretty excited. When I told him to deliver my last words, he just whimpered and said ‘okay’...”

“Woof woof! Woof woof woof!”

Fire scoffed and barked.

I translated.

“He says he didn’t say ‘okay.’”

“Then what did he say?”

“Woof woof woof woof! Woof woof!”

“He says it’s too long to translate.”

“......”

Zahid stared at Fire with an expression that had gone cold, then sighed heavily.

“Anyway, let’s go.”

And he scooped me up in his arms.

“Lord Yuta is in Arhad.”

I couldn’t help that my information was limited. Everything had been exposed, and aside from the fact that Zahid had gone there to die, I didn’t know anything.

So we had to go to Arhad—to end all of this.

I had become the master of four Divine Beasts, and with that power, I had to defeat Aietar. Even if Aietar had grown stronger using the Sacred Relic.

“If Lord Yuta’s in danger, maybe Lord Julian’s already stepped in...”

Zahid muttered with a troubled expression.

I responded with eyes deep in thought.

“Yeah... Honestly, just in case, I did make some arrangements with my brother before I left. I’m worried, but I don’t think we need to worry too much.”

“Alright. Let’s go.”

Still holding me, Zahid began walking swiftly.

Startled by the sudden motion, I clung to his neck and said,

“I can walk on my own, you know?”

“No.”

He kissed my forehead and whispered.

“I can imagine how you came here. I don’t want you to take another step.”

“Really? Then...”

I squirmed and said with determination,

“Would you rather carry me on your back? That’s the romantic pose that comes up a lot in books. It looks nice visually, but it’s really uncomfortable. We’ve got a long road ahead—we need to be practical.”

“...Fine.”

In the end, Zahid set me down and then hoisted me up onto his back.

With his large back radiating heat against me, I gently closed my eyes.

“Rosie.”

As he walked, his footsteps slow and steady, he spoke.

“I love you.” 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

It was a confession without hesitation.

“I wanted to say it somewhere more romantic, somewhere better, in a cooler moment, when I was more put together...”

I didn’t say anything. I just hugged his neck from behind even tighter.

I knew exactly how he felt because I felt the same.

Before regression, because of the circumstances, he hadn’t confessed to me while I was imprisoned. Even at the inn, he held it back, saying we’d be separated soon anyway.

“But I can say it now, and I can say it again later.”

I understood why he no longer chose to delay and said he loved me now.

He must’ve felt the same, retracing the path I had crawled through, sweating desperately.

“I... truly love you.”

Zahid spoke with firm resolve as he supported me on his back.

“Even if we were to live through several more lifetimes, I’d always love you.”

I buried my face in his back and nodded without a word.

As a child, I had always showered Zahid with affection. If he had a conscience, it was time he started showing it back.

A dark, damp, pitch-black cave with no life but us.

Once we left this cave, everything would become hectic again.

But for now, in this moment, right before we left the cave, it felt like we were the only two people in the world.

The moment we had wished and wished for—Rosie Noart and Zahid Dyfenril’s time together.

No matter what awaited us, the simple fact that we could now face it together gave me strength.