Stigma Effect
Chapter 55

Proofreader: kuroneko_chan

It was still early in the morning. The candle next to the bed was glowing. The candle flickered occasionally, distorting the light. Yuriel slowly opened her eyes at the shaking felt over her eyelids.

She had been tormented by Raphlet all night and had just fallen asleep, but she had habitually woken up at the same time she would wake up every day.

Yuriel blinked tiredly, looking at Raphlet’s chest in front of her, and fumbled.

Raphlet was asleep, holding her in his arms. Her own head rested on Raphlet’s arm instead of the pillow. Although worried that his arm would be numb, Yuriel smiled silently and was satisfied.

Yuriel, who was holding her breath, checked the sheets curled around her body and gathered her brows together. Unlike herself, who was wrapped in a warm blanket, Raphlet was not wearing anything on his body. She had taken all of Raphlet’s blanket and wrapped it around her body.

Because of this, his hard chest, arms, and thighs were exposed. The contours of his trained copper-colored body fluttered under the candlelight. His thick shoulders and arms, the slender muscles in his stomach, and the thing below… Yuriel, who had opened her lips and stared at his body, woke up to the sound of the wind hitting the window.

The room wasn’t very cold, but it’s winter now.

It’s a big deal if he catches a cold.

Yuriel unwrapped the blanket that was wrapped around her body, covered Raphlet’s body, and let her mind wander again. She liked that it was natural to sleep in the same bed with him.

Now it was not only one bed, but also one blanket. Putting their bare bodies next to each other, as if they were completely one.

Not long ago, Yuriel was not worthy of this position.

It was Yuriel’s job to help the one who would one day appear and take Raphlet’s arms, and to help the woman carrying Raphlet’s child heal herself.

Yuriel was sure she could do it with a smile.

Even if that conviction stems from the belief that Raphlet will never marry.

She knew he couldn’t get married as long as he was the head of Albraka.

So the conviction was just self-deception. Knowing that Raphlet would never get married, she went on to say that she would adore and serve the woman and children he would one day have.

He would be disappointed to find out that she was so jealous, so she would never tell her master.

Yuriel thought while rubbing her head, which was resting on Raphlet’s arm.

Yuriel’s eyes, who had been smiling for a while, stayed on the core embedded in Raphlet’s chest. Her mood subsided as she saw the core resting foreignly in his firm chest.

The monster core was all black. Black as Raphlet’s black hair.

Yuriel looked carefully at the monster core and frowned. The core that Raphlet had transplanted was mixed with a slightly mysterious color. Perhaps because of the scarlet candle, Yuriel let out a small sigh as she looked at the pale golden core.

Every time she saw that, her anxiety soared.

It was said that Raphlet was being promoted as a saint because of that core, and his physical abilities were being strengthened further…. Was there really nothing wrong with it?

She hopes Baraha can quickly find a way to safely get rid of them…

“Why are you awake already … ? It’s still morning. Rest more.”

Unknowingly, she was rubbing his chest with her fingers. Raphlet, who woke up because of that, swept Yuriel’s back.

A voice drenched in fatigue perhaps because he had a hard time after the terrorist attack continued.

“It’s okay to wake up after the sun comes up. Yuriel.”

Yuriel followed his advice and closed her eyes.

The winter dawn was long and quiet, so Yuriel had enough time to rest and wake up completely relieved of her exhaustion.

＊＊＊

After their reunion night of passion , Raphlet once again tried to persuade Yuriel to return to Mogris Estate. He spoke as he did last time, holding Yuriel’s mouth and chin, keeping her from kissing him.

The first persuasion failed as Yuriel’s hand came to touch his chest.

He grabbed her arm so she couldn’t touch his chest, and as he began to speak, her creeping leg curled around his thigh. Raphlet gave up as he was no match for Yuriel’s creative ways of cutting off his words.

One day, two days, a week, a month. Raphlet was exhausted trying to convince Yuriel until the end of winter.

He begged her to wait a little longer in Mogris Estate, but the results were always the same.

Yuriel didn’t listen to him and always pushed him to the limits. By the time he comes to his senses, he would be carrying Yuriel onto the bed. Until just before she was laid on his body, Yuriel smiled with a face that did not understand the situation.

At first, Raphlet thought that Yuriel had not yet grasped his desires and was clearly smiling, but seeing Yuriel, who had no sense of crisis, began to completely put herself down from a certain moment.

As for when on the bed, Raphlet had the upper hand.

However, even after being roughly tossed and turned until tears came out of her eyes and she passed out, she still wakes up afterwards, looking at Raphlet with a face full of blind trust.

It was not the first time that she was caught kissing the corner of his sleeping eyes, whether she found something so good in that face without a smile contrary to her lively face.

Raphlet looked at Yuriel, who had no intentions of returning to Mogris Estates, and smiled in disappointment.

Even if he showed all his lustful desires, Yuriel did not change at all. Rather, she was anxious because he had a heavy face and she couldn’t go comfort him with a kiss.

It wasn’t until the end of winter that Raphlet realized that Yuriel was grasping his desires.

Even the intense desire for destruction that he did not want to show Yuriel.

Even knowing this, Yuriel leaped into his arms with joy, and no fear.

Raphlet smiled sadly and looked down at Yuriel’s small body. Yuriel, who had a reddish body, received his gaze and smiled without hesitation.

The moment he saw her eyes full of favor, he admitted that he had completely lost to Yuriel.

He succumbed to Yuriel.

Raphlet said in a languid tone as if sighing.

“I lost, Yuriel.”

Raphlet finally gave in to her will.

“I won’t tell you to go back anymore.”

“Even if you tell me to go back, I won’t go back… .”

Yuriel, who had lost her strength and was lying on the bed, replied as if she had heard something very strange. The strength drained from his tense shoulders as he heard the feminine voice.

“Yes, alright.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Raphlet answered in a light tone and carefully grabbed Yuriel’s hand as if he was dealing with something extremely precious. There was a sense of urgency in his hand and voice. Yuriel, who was listening, blinked hazily.

Her face was as confused as when she heard Raphlet confess that he loved her.

“Stay by my side as you wish.”

Raphlet said, kissing the back of Yuriel’s hand deeply.

Even if he didn’t deserve Yuriel’s blind trust, he had no intentions of giving it up.

Yuriel must stay by his side forever.

Even if she knows that his side is not a safe place.

＊＊＊

Yuriel attended Raphlet’s bath with a happy face. Going into the bathroom after early morning training with Raphlet was one of her favorite routines.

They did not have the same training schedule, but she was still happy just watching his face and training on the same training ground.

After training, she could attend to Raphlet’s bath to her heart’s content. This, Albraka, is paradise.

“What do you like so much all the time?”

Yuriel, who was smiling while rubbing a foam-filled sponge on Raphlet’s body, heard the laughter and raised her head.

She seemed to be smiling when she said that her heart was pounding.

When she raised her gaze, Raphlet, who had been giving himself to her, raised the corners of his lips and smiled.

He pulled Yuriel’s long hair, which had become wet from water, to one side and turned it over as he asked her.

“Isn’t it frustrating not being able to go out?”

“Hmm.”

Worried eyes turned to Yuriel.

Yuriel nodded her head calmly. Raphlet decided to prohibit her from going out and focus on training until the rumors about her died down. Even though he hastily issued a statement saying the news article that claimed Yuriel controlled monsters that was posted was false, people could not forget the fact that they had already seen it.

Rumors were spreading in the shadows, but fortunately or unfortunately, the news did not reach Yuriel’s ears and eyes.

“After morning training, it’s lunch right away, and in the afternoon, time goes by fast because I’m doing what Sir Shudmuel asked me to do.”

“… I see.”

In addition to physical fitness and shooting training, she continued to help Shudmuel’s work.

Yuriel said while looking at Raphlet’s worried gaze.

“I like it anywhere as long as Lord Raphlet is there.”

In her memories of her first winter spent in the Imperial Capital, only Raphlet and Albraka remained.

Of course, Yuriel liked that memory very much.