The Strongest Brother Lost His Memory-Chapter 59
Class 1 was already filled with students when I arrived.
Many of them seemed to know each other beforehand, gathering in small groups and chatting noisily.
I awkwardly made my way to an empty desk.
Of course, it had to be a desk made for two.
No roommate. No friends I’d bonded with in advance. Not even Zahid.
Guess I’d be sitting alone.
I was setting down my bag, looking gloomy, when—
“Hi.”
The boy with sky-blue hair from yesterday—the class representative—approached, holding a personal water bottle in one hand.
“Mind if I sit here?”
“Oh, the powerful one. Hello.”
It would've been nice if a cute girl had asked instead.
But I wasn’t in a position to be picky about friends.
As he sat beside me, I felt a sudden shift in the room.
All eyes turned toward us.
“Haha. Kinda intense.”
The boy whispered, though his face showed zero discomfort. I shrugged and replied,
“It can’t be helped. If you want to sit next to the top scorer, you’ll have to endure the weight of all these stares. Don’t you think?”
“Ah...”
He laughed, clearly amused, then took a sip from his bottle and grinned.
“Feels like it’s not just the weight of the top scorer.”
“Then what is it?”
“Probably the weight of the second-place scorer too?”
I blinked, wide-eyed, staring at him.
“...Wait... are you...?”
“Nice to meet you.”
He smiled, eyes curving gently.
“I’m Ray Lavendal.”
“Eh—seriously?”
“Yep. Really.”
What the—!
That injured class rep was Ray?
I let out a baffled, hollow laugh.
Ugh, damn it, pre-regression Zahid! Why ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) didn’t you tell me all this at once? You should’ve been more specific!
But it’s not like I could grab the actual person by the collar and shake answers out of him.
I was the only one who remembered.
* * *
Class 2 Classroom.
Zahid sat in the very back, resting his chin on one hand, eyes half-closed.
He felt a wave of irrational frustration.
‘Seriously... what the hell?’
She said she couldn’t spell!
She begged me not to let people think she was stupid!
After getting that letter from Julian, he’d casually asked Shulva about it.
Shulva had confirmed—Rosie hadn’t learned to read for fourteen months.
Sure, she read smoothly now, but her handwriting was still pretty crooked.
He’d even gone through the duchy’s file storage to find her handwritten engagement application.
It was... barely legible. Not even a seven-year-old would write like that.
Even Antata and Theol were almost completely misspelled.
‘I really thought she was an idiot!’
That vacant expression of hers, the innocent giggle, the slow and gentle speech—it all fooled him completely.
‘I even scored zero on purpose because I was worried she’d feel bad if I came in first... And what? She’s a struggling student?!’
Zahid clenched his eyes shut, burning with anger.
The lecture wasn’t registering in his head anyway.
“Even if you’re last, I don’t mind. I don’t care if you’re the dumbest here. I like you even if you’re falling behind.”
Sure, he’d stammered a little when she said that. But he didn’t believe it.
To be precise—he didn’t believe in the future Rosie.
They’d only met three times so far.
A child’s feelings are fickle.
And he didn’t want to put too much meaning into something so easily changeable.
He’d been betrayed far too often by people he gave his heart to.
‘As if my roommate wasn’t bad enough already...’
His roommate was Ray Lavendal. Second son of the Lavendal Duchy.
‘Ray Lavendal... that snake.’
A boy skilled in hiding his true thoughts. A calculating, political creature who made every move deliberately.
Zahid had suffered enough at the hands of people like that. So naturally, he felt an instinctive repulsion toward Ray.
They’d crossed paths before coming to the Academy, too...
‘Even back then, I didn’t get a good impression.’
As he closed his eyes again, drowsiness hit him.
He began to dream without realizing it.
“Ray really hates the Temple? Really? And he wants to help us? That’s great. They say he’s super smart.”
“Hmm... You seem to like Ray, huh?”
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
“He’s your friend, right? I heard he almost got poisoned once—that’s why he always carries his own water bottle. Kinda sad...”
“You remember stuff like that? I’d better stop telling you things.”
“What? Come on. And how is getting poisoned a minor thing?”
“Anyway, I probably told you too much. If you start getting attached, that’ll be a problem. No inner bonding, got it?”
Maybe it was because he’d been thinking about Ray, but he dreamed about him.
He was dreaming about talking to someone about Ray...
‘Why is dream-me such a petty little brat?’
He couldn’t believe how sulky he was in the dream, just because someone showed a bit of interest in Ray.
While he was still asleep...
Tap tap.
Someone tapped his back, and Zahid jerked awake from where he was slumped over.
“...What?”
“Zahid, were you sleeping?”
Rosie stood there with a worried look on her face.
Her big green eyes were filled with genuine concern.
“I mean, I did say I don’t mind if you’re at the bottom of the class... but totally giving up and sleeping during the lecture is a bit much. If there’s anything you don’t understand, you can ask me.”
“...Are you here to rub it in?”
“That too, a little. But mainly, I came to invite you to lunch.”
Rosie blinked as she spoke.
“Oh, and let’s eat with my friend too.”
“Friend?”
“He’s your friend too.”
The boy with sky-blue hair appeared behind Rosie.
“Come on, Zahid,” said his roommate, Ray, smiling gently.
“Rosie and I got pretty close—we’re in the same class and even sit next to each other.”
Ah.
Zahid swallowed his boiling irritation.
They got close? Rosie and Ray? Sat next to each other?
‘Everything Ray Lavendal does is calculated.’
There was definitely something going on. Some hidden agenda.
‘That guy’s up to something.’
There’s no way he’d just stick close to Rosie without a reason.
Yup—Zahid definitely didn’t like Ray.
“But we waited for you because we wanted to eat lunch together. We’re engaged, after all.”
Rosie said cheerfully.
And finally, with that, Zahid felt a strange warmth return and stood up with a sulky face.
“Zahid Dyfenril.”
A voice called out suddenly from the front of the classroom.
“You slept during class. That’s a ten-point deduction.”
It was the assistant with the blond hair and green eyes—Yuta Orgon.
If he remembered correctly, the subject was... Theology?
‘Class is already over, so why now...?’
He was annoyed, but he knew he had been in the wrong for dozing off. He nodded quietly.
Then, just as Rosie grabbed his arm—
“Ah, another ten-point deduction.”
“...What?”
“Your Divine Beast is standing on the theology textbook. Improper care of your beast.”
Zahid blinked, utterly confused.
What the hell is with this assistant?
“Hm, make that another ten-point deduction.”
“...Huh?”
“Your Divine Beast just stomped on it again. On purpose.”
In the blink of an eye, thirty points were gone.
Not that he needed a good grade—he didn’t plan to stick around the Academy long enough to become a full-time assistant or anything.
So he didn’t care, really... But still, this was ridiculous.
“Wow...”
Ray whispered quietly,
“Assistant Yuta is super strict. I didn’t expect that—he looks so gentle.”
So the guy’s name was Yuta.
“I get it, Zahid. Yuta hasn’t been chosen by the Grass Divine Beast yet. That’s probably why he’s sensitive about beasts. You should be more careful.”
Zahid grumbled and ran a hand through his hair.
Not a great start to his first day.
“What are you doing? Let’s go.”
Ray and Rosie stood side by side, as if they’d been close from the start—and as if Zahid were the one being included.
‘What the hell is this feeling...?’
It was the same at lunch.
Class 1 and Class 2 were clearly divided—different topics, different tone. Even when chatting about the lesson or the assistants.
At this rate, Ray and Rosie were only going to grow closer...
And for some reason, that thought made him uneasy.
‘Ah, right.’
Zahid, who had been scowling the whole time, suddenly remembered something and glanced sideways.
‘There is a way for me to get closer to Rosie again.’
