“That rat-faced bastard probably thought he ran away because he was scared of me! Hahahaha!”
Julian burst into loud laughter, lifting his slingshot high into the air as if it were a sacred sword.
Even if his mental age had regressed to seventeen, he still looked like a full-grown twenty-four-year-old man...
A man who once held the title of the strongest warrior, a tall adult, was now proudly showing off in front of me and Ethan, two small, unimpressive figures.
“The moment I appeared—bam! Everything was settled, yeah! Just like that, yeah!”
And of course, Julian didn’t stop at just one round. Shulva, who was supporting Julian, was so embarrassed that he completely avoided looking at us, pretending to be interested in something else.
“Man, what do I even do? I’m a genius on top of it all. I’ve got intelligence, virtue, and physical prowess—truly the complete package! Ahahahaha!”
It was a deeply humiliating moment.
Roystan had probably run away instinctively, still half-remembering the old Julian from the past...
And Ethan, watching Julian’s grand display, looked entirely unimpressed.
Ethan gave me a weirdly worded smile.
“Violence always counters violence. Though it wasn’t a fundamental solution, it was an appropriate evasion for the current situation. Good, good.”
What’s up with this kid’s way of speaking?
Yeah, he’s definitely a little strange.
I stared at Ethan, somewhat intrigued.
‘According to Zahid, this kid will someday...’
Ethan, who now looked like nothing more than a scrawny, fragile boy, was fated to become the empire’s greatest archmage.
The only son of my second uncle, Felide.
Felide had never paid much attention to Ethan. The man had too many lovers in his younger days and never cared much for marriage in the first place.
And Ethan had always been an odd child—quiet and utterly absorbed in magic tomes, rarely leaving his room except for formal gatherings.
Felide, deciding that Ethan showed no signs of becoming a worthy heir, neglected him even further.
‘That’s why Roystan felt free to bully him.’
After all, no one would stop him. Ethan had no one to complain to.
Children who enjoy tormenting others don’t limit themselves to just one victim. I wasn’t the only target—Ethan was one too.
‘Is that why he eventually leaves the family?’
Before my regression, Ethan ran away from home at the age of fifteen.
And no one stopped him. Even Uncle Felide didn’t care, having long given up any expectations for him.
A bookworm boy, unnoticed in the Noart Count Family.
That boy left home and headed straight for the Magic Tower. He had always longed for the world of magic.
And then, one day, he displayed an unparalleled natural talent and became the greatest archmage.
‘Once he enters the Magic Tower, he abandons his surname and severs ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ ties with the family completely.’
From that point on, he never interferes with Noart’s affairs.
‘In other words, he’ll live a life entirely separate from the Noart Count Family.’
Not someone I particularly liked or disliked.
But seeing Roystan tormenting him—it felt too familiar for me to just ignore.
Like Ethan said, it wasn’t a fundamental solution.
I looked at him and asked, “Has this happened often?”
Ethan shrugged and immediately replied, “Been since childhood. Nothing special. Everyone knows, except for Grandfather.”
“What? Then my brother knew too?”
I asked, unable to believe it. Ethan nodded as if it were obvious.
His answer was so firm that it left me momentarily speechless. I blinked, stunned.
“And my brother just... let it happen? He saw this and did nothing?”
“That’s also obvious. He didn’t care whether I got beaten to a pulp or not.”
Ethan continued speaking nonchalantly.
“A few months ago? Roystan beat me up like a dog, and your brother walked right past me, whistling, without even sparing a glance. He was carrying a bunch of gifts for you.”
“What?! What kind of horrible personality is that?!”
Earlier, he had gotten furious the moment he saw Roystan bullying Ethan!
Even though he didn’t even really know Ethan, he had been ready to charge in immediately.
“What? I did that? Seriously?”
Julian looked completely flabbergasted.
Ethan shrugged and replied flatly, “The old Julian Noart was a selfish bastard who only cared about his little sister. He trampled everyone else in this family to become the heir—what did you expect?”
Shockingly, even Shulva didn’t refute Ethan’s words.
Meaning, they were true.
Ethan spoke so casually, as if recounting an irrelevant fact.
“When he first came here at nineteen, the relatives gave him hell. After that, Julian decided to walk the path of a greater demon to defeat the smaller demons.”
Then, casting a sideways glance at Julian, who looked utterly shaken, he added,
“Well... I guess he’s different now. Lost his memories, turned into some angsty teenage brat. It really is true? I had a feeling something was off even when I saw him in the conference hall.”
Neither I nor Julian could say anything in response.
But one thing was clear.
Before losing his memory, Julian had been a perfect older brother to me—but he definitely had serious personality issues.
“Well, if you lose something, you gain something else, right?”
Ethan adjusted his glasses.
“Looks like Julian Noart lost his memories but gained the possibility of moral redemption.”
“...Why do I feel like I’m getting insulted when I was the one who just saved you?”
Julian muttered, furrowing his brows.
I gave a half-hearted smile, but then—Ethan’s eyes suddenly widened, and he pointed behind me.
And with a look of utter horror, he shouted,
“That—that’s really bad, isn’t it?!”
Julian, Shulva, and I all turned in the direction Ethan was pointing. And at the same time, we collectively gasped.
I rushed forward in a panic.
Ethan was pointing at the corner where we had hidden earlier to eavesdrop on Roystan’s conversation.
“Brother, please, just stay here. Okay? Please!”
When I had run between Ethan and Roystan earlier, I had left an envelope on the ground.
Inside that envelope was the seashell bracelet Grandfather had given me.
And now, in that very spot, the bracelet lay shattered into pieces.
I slowly picked it up.
The seashells were completely crushed.
“Wow, what do we do?”
Ethan whispered in a trembling voice, standing beside me before I even noticed.
“Grandfather must’ve put a lot of effort into making this. Seeing it broken ... he won’t be happy! He might even think you didn’t take good care of it, Rosie!”
Ethan was right. Even if it was technically a transaction, this was still the first gift Grandfather had ever given me.
Breaking a gift that had been given with care—it was an insult, intentional or not.
I didn’t have a close enough relationship with Grandfather yet.
He had acknowledged my cleverness, sure, but maintaining that momentum wouldn’t be easy.
“There’s no way to get an identical replacement... so what now?”
Ethan chewed his fingernail anxiously.
“This is my fault... This happened because of me. What do we do, Rosie? What do we do? I shouldn’t have—”
Julian, who had finally caught up despite his crutches, suddenly exploded in rage.
“What the hell? This was Roystan, wasn’t it?! Huh?! Who else would do something ?!”
He had a point. No one else had been here.
“When Grandfather gave you a little praise today, he got all cocky, but it won’t last. Got it?”
When Roystan had said that earlier, had he already planned to destroy the bracelet?
It might not have mattered immediately. After all, I could swap out accessories easily.
But what if Grandfather asked, ‘That bracelet... why aren’t you wearing it?’
From what I’d seen of him, he didn’t seem like the type to get angry over such a thing.
Still... it didn’t sit right.
‘And since Roystan already set things in motion... he’s definitely going to use this against me.’
Just hiding the broken bracelet wouldn’t solve the problem.