The Strongest Brother Lost His Memory-Chapter 11

Caliban, lost in thought for a long time, finally issued an order to his aide.

"Change the route."

"Pardon?"

His aide blinked in surprise.

"Wait, you're changing course... just because of a single request from a granddaughter you've never even spoken to?"

"A request? No, this is a business proposal. Look— it says ‘purchase’ right here."

Caliban spoke in a low voice, unfazed by his aide’s bewilderment.

"I built my entire career on business. And do you know what principle I've always upheld while conducting business?"

His gaze landed on the small seal pressed onto Rosie’s letter, and a faint chuckle escaped him.

"No matter who it is, I always respond to their first deal if they’re desperate enough. I can judge their worth later— there's no harm in waiting. Isn’t it better to take the chance rather than ignore what might be a jackpot and regret it later?"

"Ah..."

"And besides, my granddaughter says she's willing to pay the price. Shouldn’t I at least check what that price is?"

Without further hesitation, Caliban mounted his horse again.

****

Rosie really did show up at Julian’s room for lunch.

She arrived in yet another completely different outfit from the morning and personally assisted Julian, who was still struggling to move properly, with his meal.

"Open wide. Ahh. Wider. Don’t compromise so easily with your mouth muscles. Eating to survive isn’t that easy, you know."

"Was your dream to be a chameleon? You changed outfits again."

"Hing."

Julian obediently opened his mouth wide, but he seemed to be particularly bothered by something as he asked:

"And hey, brat, tell me more about this engagement thing."

"There’s nothing much to say."

Rosie shrugged.

"I just found someone I want to be engaged to, so I sent out a marriage proposal. That’s all."

Julian snorted out a heavy breath, his brows furrowing.

"I can’t explain it, but I’m extremely pissed off. It’s just... pure instinctive rejection. What the hell is this?"

Shulva, now visibly uneasy, glanced between them and muttered dryly:

"It seems that some of your old instincts remain."

His usually composed tone carried a slight tremor of despair.

"If Julian-nim gets his memory back, I am so dead. He’s going to breathe fire and lose his damn mind over our little Rosie having a fiancé."

"Hey, I can hear you, you know?"

Julian’s eyes widened in outrage, but Shulva only let out a long, suffering sigh and rubbed his forehead.

"I... I can no longer sincerely hope for Julian-nim’s memory to return."

"Calm down, Shulva. Thinking positively helps in situations like this."

Rosie lightly patted his arm with her small hand, offering comfort.

"If my brother gets his memory back, you won’t have to babysit a moody teenager anymore, which is great. And if he never regains it, well, at least you won’t die to a lunatic. Also great."

"Hey, brat. Why the hell are you insulting me while trying to console him?"

Julian, now classified as either a moody brat or a lunatic, was furious again.

But soon enough, he quietly chewed on the salad Rosie shoved into his mouth. Then, feeling awkward, he changed the subject.

"So... those people from yesterday. It wasn’t too much trouble dealing with them, was it?"

"It was." Rosie nodded. "I had to keep repeating that I didn’t know much."

Tilting her head, she added thoughtfully:

"But honestly, they looked more exhausted than I was. So it was fine."

Julian could clearly picture the innocent face of the brat who drove people insane with her words.

He sighed inwardly.

‘She’s a terrifying little lunatic...’

But even a terrifying little lunatic was still just a child.

Carefully, Julian spoke up again.

"Hey, brat. So, listen...."

"You’re not about to say you want to cancel the inheritance, are you?"

The very words Julian had been about to say lodged in his throat.

It wasn’t that he was greedy for the money.

But... 1.37 trillion gold.

That was way too much money for a twelve-year-old with no reliable guardian.

"Look, I’ll keep it safe for you until you come of age. Seriously."

In the end, Julian sighed and voiced his true concern.

"Right now, that amount of money... it’s too much and way too dangerous. Even if my mental age is seventeen, I’m still older than you. So why don’t you just hand it back over to me? What do you think?"

"I think no."

Rosie replied flatly, shoving a piece of meat into Julian’s mouth.

"When I was little, before the temple took me in, I stayed at an orphanage for a while. And there was a saying there— ‘Never trust someone who says, I’ll keep that money safe for you until you grow up.’"

"..."

"And if they add, I’ll invest it and make it grow for you, then you should just run away immediately."

That orphanage sure taught some valuable life lessons.

Julian rubbed his forehead.

"Then let’s do this instead—"

At that moment, Rosie blinked and said:

“You don’t even have 1.37 trillion gold, so you can’t even face anyone properly. Just go study for now. When you reach the level of an average twenty-four-year-old, I’ll give it back to you.”

“What? Study? Out of nowhere? Oh, for fuck’s sake, why the hell—”

“Why? You don’t want to?”

“Of course not! What the hell is this? You can’t just spring studying on me like that! I’ve never studied before in my life!”

“That’s exactly why you should give it a try. What if you turn out to be a genius?”

Rosie suddenly lowered her head, her expression drooping into one of deep disappointment.

“If you really cared about me, you’d hurry up and become a well-educated adult so you could take responsibility for this 1.37 trillion gold...”

“......”

“Hing...”

Julian let out a faint groan and covered his face with his one good hand.

‘This terrifying little lunatic...’

In the end, he could only sigh in defeat and mumble:

“...Fine. I guess I’ll give it a shot. I am bored, so I might as well try.”

“Great choice!”

Rosie’s sulking face brightened up in an instant.

After the meal ended, Shulva straightened his posture and respectfully delivered a report.

“Ah, and Rosie-nim.”

“Yes, Shulva?”

“I stopped by the main house earlier, and I heard that Lady Monica has added your inheritance to the agenda for the next monthly family meeting.”

“...I see.”

Rosie nodded calmly, as if she had expected this.

Of course, it wasn’t as if she could keep stalling forever with excuses like “I can’t read,” or “I was planning to invest it, but I forgot where.”

“Since you’re still young and the amount is massive, the family elders are suggesting that the matter be decided at the next monthly meeting.”

“Huh?”

Julian was the only one who didn’t understand what was going on, his eyes widening in confusion.

“Why would the elders decide that? And what the hell is a monthly meeting?”

This chapter is updat𝙚d by freeweɓnovel.cøm.

“It’s a meeting held every month where everyone with the Noart name gathers to make decisions.”

Rosie explained calmly.

“They’ll probably argue that since your money is technically ‘Noart wealth,’ they should hold onto it until I come of age. And of course, they’ll add something about ‘investing it in a good place.’”

She continued indifferently.

“If I don’t decide who gets to hold onto the money before the next meeting, they’ll just split it among themselves.”

“What?! Those bastards, that’s my money! Why the hell are they—”

“Don’t worry. I already have a plan. Just focus on recovering.”

At that moment, something about Rosie’s determination hit Julian square in the chest.

For the first time, he really felt just how much she was struggling to handle everything on her own. It was... oddly moving.

And then—

Rosie flashed a sweet smile.

“And let’s get one thing straight, big brother.”

“It’s not your money. It’s mine.”

“......”

Julian was speechless.

Rosie slowly rose from her seat and gave him a polite nod.

“I’ll be back for dinner, big brother. Don’t worry, I’ll keep your money safe and multiply it several times over before I return it.”

Wait.

Something about that sentence sounded... wrong.

Julian suddenly snapped to attention and shouted.

“What?! Hey! That’s literally the same line from that orphanage warning!”

“Hehe. Look at that, your memory and reasoning skills are great.”

Rosie took a step back and waved.

“I really think you’d do well if you started studying. See you later!”

With a completely unfazed grin, she strolled out the door.

Julian sat there, mouth agape, blinking.

His legs were still in casts, so he couldn’t even chase after her.

“Seriously... who the hell does she take after? What kind of crazy bastard priest did Mom have an affair with?”

Even as he muttered that to himself, her last words echoed in his mind.

"I’ll be back for dinner."

No matter what, that little brat was going to come see him again.

Julian ran a hand through his hair and scratched the back of his head.

“I don’t even remember a damn thing about her... so why the hell does she keep coming back?”

And as he sat there, his lips slowly curled into a reluctant smirk— one he forcibly wiped off his face the moment he noticed it.