Stigma Effect

Translator: Skye  Editor: thursdays  PR: sj_myself

Instead of sleeping inside the tent, Yuriel leaned against one of the trees and swallowed her sleeping pills there, claiming that her ability would only work if she slept while exposed to danger.

The effects of the sleeping pills lasted about two hours. For those two hours, Yuriel was left completely vulnerable.

The medicine was strong to the point that she wouldn’t feel anything even if she were stabbed by a sword. Yuriel fell asleep the moment she took the pills and was left utterly defenseless.

The knights glanced at the woman who was fast asleep against a tree.

The usual tension before a battle was redirected towards Yuriel. At first glance, a woman who was passed out with her neck exposed in a place of overflowing primal instincts seemed like easy prey.

“Don’t get too close.”

“Commander Raphlet.”

Raphlet, who was a little away from Yuriel’s side, blocked the cautious approach of a knight.

“No one is to approach Yuriel until she wakes up.”

“B-but wouldn’t it be too dangerous to leave her alone like that? The knights can take turns in guarding-”

“It’ll be enough with me alone,” Raphlet said in a subdued voice.

Intimidated by the fierce aura that spiked from Raphlet, the knight backed away.

“Yes, sir.”

And as soon as he did, the sharp aura radiating off of Raphlet silently subsided. Raphlet sent back all the nearby knights and stood by Yuriel’s side, guarding her alone.

“Ugh…”

Rubbing her eyes, Yuriel raised herself upright and took out the watch she borrowed from Helio. The needle indicated that it was six o’clock.

She had taken the sleeping pills at 1 p.m.

Now, she was in the middle of a dream and the time was 6 p.m.

“Six o’clock.”

Yuriel repeated the time out loud and surveyed her surroundings. The tents that had been set up by the knights were intact and unharmed. It seemed that there was not yet a fight with the monsters.

She got off the tree she had been leaning on and cautiously looked around. There was no sight of any monsters.

After straightening her back and glancing around, Yuriel found traces of a monster left behind on the ground.

Footprints with claws split into two were sparsely scattered on the dirt. The marks were not there before she had gone to sleep.

“But why isn’t it showing up?”

Normally, a monster would come find Yuriel as soon as her dreams began. She would always end up dying helplessly and then wake up from the dream.

There were no exceptions.

Tracing the monster’s footprints with her fingers, Yuriel thought to herself.

Why isn’t the monster showing up? Or is it because I’m near the knights?

Yuriel swallowed in nervousness as she stared at the footprints that seem to lead somewhere.

If it’s not going to come out, then I’ll have to go and find it myself.

She had a hunch that the important thing in this dream was the ending rather than the process. She would encounter the monster and the dream would end with her death.

Concluding her thoughts, Yuriel pulled herself up.

She had dreams of monsters coming to her before, but this was the first time she sought them out herself. Her lips dried up in nervousness.

Even though this was only a dream, she was tense as everything felt vividly real.

The rustling sound of leaves, the dwindling sound of grasshoppers, and the chirping of birds. As the traces of the monster thickened, the surrounding air began to feel increasingly chilly.

As Yuriel followed the footprints, she tried to memorize the direction she was going by reciting each step over and over again. She needed to remember so that she would know where to go once she woke up from this dream.

Following the marks, Yuriel guessed at the direction based on the drooping branches and small, blooming wildflowers.

As she reached her hand out to feel the features of a tree, she shifted her gaze and suddenly came eye-to-eye with a monster baring its blunt teeth.

The creature was three times her size.

The monster who had appeared without making a single sound, started to bring its nose closer to Yuriel while making a fiendish ‘kek, kek’ noise.

Yuriel stiffened. Her legs began to tremble with intense fear, and she held on by holding onto the tree next to her with both hands.

“Eu…”

A faint sob escaped from her mouth. At that moment, the monster drew back its large ears and let out a long, sharp cry.

Barely managing to hold back her tears, Yuriel took in the monster’s appearance.

Its eyes were located on the sides of its face and bulged out.

It looked quite different from the monsters she was used to seeing back in the Mogris domain. Most of the creatures there walked on two legs and had sharp, sword-like claws. Though they were much larger than humans, most of them still looked similar to humans.

But the creature in front of her was different. This monster looked more like a rat. It actually looked much more terrifying than a rat, but that was the best comparison Yuriel could make in regards to its overall appearance.

The monster rubbed its nose against her waist then curled its long tail around her.

Yuriel was startled by the grotesque tail that wrapped around her waist; it was a truly nasty-looking tail.

Her eyes welled up with tears again, but she wiped them away immediately.

The monster was on the move, and she needed to remember the way properly.

Yuriel had barely managed to memorize the path thus far, but she wasn’t sure if she could also remember this place.

‘This is too much...!’

It was because the monster went into a big den and wandered through tunnels, crawling on all fours, before arriving in the middle of a large cavity and released her.

It was pitch dark.

Trembling in fear, Yuriel felt something touch her back. She was pushed forward and before she could even move a few steps, something pushed her body forward again.

Kiiiiek, kiiiek.

Yuriel recognized that there were multiple creatures surrounding her that were making a similar but quieter cry than the monster that had caught and brought her here.

This was a nest.

It was where the monster’s babies were and Yuriel was their prey.

A fear more terrifying than darkness weighed down on Yuriel. The only silver lining in this situation was that she couldn’t see her surroundings because it was too dark.

She didn’t want to know just how many little monsters were surrounding her.

But the moment Yuriel tripped over a rolling stone beneath her feet, the small creatures picked up on the sound and rushed at her.

“Hic…!”

Yuriel awoke in horror, gasping for breath. Tears were pouring down her cheeks.

Her arms and legs trembled uncontrollably, her heart thumped violently, and her head throbbed achingly.

The feeling of multiple fangs ripping her body apart was still vivid and fresh in her memory.

She began to sob and was unable to speak, clawing at the dirt, and someone quickly rushed to her side.

Yuriel, terrified, pressed her back against the tree and scratched the ground while the person in front of her lifted her up and drew her into their arms.

“Yuriel. Yuriel, wake up, it’s just a dream.”

“Ra-Raphlet…”

“Yes, it’s me. Calm down. It’s just a dream. You’re okay,” Raphlet coaxed, gently sweeping his hand down Yuriel’s trembling back.

“Raph...Master…”

Buried in the arms of a man much bigger than she remembered, Yuriel clung to his body and burst into tears.

Raphlet embraced Yuriel with his entire body and comforted her.

“It’s okay. I’m here, aren’t I?”

Yuriel scratched pitifully at Raphlet’s back, which was too wide for her to hold with both hands, and burrowed herself deeper into his arms. Raphlet flinched for a moment when her body dug between his legs, but he couldn’t push her away.

Her trembling had yet to cease or calm down in the slightest. Letting out a low sigh next to her ear, Raphlet could only entangle one of his hands in her hair and pull her head tighter against his chest.

“Hic...Raph….”

Yuriel’s slender fingers on his back left ticklish sensations. Her waist, which stuck to his lower body, shook with anxiety.

Feeling his entire body react to the stimulus, Raphlet bit his lip and pulled her closer while raising her body slightly upwards.

It was an act done in order to not let his aroused state be caught, but the moment her lips touched the back of his neck, his reasoning almost flew away for a moment.

Raphlet was beset with an impulse to stab himself in the thigh. It was going to be dangerous at this rate.

Not for him, but for Yuriel.

Her hot, damp lips tickled his nape as she called out for him.

Yuriel was too fear-stricken to notice Raphlet’s tense state. His strained pectoral muscles raised and lowered laboriously due to his aroused state.

Lifting her body so that she wouldn’t graze his stiff member, Raphlet continued to console her.

“....You’re safe, Yuriel,” he said in a raspy voice, making an effort to ignore his body’s vulgar reaction.

She would be safer if she wasn’t by his side. Raphlet had yet to learn how to remain calm while having her close by.

“You’re safe…”

Raphlet repeated, almost as if he was saying it to himself, and hugged her tighter.

When the time comes where he would be confident that he wouldn’t automatically be driven into an aroused state when Yuriel was in front of him, was when he planned on keeping her by his side. He had been working towards that goal, not wanting to shock Yuriel-who worshiped him-with his immodesty.

But it had been all for naught. The moment he felt her breaths, all of the sexual desire he had been suppressing till now burst out.

It felt like everything that he had struggled to build up for the past seven years was falling apart, but Raphlet quashed his urges and simply stroked her head.

“It’s all right, Yuriel….”

T/N:Some translated comments from Korean readers:

- "Dying by getting ripped apart and eaten by baby rats T_T....I'd be so traumatized after just one of those dreams, the fact that she's still sane is amazing."

- "Ahhh Yuriel ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ She might lose her sanity if she keeps having those prophetic dreams."

- "Raphlet seems very healthy...heh."

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