Stigma Effect

Proofreader: kuroneko_chan

The day Yuriel lay ill, there was a great commotion among the alchemists.

Before receiving the report on Yuriel's condition, the alchemist, who was about to enter the laboratory and prepare for the experiment, saw the empty laboratory and shouted.

The door to the laboratory where the monsters were locked in was broken, and bloodstains remained on the floor. After leaving the laboratory, the monster did not leave a trace.

After hearing the news, the alchemists appeared in the laboratory from dawn with confusion.

“Did the monster disappear?”

“The wall is broken, I think he went out here.”

“It didn’t have such power. What the hell happened... ?”

The bloodstains left on the floor were left by the researcher who drew Yuriel's blood the day before when dropping the syringe. Compared to the significant amount that was dropped, there were not many marks left.

While the alchemists concentrated on the power of the monster that had risen dramatically, Baraha paid attention to the bloodstains left behind by the monster.

The monster, who had been imprisoned for so long, escaped on the day Yuriel's blood fell. There were traces of the tongue of a monster passing over the bloodstains.

The amount was much reduced than he remembered. Baraha wrinkled his brow as he looked at the traces.

… Did it eat it?

Monsters do not eat human blood. Although they attacked humans, they were not interested in human corpses.

They only attacked humans to protect their territory, and humans were rarely recognized as prey.

He thought the same was true of the monster that protected Yuriel. It did not lose its strength even if it was not fed separately.

The source of the monster's power is the core. In theory, they could live forever if the core power was not depleted.

But why did it drink Yuriel’s blood?

He was also concerned about whether the monster had the strength to destroy the wall after eating the blood.

Just looking at these traces, it seemed as if the monster’s power increased considerably after eating Yuriel's blood.

He didn’t have a good feeling.

Baraha looked around carefully, making sure the alchemists weren't looking at him.

The alchemists were frantic as they gathered around the open wall and talked about their thoughts. While they were concentrating on it, Baraha cleared the floor off any traces the monster had left.

As the traces of the monster's tongue disappeared, it looked like a trace of blood dripping.

When the place was properly cleared, the alchemists asked Baraha.

“Commander Baraha, what do you think?”

“Did the monster get stronger in one day?”

“Until yesterday, it couldn’t even break the chain.”

“Maybe it was smart enough to pretend it couldn’t break the chain.”

“If the strength increases dramatically within a few hours, what is the variable? I'll have to check the experiment log from yesterday."

The alchemists who were checking the strength of the wall that the monster had broken and went through, were noisy. They were anxious to determine the cause of this situation.

Baraha, who escaped from among the alchemists, who was excited to learn something new and was voicing bright voices that did not fit the situation, set out to find the place the monster was headed.

He was convinced that the monsters would still remain in Albraka.

＊＊＊

The sudden high fever tormented Yuriel. Although weak in appearance, Yuriel, who was born healthy, couldn't come to terms with the heat that was tormenting her.

It was the first time she had such a fever.

A vicious pain that seemed to change the entire structure of her body pounded her entire body.

As she groaned while holding onto the pillow in pain as if all the blood vessels in her body were pounding, Raphlet came and wiped her body with a damp cloth.

When his hand rubbed her, she calmed down a little, so Yuriel clung to Raphlet’s arms when he stopped wiping her and was about to cover her with the blanket.

He hugged Yuriel's body as she clung to his chest and pulled her up onto his lap, rubbing her forehead full of cold sweat.

“Isn’t it uncomfortable?”

“When you do this, it’s much easier to breathe…. Lord Raphlet, are you uncomfortable?”

"No."

“Then let’s stay like this for a little bit….”

Yuriel answered in a hazy tone and closed her eyes.

＊＊＊

It hasn't been long since she closed her eyes. Yuriel frowned at the roaring sound of the wind brushing her ears.

A cold chill was beating her body hard.

Her eyes widened at the sensation of a large snowflake hitting her cheek and passing by.

Raphlet, who was holding her, was nowhere to be seen.

Yuriel was standing idly in the endless winter forest.

She didn't seem to have a fever, but her body was heavier than usual. Looking down, she saw a slightly bulging stomach.

“Isn’t the last month of pregnancy in winter?”

She got pregnant in the spring, so in the winter her belly should be big. However, Yuriel's body showed little change from her early pregnancy.

Except for the fact that she was not in good physical condition, she could only be considered a little overweight on her stomach. The other parts were pitiful and skinny. No matter how she looked at it, it didn't look like a woman who was about to give birth.

Yuriel, who was groping her stomach, wondering if this might be after the baby was born, was startled by the movement she felt at her fingertips.

“Kyaak… !”

As soon as she touched her stomach, it moved intensely, as if trying to inform Yuriel of its existence. Yuriel stared blankly at her numb fingers and thought.

Fetal, fetal movement, were they supposed to be like this?

Having removed her hand, Yuriel put her finger on her stomach again. A strange movement was felt along with a tingling sensation.

Yuriel, who felt the fetal movement by putting her hand on her stomach, shivered in the cold.

This seems to be a prophetic dream she usually has. Then it was the monster’s turn to appear and threaten her.

Yuriel cried when she saw that her feet, which had not been able to wear shoes, had turned red as if they were frostbitten.

She was dressed in a thin maid outfit and no shoes. Without shoes, it was impossible to have a weapon to deal with the monster.

She fumbled through her clothes, just in case, but nothing like a gun or explosives came out.

Still, she wasn't as scared as she used to be thanks to her experiences dealing with monsters during subjugation.

Yuriel moved her tingling feet in haste, trying to find traces of the monster.

She couldn't find the traces she wanted, but she was able to figure out where she was.

Dense coniferous forest, snow-covered branches, dark forest with no light.

It was a very familiar place.

“It’s a forest in the Mogris Estate.”

It was a forest in the Grand Duchy Mogris. Seeing that it was unfamiliar to her eyes, it seemed that she had entered a deeper place than she had ever gone when she was a child who came to pick up branches.

“How did I get here? Even barefoot.... Ugh, my feet are cold.”

Being alone in a place like this was like asking the monster to attack her.

“I don’t even have a coat….”

She wasn't even wearing a coat. As if suddenly attacked by someone and ran away.

Yuriel stayed for a while in the winter forest.

The dream would only end when she died after being attacked by a monster, but the monster was nowhere to be seen.

Yuriel’s lips trembled as she went out to find the monster herself.

"I'd rather die and wake up sooner rather than later."

Yuriel, who was moving through the high snow, found the shapely golden eyes that were watching her.

“… Lord Raphlet?”

It was Raphlet's face. But….

Yuriel, who was about to run to him, saw his cold eyes and unknowingly hesitated and backed away.

Raphlet's gaze, which had been embedded in Yuriel's face, gradually went down. His gaze slowly descended and stopped on Yuriel's stomach.

Seeing Yuriel's stomach drawing a strange curve, Raphlet raised his gaze again.

Unknowingly, Yuriel embraced her stomach and turned around.

The gaze staring at her as if it were tearing her stomach was terrifying. It looked like he wanted to cut her stomach right away.

The moment she turned around, Yuriel recognized a solid body that was approaching behind her. Raphlet, who approached her in an instant, immediately covered Yuriel's mouth.

The quiet forest shook loudly.

She struggled to lower Raphlet's hand, which covered her mouth, but he wouldn't let go of his hand grabbing Yuriel's face.

“… Lord, Raphlet, Master.”

Her body was shaking as she called him, but he only shut her mouth more and more, as if he was trying to stop Yuriel's voice.

There was no explanation.

Yuriel, unable to breathe, quickly lost consciousness.

It was around the time when the voices of several people began to be heard in the forest that had been engulfed in silence.

＊＊＊

She thought that a considerable amount of time had passed.

In her dream, not reality, it felt strange, as if waking up after sleeping for a very long time.

When Yuriel opened her eyes, she remembered her dream.

She met Raphlet in the forest of Mogris estate and passed out. It didn't feel like waking up immediately after fainting, but rather like waking up after a long sleep.

She was dizzy, as if she was still dreaming. Yuriel shook her head as she recalled Raphlet's ferocious gaze as he looked at her.

If it was a prophetic dream, she would have woken up screaming at the same time she was killed by a monster.

So that was not a premonition.

Yuriel looked at the dark room and erased the dream from her memory.

She was just overheated by the fever and had a nightmare.