Rewriting the Trash Ending - Chapter 18

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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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18.

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Kaiden walked with his expression hardened into stone, his brow furrowing sharply as a curse twisted between his teeth.
“Damn…….”
He was returning from handing Bekira over to the guards of the Underground Prison.
The maidservant’s eyes, brimming with certainty that he would help her.

“Please, save me. Lord Kaiden, I swear I only did what the Princess ordered……!”

Even after her guilt was exposed, instead of showing remorse, she’d continued to slander the Princess until the very end—the thought of it kindled a fury he couldn’t contain.
Calling her a brood mare.
Or claiming she’d wanted to die.
And after spouting such things recklessly to the future Grand Duchess without shame or discretion, she begged for mercy.
He’d refrained from laying hands on her because she was a woman, but had she been a man, his fists would have spoken volumes.
How generously he must have treated her for a mere servant to attempt such a thing…….
‘…Who am I to judge?’
Not long ago, hadn’t he himself shown disrespect to the Princess?
The memory of those violet eyes wavering as if shocked that he could doubt her made his chest tighten.
“Your Highness, it’s Kaiden.”
“What is it?”
As he entered the Office, Aksid looked up from the paperwork spread across his desk.
Kaiden reported the incident in full detail.
“…So for now, I’ve had her locked in the prison.”
Kaiden swallowed dryly.
A killing intent so sharp it prickled the skin and froze the spine.
The same murderous aura that had filled battlefields when he’d struck down demons hung thick in the office.
“…And the Princess?”
He lied, contrary to his nature.
“She appeared distressed.”
The way she’d borne the insult with composure, even composure tinged with ease.
The fury he felt came from how routine it seemed, how accustomed she must be to such things.
He didn’t want to watch this matter fizzle out and disappear.
“Sentence her to Lifetime Hard Labor.”
Kaiden flinched slightly.
Lifetime Hard Labor.
One might count oneself fortunate it wasn’t execution, though perhaps that wasn’t quite the right measure.
It was a punishment that reduced one to slavery—relentless labor in cold that bit the flesh with every breath, from the moment one’s eyes opened to the moment they closed.
Among those sentenced to hard labor, deaths from exposure and starvation were hardly uncommon…….
“Furthermore, gather the servants and have them see off the escort procession.”
Kaiden fell silent for a moment.
This was a warning: insult the Princess, and you will not survive.
For the Grand Duke to show such wrath.
Thinking of the shame and despair the former noblewoman’s maidservant would feel, gooseflesh rose along his forearms.
‘Well, it’s none of my concern.’
Then Kaiden lowered his head with a thin smile.

***

…….
Deep, dark eyes fixed on the world beyond the window, tinted with the glow of dusk.
She could see the woman being dragged away by soldiers, watched by countless servants.
The woman wailed pitifully and struggled, yet his gaze remained glacial.
He turned from the window and touched the gift the Princess had given him.
‘…That shouldn’t have been overlooked back then.’
He’d neglected it, seeing how well she seemed to be adapting to the Northern Region.
That she was someone already accustomed to unjust treatment.
She’d sensed something odd about the maid earlier, but when the woman insisted she was fine, she’d dismissed it as a misunderstanding.
Not only had she dared to ruin the Princess’s dress, but to insult her as a brood mare besides.
A crack formed between his brows.
Was she still forcing a smile now, hiding how she truly felt?
He moved toward the Princess’s chamber with a face carved from stone.
When he knocked at the door, someone peeked her head out tentatively.
“Oh! Your— Your Highness……?”
“What are you doing here?”
He narrowed his eyes to slits.
She was the maid who handled supplies, wasn’t she.
“I, the Princess gave me a task to attend to…….”
Aksid studied Hanna intently, gauging what lay beneath her words, before he spoke.
“Where is the Princess?”
“She grew tired and fell asleep a short while ago.”
“Come out. I only need to see her face.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Hanna stepped aside stiffly, and he strode past her into the chamber.
Soft, steady breathing.
The Princess lay slumped across a table in sleep.
Her complexion was paler than usual.
He reached toward her cheek without thinking, then stopped.
A faint sound escaped him.
For only a moment he stared at his own hand, suspended in empty air with a hardened expression.
“Mmm…….”
When the Princess frowned and made a small sound of discomfort, he withdrew his hand instead and carefully lifted her into his arms.
She was someone he had no right to touch without permission, yet seeing her wince in discomfort, he couldn’t pretend not to notice.
‘…I wonder if she’s eating enough.’
Her body was so light it seemed it might crumble with only slight pressure.
Thin as she was, wouldn’t she collapse when the Formal Wedding Ceremony came?
‘I should order the kitchen to pay closer attention.’
He moved toward the bed with soundless steps.
The Princess nestled her face against his chest and smiled softly.
A smile harmless as an infant’s, a small, delicate gesture.
The feeling was strange.
He’d never held anyone before, never seen someone rest so peacefully in his arms.
…He wanted to stay like this, motionless.
As though an empty space within him were being filled with warmth.
It was unfamiliar, yet not unpleasant.
But he couldn’t stay this way forever.
Suppressing a strange sense of reluctance, just as he was about to set her down on the bed—
“Hmm……?”
Her delicate eyelashes trembled faintly, and violet eyes slowly opened.
“Oh!”
The moment their eyes met, Aksid reflexively caught her as she instinctively tried to pull away.
At the same instant, soft flesh pressed against his body.
A subtle fragrance enveloped him.
A small heart beating quick and fast.
“…….”
His throat moved slowly as sensation transmitted through their connected bodies.
An impulse rose in him to crush her softness deeper against his chest.
But—
“G-Grand Duke?”
Aksid lowered her slowly onto the bed, then stepped back as though fleeing.
“You were sleeping so peacefully, I didn’t want to wake you. If I’ve offended you, I apologize.”
“N-no. I was just startled, that’s all.”
Her words said one thing, but unlike usual, she couldn’t quite meet his eyes.
The blood that had been warming his veins suddenly turned to ice.
The Princess was afraid of him.
It shouldn’t have been surprising, yet somehow a bitter taste bloomed across his tongue.
“But what brings you here……?”
“I heard the attendant attached to the Princess caused a disturbance.”
Her voice emerged lower and drier than usual.
“Yes, which is why you sent Bekira to the fortress, I understand…….”
“A fitting price for her transgression.”
The Grand Duchess possessed authority equal to the Grand Duke himself.
Therefore, to lay a hand on the Grand Duchess was to challenge the Grand Duke’s House—an unforgivable crime.
There was no need to feel guilt, or pity.
“I’m sorry. I should have been more careful…….”
She smiled bitterly.
Whether pity for the attendant, or guilt toward herself.
Either way, he found her expression disagreeable.
“There’s no need for self-recrimination. The Princess bears no fault in this matter.”
“Thank you.”
“I merely stated the truth.”
Who could have foreseen that an attendant would secretly try on the Princess’s Dress?
“Actually, I’ve decided to have the Dress altered.”
“Rather than ordering a new one, you mean?”
To have the torn fabric mended and wear it regardless.
As a crease formed between Aksid’s brows, Lumière brought forth a sheet of paper.
“This is a design proposal drawn by an attendant named Hanna.”
“Would it not be preferable for you to wear one of your spare dresses instead?”
Even he, untutored in women’s fashion, could recognize the workmanship rivaled that of a professional—yet the notion of the Princess wearing a garment reshaped by another’s hands was wholly intolerable to him.
“Alterations are necessary either way. Besides, the work has already begun.”
“Then postponing the ceremony……?”
“No, I don’t wish to postpone. I want to marry quickly.”
Her answer admitted no room for persuasion.
That she should fear him moments before, yet now hurry toward a position others dreaded—the contradiction gnawed at him.
He swallowed the question that rose in his throat.
For a Princess cast out from the Imperial Court, this place was her only refuge.
Why should he need to hear such an obvious reason from her own lips?
He rose from his seat.
“Should your thoughts change, inform me at any time.”
Her reasons for undertaking this marriage held no consequence for him.
What mattered was that while she remained by his side, he would ensure no harm came to her.
…It should be enough.
He found his hand closing into a fist without his awareness.
As if he might trap within his palm that soft, yielding sensation.
Even as he knew more surely than anyone that he could not.

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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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