Rewriting the Trash Ending - Chapter 58

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

58.

“Now that you’ve gotten your wish, be quick about moving aside.”
At Lumiere’s words, the man stammered, his eyes wavering.
“But, but yesterday I thought you were someone in need of help. What do you mean, got my wish?”
“I’ve come to audit how the subsidy funds provided by the Grand Duke’s Household are being executed. Do you understand now?”
“I, I’m just a, a simple employee. I, I don’t know anything about such matters.”
Just a simple employee, he said.
Yet his clothing was remarkably luxurious for that claim.
His face bore the brutal features of one who trafficked in dark dealings.
But there was no point in remarking on it—it would only waste breath.
“Where is the director?”
“That, that is…….”
The man’s eyes flicked involuntarily toward the back of the building.
There was no need to wait for his answer.
“Search the building. Bind anyone suspicious you find.”
At her command, knights and soldiers dispersed with perfect discipline.
Shouts and screams erupted from within, and moments later—
several burly men were dragged out in succession.
Among them, one figure caught the eye: a heavyset man with a gleaming face and thick rolls of fat.
“No, let go! Do you know who I am……!”
Pajama buttons haphazardly fastened, a coat thrown on carelessly.
From the look of it, he’d been caught mid-flight from arrest.
“Well…….”
How utterly absurd.
A helpless laugh escaped her.
Even as he was being dragged forward, he clutched his Money Pouch with grim determination—and that was what made it so ridiculous.
“Show respect before Your Highness.”
But when a knight swept the man’s legs out from under him, the impact sent the Money Pouch tumbling to the ground.
“……!”
She could not suppress a smirk as he reached desperately toward it.
Even in this moment, he still had the presence of mind to worry about his pouch.
The atmosphere chilled noticeably.
“Are you the director?”
Baron Luan cleared his throat awkwardly at the awkwardness and straightened his disheveled appearance.
“Y-Your Highness, I bow before you.”
He hastily prostrated himself, then spoke in an aggrieved voice.
“But, but what is the meaning of this? Arriving without warning at dawn, bringing soldiers with you? I thought we were under attack and rushed out in alarm.”
“I apologize for the unannounced visit so early in the morning.”
She spoke with obvious mockery, and as she did, he remained on his knees, his face crumpling with grievance.
“It’s not quite like that…… If, if you had sent an official notice and scheduled a proper day, I, I would not have appeared in such a state.”
“Perhaps not.”
Perhaps he would have hidden the evidence or fled swiftly beyond the Grand Duke’s Territory.
“But now that you’ve graced us with your presence…… surely showing Your Highness such a sight would be nothing short of disloyalty.”
When she narrowed her eyes, he shamefully adjusted his expression and continued.
“If you grant me but a moment, I shall compose myself and receive Your Highness with proper ceremony.”
In other words, he was buying time to destroy the evidence.
“You don’t need time to compose your clothing. You need time to destroy the evidence.”
Did he truly believe she would stand idle and watch?
“D-Destroy evidence? I assure you, Your Highness…….”
“I have no interest in your assurances. What I want to know is how the Grand Duke’s Household’s funds are being spent.”
“Your Highness! Your Highness!”
Lumiere snorted derisively and walked deeper into the building.

The reality of the Welfare Facility was far more grave than anticipated.
Contrary to what the expense ledgers claimed, the warehouse contained only grain on the verge of being discarded.
Nowhere could she find any trace of the medicine and clothing supposedly distributed to the poor.
The women and children were locked away in filthy back rooms, while the director’s quarters were as lavish as any nobleman’s residence.
The testimony of those rescued was almost too horrific to speak aloud.
The director had colluded with thugs to imprison homeless women and treat them like playthings, while orphaned children were sold off to unknown fates.
Terrible crimes had been committed openly within the Grand Duke’s Territory.
“Quite the spectacle indeed.”
Lumiere let out a hollow laugh as she examined the evidence discovered in the director’s office.
Here was a ledger recording the cheap purchase of grain meant for disposal, the sale of human beings through trafficking, and the proceeds thereof.
And worse still—another ledger documenting bribes paid to inspectors and the garrison.
Now it made sense.
There had been a reason the old man had been too frightened to answer her questions then.
If even the garrison charged with the palace’s security had been in league with these criminals, there was no one left to trust.
‘This is far beyond what I can handle alone.’
She had wanted to lighten her husband’s burden as he labored with his own affairs.
Instead, she ordered the soldiers to bind Luan and the thugs and transport them to the Grand Duke’s Palace.
…….
As the situation was brought under control, the children and women began to shuffle hesitantly out of the building.
How long they had been exploited was written in their hollow eyes and the terror that clung to them.
“It’s all over now. So don’t worry.”
The wounds left in their hearts would likely never heal—perhaps not in their lifetimes.
What words could possibly lift them from such pain?
“Th-thank you, Your Highness,” one of them stammered.
Lumiere nodded to those offering their gratitude with halting words.
She gestured to the soldiers to clear a path so they could leave.
But they did not move easily.
She understood why.
‘They have nowhere to go.’
If they’d had homes and families waiting to welcome them, they would never have ended up in such a place.
Turning them out into the streets would not be salvation—it would be another abandonment.
She swallowed her bitterness and issued new orders to the soldiers.
“You will guard this place for now. If these people wish to stay at the Welfare Facility, protect them safely.”
“We hear and obey.”
Once she had finished her instructions, she turned to leave only after burning the image of the Welfare Facility—marked by such desolate traces—into her memory.

***

The moment Axid returned from the Fortress, he received word that Lumiere had led soldiers toward the Welfare Facility.
“…The Welfare Facility?”
“Yes, Your Highness conducted an inspection tour in disguise yesterday and discovered suspicious activities at the Welfare Facility, then led troops out this morning.”
Axid’s brow furrowed.
The director of the Welfare Facility was Baron Luan.
Originally a merchant who had run a major trading house, he had received his title twenty years ago in recognition of founding the Welfare Facility after pouring his entire fortune into it for the Grand Duke’s Territory.
But he had passed away last year, and his son had inherited the Welfare Facility.
Axid didn’t know when the institution had begun to rot from within, but if no reports had come up until now, then at least the collusion between the current director and the inspector was beyond question.
“And the inspector?”
“Your Highness has imprisoned him.”
Axid nodded, then turned on his heel.
He had meant to bathe and greet her the moment he arrived, but when he heard she had gone to the Slum District, he could not remain idle.
She had Kaiden with her, so there should be no real danger, but he dreaded what filth she might witness there.
He was about to mount his horse, his brow darkened with grim intent, when—
A familiar carriage entered the palace gates.
It was her carriage.
Axid strode forward to meet it.
The carriage door opened and Lumiere stepped out.
“…Grand Duke?”
He escorted her down without a word.
…….
His dark eyes swept over her from head to toe with meticulous intensity as she descended from the carriage in silence.
That gaze was unrelenting, almost oppressively thorough, checking for any scratch or mark.
The savage light in those black eyes suggested he would strangle the imprisoned if he found so much as a single wound upon her.
“Are you hurt?”
“No, she was clinging right beside Lord Kaiden.”
“…….”
……clinging right beside him.
Axid found himself chewing over those words with a savagery that surprised him, and then he removed his coat to drape it over her shoulders.
“It will smell a bit. Bear with it, if you will.”
His voice had turned forceful and commanding—nothing like his usual tone.
The coldness of words he scarcely recognized as his own made him flinch, yet he fastened the coat around her with studied indifference.
It reeked of dust, but leaving her exposed to a cold that bit through flesh was far worse.
She was someone whose body was so frail that she’d collapse from a simple chill if she caught one.
But he could only laugh at himself, quietly and bitterly.
…The truth was, he couldn’t bear the urge to wrap her up as if imprinting his mark upon her.
Whatever excuses he made, feelings never lied.
He was content—satisfied, even—with the thought that she was nestled against his chest like this.
But that contentment didn’t last long.
When the memory of the rough path she’d walked returned to him, something heavy settled in his chest, and he couldn’t breathe.

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