Rewriting the Trash Ending - Chapter 22

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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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22.

Eyes wandering in empty air, mouth drawn tight.
When he flustered so visibly at a question thrown out in jest, she couldn’t help but laugh.
That he—the very embodiment of terror itself—would show such a side in her presence.
“I was only teasing. I have no intention of forcing anything on you, of course.”
She’d wanted to tease him further, but something in his demeanor made her fear he might actually break, so she relented.
Or had he already?
“Then, p-please rest.”
He creaked like a wooden marionette and rose from the bed.
Left to his own devices, he would have bolted for the sofa.
But this was their wedding night—she couldn’t allow that.
She reached out and caught his sleeve.
“Come here.”
“I assure you, I’m perfectly fine.”
“I’m not. You refused the Marital Duty, but surely you won’t deny me the simple comfort of sleeping beside you?”
“That is…….”
“Hmm?”
……
Under her steady gaze, he had no choice but to lower himself onto the bed with deliberate slowness.
She lay beside him and stifled a smile.
All the tension from moments before dissolved as soon as she settled into this position, and drowsiness began to creep over her.
‘I’d hoped for a little more, but I suppose it can’t be helped…….’
She was a pure soul with no romantic experience across two lifetimes, and a part of her had been genuinely curious. But it seemed the day her curiosity would be satisfied lay far in the future.
A man with no intention of producing an heir would hardly be eager to fulfill such duties.
Still, this much wasn’t so bad.
“May I borrow your arm for a moment?”
She nestled herself into his embrace.
He tensed.
His body stiffened, then gradually began to relax.
“I’ve been terribly lonely for such a long time. So I wanted someone—just one person—with whom I could share this warmth.”
……
“I’m glad that person is my husband, and I’m even gladder that my husband is you.”
Half of it was genuine; half was an excuse.
She understood that the hunger for warmth belonged to him as well—that this man had spent every night of his life alone in this bedchamber.
So from this night onward, she hoped his nights would no longer be as solitary as all those that had come before.
……More than anything, to walk through ‘that day’ beside him—the one he’d always faced alone—it would be better if they shared a bed.
She burrowed deeper into his solid, warm embrace.
Held in these arms, Trovitan’s face came suddenly to mind.
‘In my past life, I longed for him so much…….’
How strange.
Somehow, the Grand Duke’s embrace felt like her true place—so perfectly, naturally right.
“……Thank you for your hard work today.”
She let out a small yawn and buried her face against his chest.
Sleep drew near, and her eyelids grew heavy.
Before her consciousness slipped away entirely—
“……You worked hard too, Lumiere.”
It sounded like an awkward, tender whisper.

Nights in the Northern Region are always cold and still.
Sharp wind claws at the fortress walls; the air bites deep into the skin.
The distant, indistinct cry of some nameless beast.
For twenty-eight years, Axid had fallen asleep alone in this chill darkness.
Long before he understood what Curse flowed through his blood, he’d learned that solitude was his lot in life.
This bedchamber had always been as empty, as hollow, as he was.
And yet…….
Small, even breaths now filled the hollow bedchamber with a soft, gentle presence.
“…….”
Axid looked down at Lumiere, then shifted his gaze to the ceiling.
‘I thought she feared marriage.’
Yet here was a woman who’d barely met his eyes until last night, now lying on the same bed without a trace of hesitation.
She’d said she wouldn’t fulfill her marital duty, but how could she be so defenseless?
Was she truly unafraid, or had she simply never cared?
He was grateful she’d fallen asleep without discomfort, yet his feelings remained tangled.
While he burned with awareness of her, she slept peacefully, oblivious to everything.
“Mm…….”
Just then, Lumiere stirred in her sleep.
A jolt ran through him.
As her small, soft hand wandered near his chest, his spine stiffened and heat crawled up the back of his neck.
His throat tightened at the feel of her small frame pressing against him, seeking warmth.
‘This won’t do.’
He covered his face with one large palm, let out a breath, and quietly rose from the bed.
Having drawn the line himself, he had no right to let his mind dwell on her this way.
To lie beside a woman who sought nothing but innocent warmth—it would be beneath him.
He arranged the pillow beneath his sleeping wife’s head and pulled the quilt up to her chin.
Compared to the thick blanket, his wife was delicate and small, yet somehow it seemed woefully inadequate.
The nights in the Northern Region were bitter cold, and for someone from a warm land, this alone would never be enough.
Besides, she had said she needed warmth…….
Softly.
He draped a blanket over the quilt, then stepped back.
Yet still, the feeling of insufficiency did not fade.
Frowning slightly, he deliberated, then added a thick robe over her as well.
‘This should be enough.’
Only when he had completed a generous heap atop her did he finally feel assured.
With an eased expression, he sat at the bedside and gazed down at her.
Her face, worn from a long day’s exhaustion, had surrendered to deep sleep.

“I’m glad he’s my husband, and even more glad that husband is you.”

Were those words true?
Or merely something she’d said to please him?
Though he could not know the truth, those words lingered in his ears.
That the one to share warmth with was her husband.
That this husband was him—words that echoed all the more deeply.
How long he remained there, he could not say.
“……Rest well.”
Those who once wished for your death shall sleep eternally in this land.
The words, whispered low, dissolved into the quiet darkness.

***

Several carriages thundered along a road shrouded in thick darkness.
The harsh clatter of hooves made the earth tremble, and skeletal branches shrieked a desolate cry in the passing wind.
Inside the swaying carriage.
‘How dare these barbarians humiliate me……!’
Count Crommel seethed, unable to contain his fury.
As the delegation’s representative, he had visited countless nations, but he had never been treated with such contempt.
The real problem was whether he could even report this to His Imperial Majesty…….
“…….”
His eyes darted anxiously toward the wooden box beside him.
What would become of him if the Grand Duchess learned he’d been driven away in disgrace rather than insulted her?
Especially if she discovered he’d come merely because someone suggested this gift would be more needed by His Imperial Majesty……?
“…….”
A chill suddenly raced down the back of his neck.
If His Imperial Majesty learned the truth, death alone would be insufficient—his entire house would face annihilation.
With trembling hands, he hastily hurled the wooden box out the carriage window.
Cold sweat drenched his back.
His companions would hold their tongues, bound as they were by similar circumstances, but the real problem lay with the loose lips of foreign delegations.
‘No, there’s no way gossip whispered among themselves in some distant land would reach the Imperial Capital.’
It had to be that way.
He rubbed his cold-numbed hands, taking long minutes to master the creeping dread.
Neigh!
The horses shrieked piercingly as the carriage lurched violently.
Thud-thud-thud!
“Agh!”
Crommel, knocked off balance, tumbled to the floor and struck his head hard.
With a heavy crash, the carriage’s movement ceased entirely.
How long had time suspended itself?
“Ugh… ugh…”
The Count, having lost consciousness for a moment, pushed open the rattling door and crawled painfully outside.
“What on earth—”
He stopped mid-word, his mouth falling open.
Unidentifiable shapes stirred within the darkness.
Crunch, crunch.
Squelch, squelch, smack—
This ghastly, sickening noise… what was it?
He stared blankly into the shadows, scarcely remembering to breathe.
The cloud shrouding the moon withdrew, and faint light slowly illuminated the earth.
“…!”
A scream tore from his throat.
Countless monsters were savagely tearing apart the corpses of his entourage.
“No, no, I—save me…!”
But.
Snap.
A monster, having caught the scent of fresh prey, howled and swallowed the shrieking head in one gulp.
The headless body collapsed in an instant, then was torn to shreds and disappeared into the monsters’ bellies.
Kaiden, observing from a distance, folded his arms and whistled lightly.
“That’s why they always say you must be careful in the Northern Region.”
Thanks to the monsters fulfilling their “purpose” so thoroughly, shepherding them had proven worthwhile.
‘Their caliber falls well short of expectations.’
Merely a pack of medium-sized creatures.
Two of his own subordinates could have handled them easily, yet dozens of the Empire’s knights had died without landing a blow.
A chill of contempt flickered across Kaiden’s gaze, brief as ice.

“Haven’t there been reports of monsters descending from the Mountain Range lately, running amok?”
“Didn’t you clear them not long ago? Surely they haven’t appeared in the area again?”
“They need to appear again.”
“Sir?”
“So that some accident befalls the Delegation.”

Recalling the Grand Duke’s casually delivered command after the Delegation had departed, a chill crawled up his spine.
To feed the Delegation—alive—to the monsters.
He had never seen the Grand Duke display such ruthlessness.
That man was indifferent to the idle chatter of others.
Yet suddenly, his blood ran cold.
If his wits had been even slightly slower, he would have earned the Grand Duke’s true displeasure.
Kaiden rubbed the gooseflesh from his forearms.
The reason monsters, endlessly hungry for human territories, had not yet breached this land was that the Grand Duke House stood in their way.
To earn the displeasure of His Grace—a man whose depths were unfathomable, whose very humanity was in question?
The thought alone was unbearable.
“Let’s move out.”
He shook off the dreadful thoughts, gave orders to the knights who had participated in the hunt, and flicked his reins.
It was time to dispose of beasts that had outlived their usefulness.

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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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