Rewriting the Trash Ending - Chapter 48

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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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48.

Days ago, he’d felt embarrassed asking her for separate rooms, yet now his steps toward the bedroom came far too quickly.
“…Oh? You’re here?”
Lumiere sat before her vanity, brushing through her hair with practiced ease as she prepared for sleep.
The question came so casually, as if she’d forgotten what had transpired days before—as if today, too, had been ordinary.
“What is it? Why are you looking at me like that? Is something on my face?”
In that moment, he understood why he couldn’t bear to be without her.
He loved Bi.
He reached out to her tilted cheek impulsively.
His calloused fingertips grazed the corner of her eye.
He felt unworthy even to touch her freely—and so he merely brushed against her skin with infinite care.
……
A person so precious that giving her only treasures would never be extravagant enough.
Yet weren’t you yourself such a person—one who deserved only the finest?
“…There was some dust on your face.”
He withdrew his hand awkwardly, offering the excuse.
She blinked slowly, then steered the conversation away with palpable unease.
“By the way, do you like the Couch? I think it’s quite nice. How about we take turns sleeping in the bed from now on?”
“I will yield the bed to Bi.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Even so, that is what I wish to do.”
His low voice resonated through the quiet room.
Perhaps because he could no longer deny what he felt.
His voice was deeper and softer than usual.
“You didn’t sleep a wink caring for me yesterday, so today I’ll give you my place and sleep on the Couch.”
“I have no wish to take a sick person’s rest.”
“But I’m better now…”
He exchanged a few more trivial words with her before settling onto the Couch with a quiet laugh.
Perhaps her strength hadn’t fully returned, for it wasn’t long before Bi’s breathing grew even and deep as sleep claimed her.
……
Axid sat with his back against the Couch, gazing into the darkness.
She was near enough that he could touch her with only the slightest stretch of his arm.
The distance between them felt dangerously small—something he could cross at any moment—yet the firm Couch held him in place.
Without even this barrier, he would have pulled that small form into his arms long ago, pretending it was a mistake made in sleep.
Listening to Bi’s breathing as she slept, he gave a quiet, bitter laugh.
The moment he lifted the white veil and saw her smile.
No—since that moment in the Imperial Palace when she had smiled brilliantly at him and willingly offered her hand.
Perhaps his heart flowing toward her had been inevitable from the start.
But all he could offer was merely a respectable home.
With a body like his, he could never give her even ordinary happiness.
…And even if he were to leave, he would have no right to hold her back.
In time, alone and abandoned, all he would be able to do was treasure the warmth she had given him in memory.
The thought that he would have to live his whole life on that one memory alone left him breathless with despair.
Yet he dared not be greedy.
He was the kind of person who should be grateful simply that she remained by his side, even briefly.
So he should be thankful for even this moment, listening to her breath.
He closed his eyes, imprinting the sound of her sleeping breath into his memory with the weight of goodbye.

***

Several days had passed.
“His Majesty has ordered the confiscation of Count Mobert’s assets and titles, so there should be no further occasion to encounter him.”
Lumiere nodded at Tera’s words.
“I see.”
Well, of course he couldn’t enter the Grand Duke’s Residence anymore, and he would certainly be barred from society.
‘I suppose I can put him out of mind now.’
Her husband was the sort of man who, once he made a decision, saw it through to the end.
With such a man having made his decision, it was certain that his aunt would never enjoy a peaceful life again.
‘Still, my husband seems rather strange these days.’
Whatever wind had blown through him, since his return he stayed only within the castle walls.
And more than that.

“I merely wished to draw a clear line between myself and Lumiere. We are hardly the sort to share a bed and grow affectionate, are we?”

‘Yet here he is, building walls against me, and still coming faithfully to the bedchamber every night.’
Lately, whenever she opened her eyes, he was already there.
She couldn’t say if it was mere fancy, but each time it seemed their eyes met in that peculiar way.
‘I’m hardly one for self-consciousness, but what on earth am I thinking.’
This was a man who had bowed before the Emperor for a bride-to-be who’d declared her life finished rather than marry, and who had not forgotten to observe her memorial day for ten years.
She had seen him collapse after hearing such harsh words from his aunt—if his manner hadn’t changed, that would be far stranger.
It must be nothing but a sense of responsibility.
‘…So why does my chest ache?’
She tilted her head briefly, then set the thought aside.
“In any case, is the Handover now complete?”
“Yes, you’ve worked hard, Countess.”
Tera smiled softly.
Typically, when a new mistress arrived, understanding the household and adapting to it took several months alone.
There was the account ledger to review, storerooms to inspect, servants to assess, and personnel matters to address.
Such time was necessary to secure the Household Authority.
Particularly, the larger the estate, the longer that period stretched.
Yet remarkably, the Countess had managed to complete nearly all of it within a single month.
“Work, nothing of the sort—you were the one who labored. Your dedication these past weeks has been considerable. Having seen it firsthand, I find it no trivial matter.”
“That you should speak so kindly, Countess, only humbles me further.”
Lumiere let out a quiet laugh.
Having wielded such formidable power through the Household Authority all this time, one might have expected her to harbor greed.
In her relieved expression, Lumiere sensed a true devotion to the Grand Duke’s House.
“Tell me, what is the mood among the servants these days?”
“To speak frankly, they all seem rather wary of the Countess.”
……
Lumiere fell silent.
She had sensed as much already.
It was as if everyone held their breath and watched nervously at the mere sight of her shadow.
‘And well they might.’
She had driven out merchants, replaced the attendant maids, ordered soldiers to search the quarters, and disposed of the Countess Mobert, among other things.
At this rate, one might call her an incident manufacturer, given how much had occurred.
In any case, the tension hung thick as ice underfoot, and it had reached even her own senses.
“Fear is unavoidable, perhaps, but I cannot leave matters as they stand.”
Excessive fear makes people careless, or desperate to hide their mistakes.
What I need is a servant who performs her duties correctly.
“Chamberlain, in this affair, were there not those who fulfilled their tasks without wavering?”
“Yes.”
“Prepare a list for me.”
Tera blinked, looking puzzled.
“Are you intending to offer rewards, Countess?”
“Of course—I’ve done nothing but crack the whip in the name of maintaining order.”
“I see. I shall prepare it at once. What form should the reward take?”
“Would time off and bonuses suffice?”
“Those who depend on their wages may not welcome leave, Countess. How shall we address that concern?”
Thinking on it, there was no concept of paid leave in these parts.
“It should not be deducted from their wages—it is a reward, after all.”
Once the reward was given, in a little time the atmosphere would improve as if nothing had happened.
After all, she had wielded her authority not without cause.
In any case, the household staff could be managed thus, but what remained was society itself.
Too much time had passed to reopen the formal presentation ceremony that had fizzled out.
So it seemed best to hold an afternoon gathering instead, making a proper appearance in society.
The incident with Count Mobert’s house had left no appetite for a grand reception, yet she could hardly forgo some formal occasion to compensate for the failed presentation.

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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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