Rewriting the Trash Ending - Chapter 39

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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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39.

***

For the past few days, Lumiere had kept herself occupied with tasks that made her look at leisure on the surface but consumed her beneath—quite busy, in fact.
Checking stores, tidying the grounds, confirming and adjusting the schedule ahead.
It was a rather pleasant time, doing things she had never done in her previous life.
Except for the matter of her husband still showing no sign of returning.
“Sigh…….”
Lumiere ran her hand over the large Couch Sofa she had brought in that afternoon, exhaling softly.
The velvet felt smooth and supple beneath her palm.
She had deliberately prepared an extra-large size, knowing full well that he would yield the bed to her.
She had meant to prepare a gift for him, but instead, his sudden request for separate rooms had turned the sofa into the gift itself.
‘I wish he would come back soon.’
The bedroom without him felt vast and barren.
She had been accustomed to solitude, yet after spending only a handful of nights with him, she had grown accustomed to his presence.
“He told me not to wait, but here I am making it difficult.”
It seemed he intended to stay at the Fortress for quite a long time, and she wanted nothing more than to drag him back by force.
Apart from the loneliness of the hollow bedroom, she simply wished for him to rest comfortably at home.
‘Did I perhaps push too hard?’
Perhaps was putting it mildly—she had pushed far too hard.
A man who had never properly spoken to a woman, and she had pulled him straight to bed, then held him as she slept.
She had been far too indulgent of her own desires.
After all, in her previous life, she had been a phantom unable to even embrace his back.
During all those long years when she could not touch him, the tender longing she had bottled up inside spilled over beyond her control.
Toward a man who had walked that long road alone, unaware of his own loneliness.
‘At this rate, the closer I press, the further he will retreat.’
It seemed best to take a step back in order to move forward.
If she pushed any further, they might end up living as weekend partners forever—a thought that gripped her with a sense of crisis.
So she resolved to honor the line he had drawn, for his sake.
She would simply wait here.
With her heart wide open, ready for him to cross over whenever he wished.
Lumiere smiled wryly as she stroked the sofa, then turned to Hanna.
“I should retire to bed soon. Come, help me with my hair first.”
Once Lumiere, dressed in a light Chemise, settled before the vanity, Hanna began combing through her locks.
“Your Highness’s hair is truly beautiful, with such fine texture. It’s so white, just like snow, and when you touch it, it’s as soft as silk.”
“Is it? I used to absolutely despise my hair, actually.”
“Really? But it’s so lovely—why?”
Hanna’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“Well, it didn’t look beautiful to me at the time.”
“Not at all, Your Highness. To my eyes, it’s as lovely as snow.”
The truth was, back then she had hated it because it resembled her mother’s, and she thought it had earned the Emperor’s coldness toward her.
But there was no need to dredge up such dark history.
“Even so, I don’t despise it as I once did.”
Rather, she had come to appreciate this appearance that resembled the land she would come to love.
Lumiere picked up one of the perfume bottles arranged on the vanity and handed it to Hanna.
“In any case, I think I’ll wear this scent tonight.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
It was a Perfume that Tera had prepared in advance for the new lady of the house before she arrived in the Northern Region.
But then.
The moment the Perfume was spritzed.
A sour, putrid stench burst through the room.
It was a horrible smell, so foul that merely breathing it made her lungs feel as though they were rotting away.
“Your Highness, I’m so sorry! I should have checked beforehand—!”
With her eyes clamped shut, Lumiere fell silent for a moment, then waved her hand through the air as she spoke.
“We need to air this out.”
“Just a moment, Your Highness. At least wrap yourself in a Blanket.”
Hanna hurried to fetch a Blanket, draped it around her shoulders, and threw open the windows.
Why is such a foul smell coming from a perfume that was perfectly fine just yesterday?
Hanna opened the perfume bottles with a grim expression.
“They all smell strange.”
Lumiere wrinkled her nose at the lemon scent wafting from the perfume bottle.
“Looks like someone mixed lemon juice into them.”
Which meant the perfume had spoiled.
Her lips curved into a thin smile.
The warehouse incident could be dismissed as a mistake, but this was a deliberate act that admitted no such excuse.
“I’ll need to have a word with the kitchen staff tomorrow morning.”
“The kitchen staff?”
“The culprit has to be in the kitchen.”
“The culprit?”
Hanna’s face hardened as the gravity of the situation finally sank in.
She’d been too flustered to think clearly at first, but now that she understood how serious this was, a chill ran down her spine.
“Why would they target the perfume of all things…….”
Lumiere closed the perfume bottle as she answered.
“Well, we’ll find out once we catch them.”
Since managing my attendant’s needs and belongings fell to the Exclusive Maid, they may have wanted to see her cast out from my side. Or perhaps they simply wanted to get at me.
Though ultimately, their target was me.
‘If they’re so eager to die, I should oblige them.’
Lumiere already knew who the mudfish was.
Now that they’d dared to break into her bedroom and lay hands on her possessions, she could not let this pass.

***

Early dawn.
Pale light filled the Grand Duke’s Castle kitchen.
Britta, who’d been baking bread since early morning, kept glancing sideways.
Hanna was preparing a simple breakfast to be brought to Bi-jeonha’s bedroom.
‘Not a peep.’
Yesterday afternoon.
She’d ruined all of Bi-jeonha’s perfume, yet Hanna remained eerily calm.
Britta furrowed her brow in thought for a moment before asking casually.
“You haven’t been sleeping well lately, have you?”
“Pardon?”
“Your eyes are dark underneath. Is something troubling you?”
“Troubling me? Nothing of the sort. Everything’s fine.”
Hanna answered curtly and continued her work, whereupon Britta reached out with an easy laugh.
“Oh, if you slice fresh bread like that, you’ll crush the inside. Here, let me help you.”
“No. I’ll do it.”
Hanna shifted the tray away so Britta’s hand couldn’t reach it.
She used to accept anything with good humor.
Now that she’d become an Exclusive Maid, she’d grown rather proud.
Britta swallowed her discomfort and spoke carefully.
“I still can’t quite figure out what kind of person Bi-jeonha is.”
Hanna flinched and stopped cutting, and Britta continued with a doubtful tone.
“She seemed fine at first, but then incidents started happening, so I’m a bit confused.”
Hanna fell silent for a moment, as if considering something, then spoke in a slightly lower voice.
“…What’s there to be confused about? We just do our work, that’s all.”
“Just leave things as they were. You’ve reshuffled all the perfectly good workers for no reason and wasted good meat in the process.”
Britta clicked her tongue at the waste and leaned slightly toward Hanna.
“But what do you think, Hanna? You’re her Exclusive Maid, so you must see things up close.”
“…She’s a good person. And capable, above all.”
It was an unconvincing answer.
Whether she truly believed Bi-jeonha was good, or whether she had much to say but kept silent out of loyalty to her role as Exclusive Maid, it was unclear.
“My, have you forgotten how good people were dismissed after Bi-jeonha arrived? How hard everyone worked to meet the Wedding Ceremony Date?”
“That was…….”
“Surely you’ve seen at least one thing that struck you as wrong?”
Rather than answer, Hanna pressed her lips firmly together.
Clearly, there was something she wanted to say about Bi-jeonha.
‘That’s the way of it, isn’t it—with Empire folk.’
No matter how benevolent they appeared on the surface, it was clear they secretly despised those they kept close, treating them as savages unworthy of respect.
Britta’s voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper as she pressed for the answer she wanted.
“Don’t hold back. If there’s something weighing on your heart, tell me freely. I won’t breathe a word of it.”
Hanna’s expression hardened, her tone turning glacial.
“Surely you haven’t forgotten what happened to Beki?”
The words landed like a blade aimed at Britta’s throat, and her hand stilled.

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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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