©NovelBuddy
The Strongest Brother Lost His Memory-Chapter 48
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Cecil was restrained on the spot, her eyes blindfolded.
The moment she collapsed from the unexpected rebound of the black magic, the guards waiting just outside the door had moved in.
‘If I had been the one hit by that...’
A cold sweat ran down Caliban’s back.
Caliban immediately contacted the Imperial Guard.
Because black magic was a forbidden crime so serious, it warranted direct extermination by the Imperial family.
“Black magic, huh...”
Clicking his tongue, Caliban stared at the mirror that had turned pitch-black.
He knew this single-use magic item well, even though it had long been out of circulation.
And he had seen with his own eyes how it reflected black magic.
“She was a black magician... I thought all the black magicians had already been wiped out.”
Caliban’s voice trembled in disbelief.
“And black magicians are enemies of the Temple. So then why would she try to kill me?”
Caliban had never once considered the possibility of being attacked by black magic.
“That’s because...”
Rosie murmured as her shoulders dropped.
“...that woman is both a black magician and a priest.”
“What? A priest?”
Caliban’s eyes widened.
There were far too many questions that immediately followed that one statement.
Why was a priest even here in the first place, and how did Rosie know that? But above all else, the most absurd thing was...
“Is that even possible? How can a priest do that?”
“I didn’t expect it either...”
The Temple’s ancient mission was to eradicate black magic. So nothing could have been more contradictory.
Yet the Temple, which spoke of love, mercy, empathy, and understanding, was already casually committing murder and human experimentation.
So what would stop them from wielding black magic too?
“Call a physician first, Grandfather. We need to assess her condition.”
At Rosie’s suggestion, Caliban summoned Peter. Around the same time, Julian arrived, hobbling over in a limp.
Thus, at the Meida estate, Caliban, Rosie, Julian, Zahid, and even Fire were all present.
Strictly speaking, Zahid was just a guest, but thanks to his wolf, Caliban’s life had been saved. So there was no way he could say, "Get lost, brat."
“She was hit with black magic?”
Peter blinked as he arrived and saw Cecil completely bound.
“Diagnosis for black magic exposure takes at least twenty-four hours. Until then, it’s officially categorized as temporary shock.”
Caliban frowned deeply at that.
If he had been the one hit by that black magic, Cecil would’ve told the guards outside that he had suddenly collapsed.
And within twenty-four hours, she would’ve left the mansion.
Even if Caliban later learned he had been cursed with black magic, he wouldn’t have gone to the Temple—he would’ve just deteriorated and died in silence.
A priest’s divine power fully recovers after just one night.
By that logic, she was probably capable of escaping from a place like Meida from the very beginning.
As he followed the train of thought to its conclusion, Caliban’s face darkened.
Then—
“Huh? But this woman... she’s conscious.”
Peter blinked in surprise as he examined Cecil. At his words, Cecil, who had been feigning unconsciousness, flinched.
Peter shouted in disbelief.
“How is this possible? If she was struck by black magic, she should be unconscious for days. My god, if someone can self-heal from black magic, that person has to be a priest!”
Rosie quickly followed up.
“What about the pregnancy? Is she actually pregnant?”
At that, Peter hurriedly switched magic tools and reexamined Cecil. His eyes widened in shock.
“My god. Just yesterday, she was definitely pregnant, but tonight? Not at all. It’s as if she’s never been pregnant in her life.”
Caliban clenched his teeth silently. Earlier, Peter had mentioned that divine power can neutralize magical tools. Which meant Cecil was certainly a priest.
“If she can cancel out black magic even on the full moon... then her divine power must be enormous.”
Peter shook his head as he continued.
“If it weren’t for her divine power weakening tonight due to the full moon, she probably would’ve been able to fake the pregnancy completely.”
The full moon and black magic had weakened her divine power just enough that she could no longer keep up the deception.
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
“Ha...”
Julian let out a breath and sank to the floor after hearing Peter say she wasn’t pregnant. His legs seemed to give out under him.
Rosie gently placed her hand on his shoulder and said slowly,
“If her divine power is that strong... would she be at least a mid-tier priest?”
“I couldn’t say, Lady Rosie. But mid-tier or higher is definite.”
“Well then, let’s go with high-tier.”
Rosie instantly exaggerated Peter’s assessment without hesitation. Of course, no one really objected to that.
“...How can a priest use black magic... I’ve never even heard of something like this...”
Peter muttered in disbelief.
But Rosie knew all too well how many “unheard-of” experiments were being conducted within the Temple.
In order to twist divine power—supposedly the power of healing—into another form of supernatural force, truly inhuman experiments had taken place. There was no way they hadn’t tried enabling a priest to use black magic.
“A high-ranking priest using black magic...”
Rosie smiled brightly and spoke in a slow, deliberate tone.
“Wow. The Empire is going to flip upside down. This is gonna be fun.”
At that, Cecil turned her head sharply toward Rosie and screamed.
“Shut up, you wretch!”
Having already been caught faking unconsciousness, she could no longer hold back her rage.
Her voice, quivering with fury, rang out piercingly.
“You lowlife trash dares to comment on a high-ranking priest’s punishment? You pathetic little worm without divine power, acting like you have the right to speak!”
Caliban thought it was absurd.
Cecil was the one completely tied up and powerless right now. What gave her the confidence to yell like that...?
Then it happened.
“You’d better get this straight.”
Rosie stared directly at her with a calm smile and said,
“I... I’m not trash.”
Her voice trembled slightly as she clenched her fists to hide her shaking hands.
“Just because I don’t have divine power... doesn’t mean I’m a worm either.”
Caliban, Julian, and Zahid’s eyes widened.
Rosie was clearly trying to stand tall, gathering strength in her legs.
But her voice was already trembling, her gaze tight with tension.
Even though her opponent was blindfolded and bound.
“A wretch is still a person. Just like you. So what you’ve done to me... it was truly wrong.”
“What bullshit is that, Rosie Trian!”
The name assigned to wretches: Trian.
In the ancient tongue, it meant “the lowest servant of the gods.” From age five to eleven, Rosie had been called Rosie Trian.
Cecil addressing her that way meant she still considered Rosie far beneath her.
“Wretches aren’t people! They’re servants of the gods—our servants!”
Cecil shouted, and Rosie instinctively started to kneel—then stopped herself, forcing her trembling knees to stay upright.
Caliban flinched as he recalled how naturally Rosie had dropped to her knees and begged the night before.
Wait a moment.
He’d seen Rosie trembling in front of Cecil this morning too.
And she’s still reacting with such instinctive fear even now?
A theory flashed through Caliban’s mind.
“You...”
His voice shook with anger.
“...don’t tell me...”
Caliban shouted, his expression one of disbelief.
“Rosie! Tell me the truth! Did something happen between you and that priest? Were you abused? Or maybe...”
He exhaled roughly, and with a face twisted in horror at the mere thought, asked lowly,
“...were you subjected to experiments?”
At the word experiment from Caliban’s mouth, Rosie’s body went rigid.
Most ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) people didn’t know that human experimentation was conducted at the Temple.
At those words, even Julian and Zahid wore stunned expressions.
“E... experiments?”
Julian blinked slowly.
“Experiments? What do you mean? The Temple does experiments?”