Rewriting the Trash Ending - Chapter 54

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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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54.

“This is my ring. What on earth is it doing here……?”
At Belia’s words, Lumiere glanced between the ring and the Attendant’s face.
“Your, Your Highness. There’s been a misunderstanding. How could I ever presume to lay hands on something belonging to the young lady? I swear, this is terribly unjust.”
…….
As Lumiere fell silent, the Attendant trembled, his face draining of color.
To steal a guest’s belongings at an event hosted by the Grand Duchess herself.
Whether his neck or his wrists were severed, it would hardly be surprising.
In the frigid silence, Belia spoke with careful hesitation.
“…There must have been some misunderstanding. It was my grandmother’s keepsake, so I was startled for a moment, but surely the person Your Highness personally appointed wouldn’t have stolen my ring, would they?”
Her voice trailed away as she lowered her gaze.
She looked like a helpless young lady forced into silence by the weight of power—pitiable, almost.
“Your Highness, shouldn’t we interrogate this Attendant first?”
“If this isn’t his first offense, there could be other victims.”
The women exchanged sympathetic looks with Belia, offering their own murmurs of support.
Quite cunning, really.
Unlike Magda, who had pointed out the flaw openly, Belia played the victim with glistening eyes.
Without some clever intervention, she would have succeeded in having this innocent servant thrown into prison before all these guests.
But Lumiere had no intention of punishing him for a false charge.
“A misunderstanding, then? I’m relieved, young lady. I too never believed a servant of the Grand Duke’s Household would commit something so foolish.”
“Pardon?”
Had Belia truly imagined Lumiere would have no choice but to take her side in this moment?
Those emerald eyes trembled faintly.
“If this man was clearing away from near where you were sitting, he would have been watching the entire time. If he’d stolen it, you would have noticed right away, wouldn’t you?”
“That is…….”
“Ah, I see—the ring must have fallen in with the napkin and empty plate while he was clearing the table.”
Lumiere smiled gently, driving the point home as though the matter were now settled.
What could anyone say when she herself had determined it so?
Still, it would be a shame to leave things there without some response, so she decided to press a little further.
“By the way, you mentioned it was your grandmother’s keepsake?”
“Yes, but why…….”
“If something is so precious, shouldn’t you have kept it safely on your person? Why on earth did you leave it sitting on the table?”
A subtle flicker of doubt crossed the eyes of those who had just been pitying Belia.
Now that one thought about it, something didn’t quite add up.
To carelessly leave your grandmother’s heirloom on a table laden with refreshments—what if it got soiled?
The women’s puzzled gazes settled on Belia’s lips.
“That was… my hands were occupied for a moment, so I set it down…….”
As Belia continued speaking, her face stiffened and she pressed her lips together tightly.
Even she knew it was a pathetic excuse.
“In any case, because of your carelessness, this man nearly faced an unjust accusation. Don’t you have something to say about that?”
“…I apologize for the trouble I’ve caused.”
“You don’t owe me an apology. If anyone deserves one, it’s this man, who nearly came to ruin over a mere misunderstanding.”
Belia’s expression hardened, but only for an instant.
Soon she apologized with a mournful expression, as though she didn’t know where to put herself.
“…I’m sorry. I panicked when I thought I’d lost my grandmother’s keepsake.”
“It’s, it’s quite all right, young lady.”
The Attendant was at a loss, standing before an apology from the Foreign Minister’s daughter.
Lumiere quietly picked up the ring.
White cream was smeared across it messily.
“Since you say this is something precious to you, it troubles me. If you’d like, I could have it cleaned properly before returning it. If you don’t tend to it promptly, won’t the precious ring become stained?”
“No, Your Highness. It was my mistake, and I couldn’t possibly trouble someone else with it.”
Lumiere carefully wrapped the ring in a clean napkin and pressed it firmly into Belia’s palm.
“Do take better care of it from now on. It would be most unfortunate to lose something so precious.”
“…Yes, Your Highness. I’ll remember your words. Thank you for your concern.”
Lumiere nodded, then turned to the Attendant.
“You must be shaken. Let’s leave it at that for today—go back to your quarters and rest.”
“Th, thank you, Your Highness.”
The Attendant departed, trembling hands still clutching the tray.
The moment that had nearly brought scandal was smoothed away without further incident.
“With such a wise mistress, the household staff must feel truly secure.”
The Countess’s remark, spoken into the now-quiet Greenhouse, carried a tone of genuine warmth.
Her low, measured voice was suffused with approval.

***

The moment the Carriage door closed behind her, Belia exhaled in ragged gasps she could no longer contain.
Her breath carried the sharp, metallic taste of blood.
She had bitten the inside of her mouth so fiercely that the flesh hung raw and throbbed with each movement.
‘Why did I do that?’
She pressed her fingertips hard against her temples.
She had never intended to act directly.
Soiling her own hands was never her preferred method.
Yet the memory of being utterly ignored by Axid that day had lodged in her throat like a splinter, gnawing at her from within ever since.
Belia had spent her entire life at the center of High Society, drowning in admiration.
She had been arrogant enough to believe that a mere gesture from her could sway even the Grand Duke himself—only to find herself treated as invisible in the presence of his new wife.
Driven by a humiliation she had never before endured, she had acted rashly with her own hands—and now, of all times, she had been made a fool of again.
Belia’s eyes turned cold as she bit down on her lower lip.
A princess who had never once hosted a social gathering, forever dismissed and scorned—would she truly prove competent at conducting an afternoon reception?
That had been the spirit in which Belia had attended.
As the daughter of the Foreign Minister, she could hardly refuse the Grand Duchess’s invitation, but it was also an ideal opportunity to assess what manner of woman this new wife truly was.
Instead, the Countess herself had walked forward and laid the groundwork for the Charity Fund.
A Charity Fund spanning the entirety of the Grand Duchy.
Since the allocation of those funds rested entirely upon the Grand Duchess’s will, everyone would now crouch and bow to avoid falling out of her favor.
It was a power far beyond even Belia’s reach.
Merely by standing at Axid’s side, that woman had gained vast prestige, influence, and authority beyond measure—all unearned.
And as if forcing even the Attendant to apologize were not enough, she dared to lecture her?
Belia hurled the soiled Ring out of the window.
The story about it being a family heirloom had been a lie anyway.
‘Why should I wait patiently for that woman to die?’
What she had coveted all this time was only the position itself.
Once the Grand Duchess bore an heir and passed, Belia would safely enjoy the highest power.
That had been the goal of her life.
Since she harbored no genuine affection for Axid, she had been content to wait at ease until that woman’s death.
But her thoughts had shifted.

“Do be more careful with your things next time. It would be a shame to lose something precious.”

She could not suppress the urge to crush that arrogant woman’s face—the very woman who had dared to admonish her.
‘Be more careful, she says…?’
It was that woman herself who needed to guard what was hers carefully.
With nothing but her title as Grand Duchess to her name, how utterly pathetic she would become if Belia were to steal Axid from her.
A thin, bloody smile crept across Belia’s lips.
A seed was sprouting in her heart.
The desire to take Axid completely away from her, and to destroy that woman in the most wretched manner imaginable.
Yet Belia forced herself to swallow the burning surge of impulse.
She would not soil her own hands with another rash act like today—not again.
Had she not just learned how shameful the price of acting without a plan could be?
‘There is no need to rush.’
Axid had never cared for anything except Monster Hunting.
The very fact that marriage had been delayed again and again, only for him to finally take a wife now, proved as much.
If his heart had never stirred at the existence of women themselves, then his coldness in the Dressing Room had likely not been aimed at her alone.
His tenderness toward the Grand Duchess was surely nothing more than a husband’s duty—nothing beyond that, nothing less.
Belia adjusted her disheveled appearance and reclined against the seat.
If they were not bound by genuine affection, then wedging herself into that gap would be effortless.
Slowly. Carefully.
She would steal Axid away from that woman, piece by piece.

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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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