Rewriting the Trash Ending - Chapter 16

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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16.

***

After finishing her evening duties attending the Imperial Princess to sleep.
Becky walked down the corridor with a rigid expression.
At first, she’d been pleased enough to be selected—however temporarily—as the Princess’s personal attendant.
She’d harbored plans to ingratiate herself, secure the position permanently, and later aspire to become the Heir’s nursemaid once the Princess passed.
But the Princess only spoke when issuing necessary orders; whenever Becky tried to engage in casual conversation, she’d be turned away with complaints of fatigue.
Of course the Princess thought it perfectly acceptable to dismiss some provincial servant outright—a woman of such meager station.
‘Dragged here from the Imperial Palace to serve as breeding stock, and she carries herself with such arrogance.’
It infuriated her—the Princess’s contemptuous bearing, when her own circumstances were scarcely more dignified.
And as for herself, she’d only meant to catch the Grand Duke’s eye, to make an impression…

“Is there anyone troubling you, or causing you difficulty?”

The Grand Duke—who’d not only dismissed her but treated her as though she were at fault.
The Princess, glancing sidelong at her while smiling as if to boast of the regard she received.
The more Becky dwelt on what had happened to her at the hands of these two, the more shame and indignation consumed her.
Then, rounding a corner in the corridor, she heard whispering.
“…it seems the State Wedding preparations might be finished sooner than expected, don’t you think?”
“Yes, I thought he meant to postpone it, but it doesn’t look like that anymore.”
“She doesn’t seem as awful as the rumors suggested. She’s competent at her duties, and besides, her face is quite…”
Her lips tightened at their generous assessment of the Princess.
“But what does it matter? Once she bears the Heir, she’ll be sent away anyway. All the Grand Duke’s power came at the cost of the late Emperor’s lifespan, or so they say.”
“That’s true, but even so…”
As their voices receded, Becky’s mouth twisted into something strange and ugly.
What difference did it make if some woman bound to die soon behaved arrogantly? None at all.
She simply had to maintain civility at her side, and later—after the Princess bore the Heir and withered away—she could mock her passing.
With that thought, the contaminated feeling that had plagued her all day began to ease.
Becky resumed walking.
Then, by chance, her reflection in a glass window caught her eye.
Overlaid on that image came the memory of the Princess in her white Dress.
Yet for all her noble station, the Princess’s outward appearance was merely that—a surface.
She was just as wretched as Becky herself, born of a fallen house.
But if she—Becky—were to adorn herself with precious fragrances as the Princess did, and wear a beautiful Dress like hers…
Would the Grand Duke not be unable to tear his eyes from her, just as he had been unable to look away from the Princess?
‘Perhaps I could aspire not merely to a nursemaid’s position, but even to become a second wife…’
As the thought took hold, a sudden, violent impulse rose within her.
“…….”
Gulp.
Becky swallowed hard.
And as if drawn forward by some spell, she began to walk toward a destination.
The place she arrived at was the Princess’s Dress room.
With a tense gaze, Becky checked her surroundings before slowly opening the door.
Creak…
Through the gap, a pristine white Dress caught her eye, hanging on a rack.
Soundlessly entering, she carefully held the Dress up to her own body.
When she saw her reflection in the mirror, the urge to actually put it on swept through her.
She knew that going further would be dangerous.
‘It’s not as if I mean to steal it—I just want to try it on once.’
She could simply put it back where it belonged afterward.
Without hesitation, Becky stripped off her servant’s clothes and began to slip into the Dress.
Then.
Tap-tap-tap.
“…!”
A sound that should not have come.
Her mind snapped to attention as cold sweat ran down her back.
‘Surely not… please, not that…’
Praying her fears were unfounded, Becky carefully slipped out of the Dress and examined the damage.
But.
“No, no, no!”
From the forearm to the armpit.
The sleeve seams had split wide open.
All color drained from Becky’s face.
‘What do I do? What do I do? What do I do…?’
This wasn’t something needle and thread could fix.
She didn’t have thread in the matching color, and any mended seam would inevitably leave a visible mark.
If she was discovered, dismissal would be the least of her worries.
Her nails between her teeth, gnawing at them like a woman possessed, she suddenly seemed to come to a decision—trembling hands moved to hang the Dress back in its place.
No matter how she turned it over, there was only one way out.
She needed someone—anyone—to take the blame in her stead.

***

Axid swung the heavy Great Sword in a diagonal arc.
Crack.
The wolf-form Monster, charging with the fury of an ox, cleaved in two.
Crimson blood sprayed in fountains across the ground.
He’d ridden out to clear the surrounding Monsters before the State Wedding.
Bang! Bang bang!
The Monsters rushed in like an enraged herd of buffalo, kicking up clouds of dust.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands.
Enough to erase an entire city from the map and still have surplus.
Yet Axid was here alone, annihilating them—the troops held back because he needed to clear his mind of a single memory.
Many fell beneath his blade.
Still, the image of himself acting foolish before the Princess wouldn’t fade.
Freezing like an idiot at the sight of her in her white Ceremonial Dress wasn’t even the worst of it.

“…That isn’t the case.”

Uttering only that single phrase and flushing red with embarrassment.
The heat in his neck burned at the thought of how uncharacteristically pathetic he’d appeared.
But if that moment came again, the outcome would be little different.
Even now, recalling the Princess from that day tightened his chest and stole his words.
To shake off this strange, troubling feeling, he wielded his blade with brutal force.
He’d never kept a woman at his side, and marriage was foreign to him—so it was only natural to feel unsettled, yet the feeling refused to be cast aside.

“Whether you wish it or not, I have no intention of running away or leaving.”

His brow furrowed as he recalled her words.
She’d said she wouldn’t leave, but she would surely come to regret that choice eventually.
Trusting such a promise at face value would only make things harder for them both—he should never have harbored expectations from the start.
“Your Highness, shall we not entrust the rest to the knights?”
Brian approached him as he methodically slaughtered the remaining Monsters.
Corpses piled high in every direction.
“We return to the Palace.”
He replied curtly, wiping the blood from his blade.
After all this exertion, his mind should have gone blank—yet strangely, nothing had changed since he’d set out.

***

Days passed.
As the ceremony preparations entered their final stages, there was scarcely a moment to breathe.
Half-dead with exhaustion, Lumiere lay draped across the bed, her limbs barely responding as she mulled it over.
‘Why do we even need to hold a wedding ceremony?’
Couldn’t they just stamp the marriage certificate once or twice and call it done—announce we’re married and be finished?
‘Of course not…’
There was no way the State Wedding could be wrapped up so haphazardly.
I knew as much, but the exhaustion pressing down on my entire body made me wish I could skip the ceremony altogether—and I couldn’t help it.
The ceremony alone would take exactly twelve hours.
Adding the time spent preparing meant the State Wedding consumed every moment from the instant I opened my eyes to the instant I closed them.
I could manage a single day on willpower alone.
But what was truly painful were the days spent preparing for that one day.
I had to taste dozens of dishes just to select the banquet menu.
The names of countless nobles and their house histories, the debts and grievances between families.
And on top of that, I had to memorize the characteristics and etiquette regarding envoys from each nation.
This was nothing short of torture.
Only a few days had passed since the real preparations began, and I couldn’t fathom how I’d endure the remaining time.
‘I wish it would all just snap away…….’
While I was at it, the wedding too.
I stared vacantly at the ceiling for a moment’s rest, then opened my mouth.
“Becky.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Over these past few days, Becky had become even more attentive and diligent than before, and she approached with a smile at her lips.
“I suppose it’s time to double-check my measurements. Do prepare the Ceremonial Dress.”
“…Pardon?”
Her eyes narrowed sharply.
I hadn’t said anything particularly remarkable—why was she reacting like that?
It was only natural for a bride to check her dress before the wedding.
Yet her response felt decidedly suspicious.
“It’s time we double-checked my measurements, wouldn’t you say?”
“Y-yes, yes, I’ll prepare it at once.”
Becky slipped away with an oddly stiff demeanor, her movements hurried and clumsy.
The moment she disappeared, I rose from my seat.
…….
I’d thought that if there was a problem, at worst she’d just rummage through the drawers—that’s what I’d assumed.
‘This has the smell of calamity all over it…….’
An ominous premonition flashed through my mind.
And sure enough.
“Your Highness! Disaster! Someone has ruined your Dress!”
Becky came running in desperate haste, breathless.
Along with news that was exactly what I’d hoped against.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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