Rewriting the Trash Ending - Chapter 25

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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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25.

Lumiere turned away from Erica and approached her.
“Step aside.”
“But…….”
Bellia hesitated, her face rigid.
To falter at such an urgent moment.
Rather than repeat herself, Lumiere pushed Bellia aside and knelt quietly before Erica.
“Look at me.”
“Gasp—wheeze, wheeze—gasp…….”
Did she not hear a word?
Erica could only heave for breath, her head lolling.
‘First things first—this suffocating dress needs attention.’
She loosened the strings cinching Erica’s waist and spoke again, more firmly.
“Look at me.”
Erica lifted her head with a contorted expression.
Her amber eyes, brimming with tears, swam out of focus.
“Now, follow my lead and breathe slowly with me.”
Breathe in—exhale…….
Breathe in—exhale…….
Demonstrating calmly while holding her gaze, Lumiere watched as Erica began to struggle through the motions, steadying her own breath.
“That’s right, you’re doing well.”
She ran her hand gently down Erica’s back, continuing to guide her breathing.
“Yes, just like that. You’re managing beautifully.”
Admirably, Erica followed her instructions with effort, gradually regulating her breath.
How much time had passed?
The ragged gasps slowly subsided, and the tension that had locked her body began to drain away.
“Hanna, prepare a room for her to rest.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
What this young lady needed now was not the attention of others, nor grand words of comfort.
It was a quiet space where she could be alone.
Lumiere drew the limp Erica into her arms and patted her soothingly.
‘I’d heard she was delicate, but…….’
She had never witnessed it firsthand, so she’d never imagined it could be this severe.
Her heart stirred with concern.
Part of it was for the cruelty of the situation that had befallen the young lady, but it was also because the memory of the late Countess of House of Oswald had come to mind.
The Countess had been one of the few people toward whom Lumiere had felt a debt in her past life.
“I’m—I’m so sorry…….”
“It’s all right. I understand your feelings, but let’s focus on helping you recover first.”
Lumiere held the exhausted Erica close and lowered her gaze.
A clear footprint was pressed into the hem of her dress.
As she stared at the mark for a moment, she lifted her head at the shadow of Hanna falling across the floor.
“Your Highness, the room is prepared.”
“Show her the way.”
“Yes, my lady, this way…….”
Lumiere watched Erica depart from the Greenhouse, supported by Hanna, and found herself remembering her past life.
That time when she had turned her back on the world, and the castle and its surroundings fell into chaos.
There was talk that the Countess of House of Oswald, approaching her seventies, had cancelled her birthday celebration with a memorable remark.

“The Grand Duke is shrouded in sorrow—what face would this old woman have to hold a feast?”

Sorrow, she said…….
At the time, she had thought it ridiculous.
There had been no shortage of those who mocked her death or raged that it was a burden to bear.
But the moment she saw the elderly lady come with aching joints and quietly console Axid.
She understood that what the Countess had truly grasped was Axid’s grief.
It was only natural to feel gratitude and a debt of honor toward a woman who had understood his heart so deeply.
She let go of her reverie and turned her gaze away.
The young ladies stood frozen, uncertain what to do with themselves.
“You all must have been quite startled.”
“Oh, no, Your Highness.”
“We’ve gone to considerable trouble for this gathering—we can’t let it end like this. Have everything prepared again shortly.”
As Lumiere instructed the maids to clean, they exchanged bewildered glances with one another.
They’d heard she’d been expelled from the Empire for causing trouble, and that she’d stirred up chaos even after arriving at the Grand Duke’s Castle.
This was not the behavior one would expect from such a person.
The young ladies gazed at how swiftly the situation had been resolved, their eyes alight with something like admiration.
…….
And standing among them, Bellia’s eyes had turned cold as she bit gently at the inside of her mouth.

***

Gentlemen’s Club, capital of Winterheim.
While his daughter was attending her audience with the Grand Duchess, Count Oswald sat nursing a glass of wine alone when he noticed a man approaching and his brow furrowed.
Count Pandro, Foreign Minister.
They clashed over duties constantly, and their political leanings differed so greatly that their antagonism had calcified into something permanent.
Beyond that, he was a man given to all manner of underhanded dealings, which made him thoroughly distasteful.
“Count Oswald, I wonder if you should be lounging about here so comfortably.”
“…What do you mean by that?”
“Your daughter has gone to attend an audience with Her Highness, and you haven’t a care in the world?”
“Mind your own affairs.”
“Mind my own affairs? What if your daughter were to have a seizure? What would you do then?”
He shot to his feet.
His hand shot out, seizing Pandro by the collar and twisting it roughly.
“How dare you speak of such things so carelessly!”
Years ago.
It was a condition born from the shock of losing her mother before her very eyes in a monster attack.
How could this man dare mention his daughter’s wound so lightly?
“Heh, I speak only out of concern. As it happens, my own daughter is also attending an audience with Her Highness.”
“You…!”
If your daughter caused trouble for mine, wouldn’t it be I who suffered?
That was what he meant.
Count Oswald glared with bloodshot eyes as though he might tear him to pieces.
“My lord, I have urgent news.”
“What is it?”
“I believe it would be best if you returned at once.”
His attendant glanced at Count Pandro and spoke carefully, whereupon Pandro nodded knowingly.
“Urgent business seems to have arisen. Do go attend to it.”
…….
Count Oswald released Pandro’s collar roughly and hurried from the club.
“What happened to Erica?”
“She collapsed during the audience, my lord.”
His face hardened at the attendant’s report.

“…Erica, you wish to attend the audience ceremony? What are you saying?”
“You didn’t attend the State Wedding, and if I were to miss the audience as well, what would the Grand Duke think of our house?”
“It’s impossible. I cannot permit it.”
“Father, I don’t want to be a burden to our family, much less a source of harm. Please, I’m asking you to allow it.”

He’d warned her sternly again and again that he would not consent, for he could not bear to see his daughter hurt.
Ever since she’d had a seizure in front of everyone years before.
His daughter had been gravely wounded and had withdrawn entirely from society.
Yet her resolve had been so firm that he’d eventually had no choice but to relent.
‘If I’d known it would come to this, I should have stopped her by force….’
Count Oswald descended from the carriage with a rigid expression.
Whether his daughter was safe, and whether she hadn’t been hurt again.
And whether Her Highness the Grand Duchess had not taken offense.
Worries clung to him like shadows.
“Count Oswald?”
“……Your Highness?”
Count Oswald stopped in his tracks.
The figure standing before the manor was no servant—it was the Grand Duchess herself.
The Grand Duchess had come to receive him in person.
“Your Highness, it is an honor to receive you.”
He bowed with an anxious expression.
Though the Grand Duchess stood before him, his mind remained fixed on his daughter, likely unconscious somewhere within the castle walls.
“Erica is resting inside. She has suffered no injuries, so please do not worry yourself overmuch.”
The tension that had gripped his shoulders began to ease at her words.
And yet.
“…I must apologize on behalf of my daughter. For disrupting the gathering Your Highness had so carefully prepared—I know you must be displeased, but I beg your forgiveness.”
Watching the Grand Duchess handle the Empire’s envoy in the banquet hall had shown him she was no ordinary woman.
The graceful smile with which she had received those near-dowry gifts, and the magnanimity with which she had returned them to the Emperor’s messenger—both spoke to her exceptional character.
Yet no matter how extraordinary she was, she could hardly look kindly upon a daughter who had caused a disturbance at her first formal audience.
Erica had damaged not only propriety but also a carefully orchestrated occasion.
“Displeased? On the contrary, I found it rather admirable.”
“I beg your pardon……?”
Lumiere smiled softly and continued.
“I know well what courage it took for your daughter to come here today.”
“Your Highness…….”
“So come inside without worry. Erica will be waiting for you.”
He found himself unable to speak, emotion welling up in his chest.
Until now, he had heard nothing but hollow words about his daughter.
That she was pitiable. That she was wretched.
Useless platitudes about what would become of her, afflicted with such a terrible condition—words that offered no comfort at all.
But this was the first time anyone had truly acknowledged his daughter’s effort.
He could not yet say whether this kindness was genuine or a calculated mask.
‘Perhaps Erica’s courage today was not wasted after all…….’
At the very least, his daughter had finally met someone who saw her for who she truly was.
For Erica, such a day would surely be worth its weight in gold.
He gathered his tangled emotions and followed her inside.

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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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