Rewriting the Trash Ending - Chapter 27

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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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27.

Brow furrowed as though suppressing something, eyes gleaming sharper than usual.
Lumiere swallowed dryly without meaning to.
“I…”
She wanted to offer some excuse, but her lips felt frozen, and no words came.
“If you’ve no wish to suffer my displeasure, I’d advise you to stop.”
His voice came rough and low, his grip tightening with quiet force.
Those dark eyes burned with unmistakable clarity—the promise that he could do anything he pleased.
‘What… what is this?’
Heat flooded Lumiere’s face.
She was always the one doing the teasing; caught off guard by his intensity for the first time, her heart began to race wildly.
‘I wouldn’t mind anything he did, but…’
His curse would stop him anyway. She knew that.
Yet as the warmth of his body pressed against hers, the scent of him enveloping her senses, her mind began to blur white with sensation.
Then he released her wrist.
“Go to sleep now.”
He turned away quietly, as though nothing had happened.
Lumiere felt a strange pang of loss and whispered in a voice so small it was almost inaudible.
“Yes… you too, Your Grace…”
Thump, thump, thump.
Terrified her racing heartbeat would give her away, she pulled the blankets up over her head.
A moment ago she’d joked that she hadn’t been sleeping well; now she suspected that would become the truth.

***

Axid stared down at the mountain of documents awaiting his signature, then finally set down his pen.
He’d fled his chambers at dawn and spent hours wielding his sword, yet his mind remained trapped in last night’s bedroom.
The touch of her hand sliding across his body, her flushed cheeks, the heartbeat she could not hide.

The image of her undone by him kept returning.
A dangerous urge bloomed—to shake her composure once more.
If his hand were to caress the most intimate, delicate parts of her, what expression would she wear?
The thought of moisture glistening at the corners of her eyes, her lips parting with soft, urgent breaths, sent ice down his spine.
“I’m losing my mind.”
He exhaled sharply and dragged his rough palm across his face.
The skin beneath his hand had gone rigid.
Here he was, entertaining such fantasies about a woman who trusted him enough to sleep in his presence.
What difference was there between him and a rutting beast?
He felt contempt for himself, disgust at his own nature.
Then a sound came from beyond the door.
“Your Highness, may I enter for a moment?”
Axid composed his scattered expression and admitted Brian.
“What is it?”
“The Amberback Export Permit System has been implemented as of today.”
The Export Permit System.
The policy he had personally announced to the nobility not long ago.
Logging and domestic trade would remain unrestricted as before, but quantities crossing the border would be controlled.
Foreign merchants would acquire goods through the Northern Merchant Guild, and only those bearing a trade certificate issued by the guild could receive permits at the gates.
The practice of traveling through villages to scoop up resources at pittance prices was now fundamentally blocked.
“How many merchant companies have applied for permits?”
“The numbers remain small for now. However, rumors about Amberback have been spread to foreign lands, so it’s only a matter of time before outside merchants arrive.”
Axid nodded.
Amberback would become a significant source of revenue for the crown treasury.
It was all thanks to her for revealing its worth.
“The nobility have also begun renovating their logging operations. Once foreign merchants arrive and territorial revenues increase, they won’t be able to deny that they benefit from Her Highness’s wisdom.”
Brian continued with a faint smile playing at his lips.
“And here is the list of candidate knights for Her Highness’s personal guard.”
Axid gave a brief nod and took the list from Brian’s hands.
Every name on it was reliable—people of proven capability and trustworthy character.
But.
“Have Kaiden handle it.”
“…I’m sorry?”
Brian’s tone suggested he’d heard wrong.
Detaching the vice-commander of the main knights to serve as a bodyguard was plainly excessive from any strategic standpoint.
And the name wasn’t even on the list to begin with.
“Your Highness, will Kaiden consent to this without objection?”
When Brian asked with obvious concern, Axid replied with unmistakable firmness.
“If he should resist for any reason, tell him it’s my decision.”
“…I will convey that to him, then.”
Brian turned back to look at Axid even as he moved toward the door of the study.
Axid knew what that gaze was asking.
Kaiden was a man capable of holding sole responsibility for a crucial stronghold in wartime.
Tying such a man to bodyguard duty seemed unlike Axid himself—or so Brian was thinking.
But Axid had no intention of reversing the decision.
Kaiden, true to his nickname of the Mad Dog, had an instinct for danger sharper than anyone else’s.
There was no one better suited to guard against whatever threats might befall Belia.
Besides, with Kaiden there was no need to worry about him harboring any improper feelings toward her…….
“This is absurd.”
Here he was, worrying whether some other man might develop such feelings for Belia.
The irony of his earlier suspicion of Kaiden struck him as almost laughable.
The man truly dangerous to Belia was himself—the one who shared her bed.
Belia needed to understand something.
Pressing herself against a man that way beneath the same blanket was no different from begging to be consumed.
That innocent trust of hers—how she never once guarded against the man beside her in bed—could one day put her in real danger.
Even he, who had never cared for women in his life, was crumbling like this.
Yet suddenly a memory surfaced, and his jaw clenched slowly.

“I don’t like it.”

Her face pouting and peeking out just above the blanket she’d pulled over her head.
His hand sliding slowly downward along her scarred body.
Even the way her face had flushed crimson in an instant at his warning.
If someday all of that were to be directed toward someone else…….
He narrowed his brow and adjusted his grip on the pen.
Belia’s future was Belia’s to decide.
It was none of his concern to meddle in.
Yet the fact that she showed virtually no wariness toward men troubled him.
She was the kind of person who had once given her heart to someone like Duke Trobytan—a man who did nothing but boast of his strength—simply because she was lonely.
“…….”
He halted abruptly, feeling an unexpected wave of displeasure.
…This wasn’t jealousy or anything like that.
It was simply that someone as good as her shouldn’t be hurt again by being led astray by that sort of man.
This was the concern a husband ought rightfully to feel.

***

An elegant carriage pulled up to the estate of the Count of Moberg.
“Welcome, Miss Belia.”
Belia smiled warmly at the butler who greeted her with perfect courtesy.
“Is the Countess inside?”
“Yes, she awaits you in the parlor. Please, this way.”
As Belia followed the butler into the manor, she recalled the conversation between the young ladies.

“…What happened at the Audience Reception was certainly shocking, but wasn’t it impressive how she handled it?”
“I was so flustered I couldn’t do anything, but how does Her Highness stay so composed…….”
“To think someone so calm would attempt such a thing—it’s disturbing that rumors have spread so maliciously, even if the Empire is disliked.”

By all expectations, the Grand Duke’s wife and Erika should have become laughingstocks in that very moment.
‘…but to handle the situation so swiftly and cleanly.’
Every rumor circulating through the Northern Region’s social circles about the Grand Duke’s wife was her own handiwork.
It was a carefully planted rumor, cultivated with her father’s help—a man well-versed in foreign affairs—but…….
A single appearance the Grand Duke’s wife made at the Audience Reception threatened to shake it all to its roots.
The plan had been to isolate her from society, render her incompetent, and completely seal off any possibility of winning the Grand Duke’s favor.
Perhaps she was a more formidable opponent than anticipated.
‘For all that, she’s still just a woman who’ll bear an heir and fade away.’
Her dark eyes, as if shadowed by verdant foliage, had gone cold and distant—but only for a moment.
The instant the drawing room door opened, her gaze softened into something gentler.
“Do come in, my dear.”
“It’s been far too long, madam.”
Magda plunged straight to business the moment Belia took her seat.
“I’ve heard there was some commotion at the Audience Reception. How did the Grand Duke’s wife seem? Flustered that we didn’t attend?”
“You’ve already heard the news, then.”
Belia feigned surprise.
It truly was remarkable how carelessly she made no effort to hide the fact that she had spies in the Grand Duke’s residence.
“Of course. How else could I properly look after my nephew if I didn’t know what went on in his household?”
His household.
As if she herself were family to the Grand Duke’s house.
Belia lowered her eyes, concealing a cold, bitter laugh.
“She showed no signs of discomfort whatsoever.”
“None at all……?”
“From the look of her complexion, it seemed she’d actually spent the whole morning resting quite comfortably.”
Magda’s eyebrows shot upward.
The ladies of influential families had openly refused the invitation, and yet she rested easy?
How could one possibly do such a thing without showing contempt for the deep-rooted noble houses of the Northern Region?
“It seems our dear niece hasn’t yet learned her station, simply from sitting at her uncle’s side.”
When Magda let out a derisive snort, Belia spoke with meaningful weight.
“…which is why I believe this time you yourself must intervene, madam.”
“Myself?”
“A blood relative of the Grand Duke coming forward directly would carry far more weight than a mere noblewoman like myself.”
Magda’s tightly pursed lips slowly relaxed.
In truth, had Magda not been Axid’s aunt, befriending a daughter of the Foreign Minister like Belia would have been far beyond her station.
But now that Belia had humbled herself to flatter her, Magda couldn’t help but be delighted.
“It seems mere noblewoman won’t suffice, so I suppose I have no choice but to step in myself.”
“Before your presence, even the Princess wouldn’t dare to treat the Northern Region’s social circles with disdain.”
“That’s true enough. What’s a princess, after all? She holds no sway before me.”
Magda laughed arrogantly and lifted her teacup.
Blood relations were always thus.
No matter how displeased one might be, one could not easily cast them aside.
No matter how much the Grand Duke’s wife struggled, so long as her nephew did not reject Magda, she would inevitably be forced to bow before her.
“I wonder if she’ll maintain such composure before me.”
Magda set down her teacup with satisfaction, then as if something had just occurred to her, she asked:
“By the way, I heard the Finance Minister’s daughter collapsed. What happened there?”
“I didn’t expect such a thing to occur either. I knew Erika had some chronic ailment, but…….”
“This is precisely why a household needs a proper adult in charge. If Count Oswald’s widow hadn’t died, her daughter wouldn’t have ended up like that. Tsk, tsk.”
Belia watched Magda with quiet scorn.
Was she truly calling herself that ‘proper adult’?
Without the late Grand Duke’s wife, she would have been nothing but a marginal figure in the social circles.
It was convenient that she didn’t have to act herself, though she couldn’t help but find it rather absurd.
For a moment, the thought crossed her mind: would the Grand Duke truly abandon the Countess?
‘He’s left her be until now, so it should be fine for a while longer.’
She lifted her teacup as if to brush away needless thoughts.

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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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