Stigma Effect

Proofreader: kuroneko_chan

“All I have to do is find the monster, right?”

Baraha looked at Yuriel and asked.

“Yes, that’s okay…. It’s better if I go with you.”

“Moving alone is faster.”

“If you go alone, the monsters will attack you.”

“It’s okay. I’ll be back soon, so wait here.”

It was right after she explained the plan to Baraha to show him how to handle monsters. Yuriel noticed that the monsters that were with her at the time she met Raphlet were still roaming the castle.

At night, the monsters’ cries were heard in the dark forest. It was the sound Yuriel was afraid of when she was a servant.

Now it’s the opposite.

Even though she was suffering from anxiety, she was able to sleep with peace of mind when she heard the monsters’ sound nearby.

“… Try not to hurt it if possible.”

Watching Baraha go out through the window, Yuriel asked him in a low voice.

It was hard to remember when she started to fall in love with monsters.

Yuriel asked carefully and bowed her head. She hated herself for not wanting the monsters to get hurt while she was trying to kill the High Priest.

Yuriel was worried that Baraha would criticize her for that, but he answered in a calm tone.

“Alright.”

Baraha also seemed to have the same thoughts as Yuriel.

Looking at Baraha, Yuriel noticed that Baraha too had something in him that was greatly twisted.

However, she couldn’t guess what and when it started to go wrong.

Suddenly, a question that Baraha had asked before flashed through her mind.

‘Then what if I saved you?’

If Commander Helio had saved you, if only I had saved you. Could she have come to fall in love with someone other than Raphlet?

At that time, did Baraha do something?

Yuriel pondered the old memories. She thought it was absurd, but in fact, that wasn’t wrong.

If she hadn’t met Raphlet like that, she wouldn’t have come to worship him so much.

Memories of Baraha, less than a year ago, faded, but the moment she met Raphlet was still vivid.

Yuriel recalled the day as vividly as if it had just happened yesterday. The monsters rushed towards her, and Raphlet appeared.

Just before he appeared, the sound of tree branches being trampled on seemed to be audible.

The place where Yuriel first met Baraha was at the place where Raphlet had rescued her before.

After Raphlet joined Albraka, Yuriel met Baraha while wandering in search of places with memories of Raphlet.

Baraha was standing in the spot where Yuriel had fallen while avoiding the monster, staring blankly at the tree. There were a lot of people who came to the forest of Mogris to die alone, and Yuriel occasionally saw such people.

Seeing Baraha’s helpless expression, she thought that he might have entered the forest to die, and stopped him.

It was just that she didn’t want a corpse to appear in the place where she had memories with Raphlet.

‘You must not die here.’

Baraha, who looked at Yuriel with loose eyes, disappeared without an answer. Yuriel was worried that he might come to die again, so she visited there often.

Just like she had lost Raphlet to Albraka, she thought that Baraha had lost something.

Maybe something was taken from him somewhere close to Mogris castle ….

Yuriel looked at Baraha’s back and thought so.

Maybe when Raphlet saved her, Baraha was there.

“Baraha.”

Baraha opened the window and looked back at Yuriel. A cold wind blew hard into the room. Even though her breath came out white, Yuriel couldn’t feel the cold.

Baraha tilted his head asking if she had more to say.

“… When we first met, how did you know that place? It’s a remote place, so it’s hard to find unless you’re from Mogris Territory.”

Baraha tilted his head with a loose face and pursed his lips. A shallow sigh escaped between his open lips.

Baraha could hardly answer, and Yuriel found it enough.

“It was so long ago, you can’t even remember. I asked you something weird, right?”

Yuriel spoke in a light tone to Baraha who looked firm.

“… Yuriel.”

“Go on, I will wait here.”

Seeing Yuriel talking with a smile on her face, Baraha opened his mouth as if trying to get his courage. Yuriel cut Baraha’s words who called out to her with a sad voice.

The answer was enough.

Even if Baraha was there, nothing would change.

The High Priest, Baraha, and Yuriel herself will die here today.

However, Yuriel thought that she had gotten the answer to the question.

When did something go wrong? Why did this happen?

The twist must have started from the moment Raphlet rescued Yuriel.

And even before that, from the moment the Grand Duchess conceived the existence she had obtained through the power of a monster.

“Go, Baraha.”

Yuriel said firmly.

Even if the question was answered, nothing would change.

After Baraha left, Yuriel sighed as she sat down on the chair.

The person he wanted to protect was her.

Yuriel looked at the gun that she had aimed at him and let out a sigh. Pointing the gun in front of Baraha, she could hardly breathe.

‘I didn’t intend to make and deliver the gun like this, but I might have been able to protect them from having to pick up a gun right next to me….’

The gun made to protect Yuriel almost took her life.

If the trigger had been pulled, Baraha would not have been intact either.

“Stupid.”

Yuriel sighed and muttered.

“At that time, I was still young. If it wasn’t for someone as strong as Lord Raphlet, I wouldn’t have been able to save him, but he regretted it… ?”

She murmured while fiddling with the gun barrel.

Baraha also had an upright side like a fool. He was too honest. Yuriel could see that he was trying to help her because he felt guilty about the memories of not being able to save her.

Yuriel shook her head, trying to get Baraha’s bitter expression out of her head.

While erasing her expression, the monster’s cry began to be heard from a very close distance.

“Has Baraha come already? It’s not that close….”

Yuriel raised her eyebrows and stood up.

The sound was too close. Yuriel looked out the window and took a deep breath after looking at the state of the monsters.

They weren’t ordinary monsters. The monsters whose bodies were deformed to the point of disgusting were looking for a place to channel their murderous intent, and their eyes were shining.

The numbers were also considerable.

At that level, even the knights of Albraka would have to struggle.

Yuriel covered her mouth as she saw so many monsters that filled the garden.

The monsters were heading towards the noisiest area of the mansion, the front gate.

There were no familiar monsters. Again, it didn’t seem like the monster Baraha had brought.

Yuriel looked around impatiently. She didn’t see what she was looking for.

There weren’t the monsters she came with.

The High Priest said that he knew that Raphlet was a monster. She thought that if the monsters went to the place he was now, it could let other knights know about it.

She couldn’t continue her thoughts any longer. Yuriel left the room.

Even though she entered among the monsters exuding vicious momentum, she was not worried about their attacks.

“The monster protected the egg.”

As she went through subjugation with the Knights, she watched how much the monsters value their young. The monster protects the monster with eggs and young even by sacrificing its own body.

Yuriel, who embraced the child of a monster, was the target of their protection, not the enemy.

Yuriel noticed that some of the monsters full of murderous intent looked at her and growled. As soon as they left the building, the monster ran as if to kill Yuriel on sight.

They groaned wildly, but when they came near Yuriel, they gathered their teeth and gently thrust their heads in.

They realized that Yuriel was the target to protect.

Yuriel was buried among the huge monsters that exceeded her height.

A monster opened its mouth as if wanting to hold Yuriel’s neck and move her. It was a move without intention of attack, but Yuriel, seeing the ugly teeth, turned back scared.

Even if the monster bit the nape of her neck, it was clear that Yuriel would receive a fatal wound.

When Yuriel showed a sign of dislike, the monster retreated.

If there was a monster with eggs or young, a nest would be created there.

Yuriel watched the gathered monsters with her at the center. They seemed to have interpreted differently when she retreated from the monsters’ presence.

They decided to use this place where Yuriel was as their nest.

＊＊＊

“… Miss Yuriel… ?”

Yuriel led the monsters that followed her and headed for the front gate. The knights of Albraka’s eyes, who were simultaneously dealing with the monsters and the knights of Mogris, reached Yuriel.

“Did you really control monsters?”

Someone asked a question as if criticizing her. It was a knight she knew before.

Even though they were not close, he was someone who exchanged words with Yuriel and greeted each other.

Upon hearing his question, Yuriel was relieved and wiped her chest.

It seemed that no one had heard the news that Raphlet was a monster yet. Also that she is the saint.

Yuriel’s expression of relief as she looked at the knights who had fallen under attack seemed to have felt quite disgusting to them.

“How dare you….Until now… !”

The knights of Albraka showed their intention to kill Yuriel. The worship that should be directed to the saint was nowhere to be found.

The prophecy was no longer valid.