Rewriting the Trash Ending - Chapter 56

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

56.

***

For several days, Lumiere had been consumed with work.
Between drafting bylaws for the Relief Fund Society with the lawyer Axid had provided, and exchanging letters with the Grand Duchess Oswald about the details, day and night hardly seemed sufficient.
The bylaws were finally complete, and all that remained was to determine where the funds would be allocated.
So while Axid was away from the castle, she decided to conduct an inspection.
She had reviewed the Grand Duke’s Household records of relief efforts, but information gleaned from documents and ledgers had its limits.
What were the actual cost of living expenses at present?
Where would it be most effective to direct the funds, and so on.
In the end, there was no way to know without going out and seeing for herself.
But if she conducted an official inspection in her capacity as Grand Duchess, she wouldn’t gain a true picture of the situation.
She decided to conceal her identity.
“Your Highness, are you truly going out dressed like this?”
Hanna regarded her appearance with restless, uneasy eyes.
A grayish-brown one-piece dress made from cheap, coarse fabric.
With no decoration whatsoever and barely plain, the cuffs were worn and frayed from countless washings.
“Well, if I’m doing an undercover inspection, this much is necessary.”
Lumiere twisted her hair up and tucked it beneath a hood, then fastened her overcoat.
Naturally, the overcoat bore the signs of age as if it had been passed down through several generations.
Worse still, it hadn’t been washed, so a stale, musty odor emanated from it.
To anyone’s eyes, she was poverty itself.
At that moment, Kaiden wrinkled the bridge of his nose and asked.
“Where on earth did you find such things?”
“Well, there are places to find them…… plenty of them.”
The Grand Duke’s Palace even had an incinerator.
She had gathered these items from there.
“Now hurry and change into some yourself.”
“…… Do I truly have to wear such things as well?”
“Or should I leave you here at the castle?”
“I shall wear them. Of course I shall.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Kaiden stared at the tattered clothes in his hands as if they pained him, then squeezed his eyes shut.
Here was a knight of the Grand Duke’s Household forced to go out in shabby attire unfit to be seen.
But there was no help for it.
Not only Hanna, but even she—the Grand Duchess—had changed into cast-off clothes for this undercover inspection.
How could he alone wear fine garments when Her Highness was dressed like this?

The first place Lumiere visited after slipping out of the castle was the Market.
If one wished to understand the reality beyond the palace walls, one had to start where money and rumors circulated.
“It would be easier if you came with His Highness. Why must you go about in this manner?”
Kaiden complained with evident disapproval.
Lumiere’s eyes swept over him from head to toe.
He looked like a beggar.
“Surely you don’t intend to dress His Highness in such things?”
One could hardly ask the Grand Duke to wear someone else’s cast-off garments—and such foul-smelling, decrepit ones at that.
Not him, of all people.
Besides, there was scarcely a worn garment in existence that would fit his frame.
When she shot him a reproachful look, Kaiden hesitated.
“No, that’s not quite what I meant…… But what of Your Highness?”
“As for me, I’m accustomed to such attire.”
She spoke lightly, as if it were of no consequence.
And it was true.
During her time as a princess, she had worn musty-smelling dresses and in winter had brought quilts from the incinerator to warm herself.
As she gave a slight shrug, both Hanna’s and Kaiden’s expressions grew strained.
Hanna’s eyes reddened as she bit her lip, while Kaiden deliberately turned his gaze away and coughed under his breath.
“But surely there was some way to make yourself look more… presentable?”
“And what’s an Undercover Inspection without proper disguise? How else could I hide my nobility and beauty in ordinary dress?”
At her playful remark, both men let out a soft sigh and smiled despite themselves.
“Well then, let’s begin our survey.”
Lumiere fastened her Overcoat and slipped into the crowd.
“I say, where do you find goods at this price? You’re selling at a loss, an absolute loss!”
“What nonsense—it’s dearer than the stall over there!”
The Market was a cacophony of voices.
People haggling over prices, their voices sharp with frustration.
Women inspecting frozen fish, sorting through the day’s catch.
And then.
“Why has firewood become so expensive?”
“It’s doubled since last year. Even if I’m careful, I won’t manage.”
Even those speaking of Necessities like firewood, the very lifeblood of winter survival.
The Market seemed alive with activity, yet a shadow lay across every face—a quiet anxiety beneath the noise.
“I think I’ve seen enough of the cost of living here. Shall we head toward the Slums next?”
Kaiden’s brow furrowed.
“Your Highness—I mean, madam—the Slums are rather….”
“What is it?”
Kaiden lowered his voice, wary that someone might overhear.
“If the Grand Duke discovers this, I’m a dead man. Please, spare me that much. What about the Square instead? There are people looking for work there, and it’s crowded—surely that would serve?”
It was one thing that Your Highness had donned a dress she wouldn’t wear even if it were gifted to her; quite another that she meant to venture into the Slums.
If the Grand Duke himself found out?
The thought of the Imperial delegation’s fate—erased from the world—sent cold sweat trickling down his spine.
“The people in the Square can still move about. Those who need help most haven’t the strength to reach even there.”
Besides, to reach the Welfare Facility, they would have to pass through the Slums.
The Welfare Facility stood at the edge of the Slums, a place devoted to caring for the poor—established by some noble who had emptied their personal coffers to build it.
The Grand Duke’s Household had supported it consistently since its founding, and the sum was considerable; she wished to see with her own eyes how it was being run.
“But—”
“These are your master’s orders. Come along at once.”
Lumiere took the reluctant Kaiden by the arm and pressed forward.
The entrance to the Slums was ordinary enough—not what she had imagined.
The ground was clean, the houses arranged in neat rows, all well-maintained, bearing the marks of careful tending.
‘Better than I expected.’
Yet as she walked deeper in, an uncanny discomfort began to settle over her.
Beyond a certain threshold, an oppressive and damp silence took hold.
Where the clean mouth of the alley had promised order, the street ahead lay thick with frozen filth and refuse.
People crouched against the walls, hunched and still.
Some lay sprawled on the ground—were they sleeping, or…?
Lumiere bit her lip, unable to finish the thought.
“Madam, I think it best we turn back today….”
Hanna had drawn close and spoken softly, but Lumiere shook her head.
Having come this far, it seemed a waste to turn away now.
“Hanna, you wait at the Coffeehouse. Kaiden and I will take just one circuit and return.”
“No, no—how could I let you go alone, madam!”
Hanna started with alarm and clung to her side.
With Kaiden at her back, there could be no real danger, yet her eyes held a stubborn resolve—she would not be left behind.
“Excuse me—might I ask you something?”
Lumiere approached an elderly man leaning against the wall.
“I understand there’s a Welfare Facility deeper in. If I go there, can I get a meal?”
But the old man recoiled as if startled, turning his head away abruptly.
“I… I don’t know.”
“You’ve gone several days without food, haven’t you? If you go now, would they distribute meals?”
“I said I don’t know.”
The old man fell silent, his lips sealed.
As though he could not bear to speak the Welfare Facility’s name aloud.
Kaiden’s expression darkened.
“Madam, let’s call it a day and return. I’ll make inquiries on my own.”
“If I’d meant to send someone else to gather information, I wouldn’t have come in the first place.”
The Welfare Facility was just ahead, she’d been told.
A place that takes in those with nowhere to go, that offers meals to the bedridden.
The Grand Duke’s Household sends funds here every year—it’s practically within sight. How could it have come to this?
“Let’s venture deeper inside.”
It seemed she had no choice but to see the far end of this alley with her own eyes.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————