Rewriting the Trash Ending - Chapter 44

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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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44.

How could this be happening?
Magda had waited for this day ever since she was humiliated by the Grand Duke’s consort in Gohiyeon.
She had dreamed of the moment when she would twist that arrogant, insufferable face—a woman who had been scorned by the imperial court her entire life yet carried herself with such contempt.
And yet.
“I’m grateful, really. It saved me so much trouble that you trusted me so readily and came all this way.”
Violet eyes gleaming with condescension, looking down from on high.
Lips curved in mockery.
An air of leisure draped across her frame.
The moment Magda realized that the Grand Duke’s consort had been toying with her from beginning to end, fury rose so violently that her vision flooded with red.
“You said you would willingly take charge of the Grand Duke’s Estate’s affairs?”
Lumiere’s lip trembled as she let out a soft laugh.
“And what face could you possibly show after staging all that commotion?”
……!
“I think it would be better to worry about how to preserve what’s left to preserve.”
Magda’s face drained of color, then took on a sickly pallor.
What’s left to preserve.
The funds had already been cut off, and she couldn’t pay her debts.
If she didn’t receive funding from the Grand Duke’s household again, she would have to sell off the treasures she’d painstakingly collected at a pittance.
When that happened, on top of the rumors that her nephew had abandoned her, she would surely be treated as a pauper.
To have those noble ladies—the ones whose favor she’d curried with flattery and forced smiles—witness her humiliation.
“Ah, unlike you, I’ve never even managed a modest household, so surely you needn’t worry at all with your outstanding abilities?”
Sharp as thorns, the mockery lanced through her heart, and shame flooded her entire body.
“Truly, this is too much. What grave sin have I committed that you humiliate me so?”
“I’ll let the years of spying on this estate pass. But the person you hired set foot in my private chamber without permission—isn’t that a grave sin?”
“I didn’t order that……!”
“I wonder if that excuse would hold up before my husband.”
Even she herself, who had lived at his side all these years, could only borrow her nephew’s authority and watch her step.
And here came this bearer of heirs, this woman who’d blown in like tumbleweeds, wielding her nephew like a shield before her.
Magda’s trembling gaze suddenly turned venomous, eyes flashing upward.
“It was my brother who brought His Highness into this world!”
…….
“My brother’s son, born at the cost of his life—is it a sin that I should look after him?”
Lumiere blinked slowly, then let out a hollow laugh as if finding the notion absurd.
“I don’t see how tormenting me amounts to caring for His Highness…….”
She found it amusing no matter how she thought about it, laughing softly for a moment before the smile faded entirely.
“But why are you taking credit for it?”
“Pardon……?”
“My husband had a mother who gave him life. Why do you act as though you’re taking credit for being that woman?”
Me, taking credit as though I were His Highness’s mother?
Something snapped in her mind in that instant, and words she’d held back for years suddenly poured out like a torrent.
“A mere bearer of heirs should know her place. Yet you parade around as if you were the true Grand Duke’s consort—is that not beneath Your Highness?”
Blood vessels traced crimson across her eyes, her entire frame quaking with rage.
“Do you think there’s anyone in the North who truly regards Your Highness as the lady of this house? Not at all—they mock you behind your back without end.”
The nobles of Winterheim themselves had begged her to convince her nephew to give even that position of bearer of heirs to the princess.
And this woman dared to dismiss her so!
It was then that Lumiere’s expression, which had been smirking, began to harden.
“That’s enough.”
Enough?
No.
Magda had no intention of stopping until she saw that proud face crumple with shame.
“Your Highness should abandon your airs as mistress of this house and instead use that skill of yours—seducing men, as befits a concubine born of a common dancer—to delight our nephew. What say you?”
“You should close that mouth of yours.”
Lumiere’s tone was firm, a second warning, but it never reached the ears of the enraged Magda.
“Close it? I’m educating Your Highness on your proper station right now……!”
Yet slowly, the voice of the raging Magda began to fade.
Those violet eyes—they were no longer looking at her, but above her head.
The silence had grown so thick that even breathing seemed to vanish.
But worse than that was the cold that crept down her spine from behind—a chill that bit at her skin like frost.
An ominous wrongness made her neck stiffen, and before she could think, her head turned slowly around.
“……!”
Magda’s breath caught in her throat.
The Grand Duke stood behind her.
His black eyes were cast downward, but his gaze bore down on her like a hammer driving a nail.
“I—I, Your Highness…”
The X-shaped scar on his right temple twisted as his face contorted with barely restrained violence.
Magda had never seen her nephew look like this before.
The nephew who was always cold and expressionless was now radiating killing intent so openly it was obscene.
The hot fury that had been roiling inside her froze in an instant, replaced by suffocating terror.
Those black eyes held only contempt and revulsion—as though she were something beneath his notice.
The Duchess consort’s sigh seemed to reproach her for not having held her tongue long ago.
“That is, Your Highness, I mean to say…….”
Magda’s mind went white.
When had he even come to stand behind her?
No matter what she tried to say, her trembling lips produced nothing but empty excuses.
She could barely remain upright on legs that shook beneath her.
Acide withdrew his gaze from Magda and spoke.
“What were all of you doing while she was spouting such nonsense?”
“Forgive us, Your Highness.”
Tera bowed her head, and Acide’s eyes shifted to Kaiden.
“If I assign you to guard her, then you should have removed this trash from my sight before it ever came to this.”
“My apologies.”
At the icy rebuke, Kaiden bit his lip and stood at attention, whereupon Lumiere rose from her seat.
“It’s not their fault. I was the one who insisted on waiting and convinced them to hold back.”
Acide regarded her with an unreadable expression, then gave a quiet order.
“Lock the Countess in the Underground Dungeon.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Kaiden seized Magda and Britta by the arms.
“No, release me this instant! What is the meaning of this!”
“These are the Duke’s orders.”
“Your Highness, you’d confine me over something so trivial? Have you forgotten who I am!”
Magda thrashed against his iron grip, her voice rising.
“Your Highness, Your Highness, nooo!”
Behind her, he could hear someone calling out his name in anguish, but he did not turn.
He only gazed at Lumiere with darkened eyes.
“She was never worth my direct attention.”
“…….”
“…I had meant to handle this myself to prevent such incidents in the future.”
He seemed to realize that further words would only be excuses, so he fell silent and furrowed his brow.
“Grand Duke…….”
Lumiere lifted herself up and opened her mouth to speak.
That was what she had meant to do herself.
She should have silenced such filth before it ever reached his ears.
But just as she was about to say it—
‘What? Why is my body…?’
The ground beneath her feet tilted, and her body lurched forward.
“…Your Highness?”
Acide caught her as she collapsed, his firm chest breaking her fall.
As her forehead came to rest against his cool chest, she realized her own body was burning like an ember.
This morning she’d thought she could still push through it, but now that the tension had released, the fever she’d been holding back came rushing in all at once.
“Tera, fetch the physician at once.”
Acide held her close as he gave the order to Tera.
Through her muffled ears, she heard hasty footsteps hurrying away.
‘There’s no need to make such a fuss.’
She gripped Acide’s arm and whispered weakly.
“Grand Duke, I’m fine. It’s just a cold…….”
But even as the words left her lips, her body betrayed her, every muscle going limp.
‘This is serious. I need to keep my wits about me…….’
She knew her husband would worry, and desperately wanted to show him she was fine, but she couldn’t muster the strength to move even a finger.
“Just… let me rest for a moment…….”
She squeezed out the last of her energy in a faint murmur, leaning her head against his chest.
Her body, no longer able to resist, went limp within the solid embrace, exhaustion washing over her.

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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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