Brothers Regret When They Lost Me novel Chapter 3

Julian and Rosalie were both stunned.

They stared at Zara, who carried herself with a nonchalant, queen-like grace, unable to believe what they were seeing or hearing.

For a moment, Zara felt like a stranger. The Zara they remembered was a useless nobody who would never dare to speak like this.

Julian's eyes were blazing red with fury as he raised his hand again, ready to deliver a slap. This time, he used all his strength.

"You're so ungrateful!" he shouted. "We took you out of the slums, gave you the best house, the best food, the best school—but you showed no gratitude at all and even tried to kick Rosalie out.

"And now you're cursing us? You really should go back to the slums and live like the lowlife you are!"

He went hysterical, letting all his anger explode without caring one bit whether Zara could even withstand the hit.

In fact, a dark part of him wished he could kill her with that slap.

The air crackled with the sharp sound of his incoming slap, and Rosalie could barely keep the smirk off her face.

This time, Julian was dead serious. He wouldn't give Zara any chance to dodge. Rosalie was sure Zara would either die or be badly hurt.

She mocked Zara inwardly, 'Zara, you're about to be killed by the brother you always tried so hard to please. Must feel hopeless, huh? But that's what you deserve—for daring to exist in my world and take what's mine.'

And just like Rosalie expected, there was nowhere for Zara to run.

More precisely—she didn't even try to dodge.

When Zara had slapped Julian, it had happened so fast that Rosalie hadn't even seen how.

But this time, Rosalie saw everything—Zara simply lifted her hand and effortlessly caught Julian's wrist.

Then, in one swift motion, she drove her elbow straight into Julian's shoulder.

With a loud bang, Julian's back crashed into the wall behind him. The impact was so fierce it felt like his insides were getting crushed all in one go.

"Julian, how dare you talk about gratitude? You disgust me," Zara said coldly. "To be exact, every single one of you disgusts me."

Julian's face went pale, as if he'd just seen something terrifying. He couldn't believe his ears.

"Zara, I'm your brother!" Julian gritted out, his face contorted with agony. His shoulders trembled, and he bit down the searing pain inside, frantically trying to break free from Zara's grip.

No matter what he did, that hand crushing his shoulder was like a boulder—utterly immovable. He was stuck, totally helpless.

As for Zara, her beautiful, frosty face stayed perfectly calm, detached, as if she barely needed any effort to hold him down.

This can't be happening! I'm a Fighter, and yet I'm getting owned by her—a useless nobody?' Julian fumed.

Just as Julian was seething with humiliation and desperate to prove he couldn't possibly be overpowered by an ordinary person like Zara, she suddenly let go of him.

She stretched out lazily, pulled out a tissue with utter indifference, and casually wiped off her fingers like she couldn't care less.

What made it worse was that this wasn't just any acceptance letter—it was the highest-ranking invitation, one reserved for only the most extraordinary candidates.

In all of Summerport, no one had received a letter like this since three years ago.

"This letter clearly belongs to Rosalie," Julian went on. "I don't know what trick you used to replace her name with yours, but you'd better give it back right now."

Rosalie was the most gifted of their generation—already at the Adept level and just one step away from breaking through to Master, ready to begin Energy Channeling.

Julian believed that Imperial Academy would've done anything to recruit a talented student like Rosalie. Therefore, he was sure that this letter belonged to her.

Zara couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Her smile was dazzling under the warm glow. "Rosalie wants my admission letter? Is she even worthy?"

In her previous life, Julian had pulled the same stunt—storming up and literally slamming the admission letter into Zara's face, shouting about how shameless she was, accusing her of messing with the name, and barking at her to hand it right over to Rosalie.

Back then, she had been so desperate for family affection that she'd given the letter to Rosalie without hesitation. She'd even been tricked by the dean of Imperial Academy into making a deal just to secure Rosalie's place.

But to the Sterlings, that had only proven Zara's guilt.

"Zara, I know you hate me," Rosalie suddenly said. "You're the Sterling family's true heiress—Mom and Dad's real daughter, our brothers' real sister. And I'm... nothing."

Her sweet, soft features twisted with humiliation and suppressed anger. Her voice trembled as she spoke. "So no matter how cruelly you talk to me, no matter what you do to me, I've endured it—I've always let you win."