Stigma Effect
chapter-8

Chapter 8 – Ablution

Translator: Skye Editor: thursdays PR: sj_myself

“If you can just tell me how to predict the monsters’ behaviors, I promise we’ll release you right away. I’ll make sure you’re rewarded handsomely as well. No, if you’d like, I can even let you work in Albraca’s strategy office.”

“…The strategy office?”

“Yes. If you share the knowledge you know with the strategy office, the damage and risk the knights face will be greatly reduced.”

“Damage, reduce….So, Raphlet…You’re saying Raphlet will be less likely to get hurt…”

Yuriel showed a reaction.

“That’s right. So tell me exactly what you want,” Helio replied, careful not to touch Yuriel’s skin with the palm of his glove.

“I want to be next to Raphlet.”

“…Is that all you want?”

“Yes.”

She had been stubbornly silent this entire time, so Helio was baffled to hear that such a ridiculous demand would get her to finally start talking.

Helio took off the gloves and placed them on the desk. He had come in wearing the gloves with apprehension, but now there was no need for them.

“I’ll give you what you want. Will you be satisfied if we allow you to work in the strategy office and also let you be Raphlet’s personal maid?”

“Yes, that’s fine.”

Helio ran his fingers through his hair, sweeping it up. He felt slightly let down. If only he had known earlier that they would be able to come to an agreement this easily, then they could’ve avoided going through all this trouble by communicating with each other what they wanted.

Freeing Yuriel’s body from the chair, he asked, “May I ask why you suddenly changed your mind? You avoided answering me before, so why are you suddenly saying you’ll answer now?”

“Because you said I could work in the strategy office…” Yuriel began, a crease forming on her forehead, which was breaking out in cold sweat. She couldn’t pronounce her words properly because her tongue was twisted in pain from being chewed on during the shocks.

“If it means Raphlet can be safe, I don’t care if it’s dangerous for me.”

“He rarely gets hurt during subjugations. His larger injuries aren’t from subjugations, rather they’re….But wait, what do you mean? It doesn’t matter if you’re in danger?” Helio asked with a frown while raising Yuriel’s staggering body.

It looked like she might faint before he could even get the information out of her so he decided to take her to the infirmary.

Yuriel, who was able to get up with his help, spoke slowly, “I can only foresee the movement of monsters when I’m in danger. If I sleep in a dangerous place, I end up having a prophetic dream.”

“Oh, yes… A prophetic dream.” Helio responded sourly.

“I’m telling you the truth. When we were on the train, I dreamed that it would derail because of an ambush. If we hadn’t stopped the train, most of the passengers would have died. Of course, I would have been badly hurt as well.”

Seeing his furrowed brows, Yuriel managed to let out a feeble laugh with her weakened body.

“It’s been like that ever since I was living in the Mogris Grand Duchy. I foresaw every single day we had a monster invasion,” she said, her body continuously drooping every time Helio helped her back up.

“Then it seems like it’ll be hard to predict when a monster would appear in front of someone else. If you can really foresee when and where monsters appear through your dreams, that is.”

“Yes,” Yuriel replied while letting out a small groan of pain.

“…Pardon me for a moment.”

Seeing Yuriel slow down and unable to walk anymore, Helio let out a sigh and lifted her up.

Yuriel, now held in Helio’s arms, let out a fleeting sigh, as if she was at ease and could finally relax. Despite being held in the very arms of the person who had tortured her just earlier, she showed no signs of fear.

“Thank you.”

“No, I’m the one who made you like this.”

“Oh, you have a point.”

Yuriel and Helio both exchanged looks of embarrassment before Helio cleared his throat.

“Then is it possible to predict other dangers? For example, what about terrorist attacks?”

“Ah, no, I can’t. I can only foresee dangers associated with monst….”

“…Miss?”

Yuriel embarrassedly held her hands–which were still trembling from the aftermath of the pain–together and twitched her lips, as if to explain more about her precognitive powers, but she was unable to finish her words.

It was because she ended up fainting without any warning.

The humid air was stifling.

Yuriel slowly opened her eyes and found herself in an enormous bathroom.

She was the only one in the huge bathtub. Yuriel felt like her whole body was melting in the hot water that came up to her chest.

She felt like a piece of ice floating on hot water.

Her vision was also blurry, making it feel as if she was in a dream. Yuriel, who was enjoying the luxury of using a bathroom full of foggy steam all by herself, shook her head.

Where am I?

Yuriel had never seen such a sight in her life. It was clear that this was most likely a prophetic dream since she didn’t recognize the location, but the monsters that normally threatened her were nowhere in sight.

Gathering strength in her relaxed body, Yuriel slowly got up.

She was completely naked. Turning around, she found a large towel and a drink prepared near the back of the tub. Yuriel placed her hand against the wall and stepped out cautiously after wrapping the towel around her body.

“I need to figure out where I am.”

So far, Yuriel’s dreams started only in two places, the Mogris Grand Duchy and the train.

Yuriel had been living in the Mogris territory for almost her entire life, so she was always able to discern where the incidents would take place as soon as she woke up. The same was true for the train.

She was confident of where the monsters would appear. She would wander around the place in her dream like it was reality and confirm the monster’s approach.

And the dreams always ended the same way: with her death.

Of course, the way she died was different each time. A monster’s gaping maw that approached her, hard claws that pierced through her body, huge feet trampling over her fallen form, crushing her into pieces…

Recalling these sensations caused her body to tense.

It seemed she would have to experience death again in order for this current dream to end.

“I’m sure I told you to warm up inside.”

A long shadow fell on Yuriel, who was groping the walls, unable to find an exit from the huge bathroom. The shadow of the man, whose frame was large enough to cover Yuriel’s whole body and more, stretched out.

Yuriel immediately stiffened, fully aware that she wasn’t wearing anything under her towel.

“Wh, who–”

Before she could ask who he was, the man peeled off her towel.

Yuriel quickly covered her exposed chest with her hands and tried to crouch down in an attempt to cover at least some of her body.

But it was futile as the man behind her was faster. He wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up gently.

Yuriel was so startled that she couldn’t even scream, and her body began to tremble.

Dr-Dream. Wasn’t this a prophetic dream? Or is it just a dream? This could just be a regular dream instead of a prophetic one….

Yuriel never had a normal dream before, but there was no other explanation for this current situation.

“Why are you out here when you’re shivering like this? You’re all cold.”

“We, well, mo-monsters…I was worried they’d come–”

Yuriel stammered back. The man’s voice sounded familiar. She wanted to check his face, but her mind was filled with complicated thoughts, so she just sat still in his arms, letting her body soak in the warm water again.

Yuriel continued to keep her arms wrapped around her body, but the man behind her slowly took each of her hands from her shoulders and placed them in the water.

The soft curves of her pale breasts were revealed, causing Yuriel to hold her breath.

Her heart was pounding so hard to the point where she thought she could see it over her skin.

The man who had lowered Yuriel’s hands was now repeatedly scooping up water with his big hands and gently pouring it over her shoulders.

“You don’t have to worry about predicting the approach of monsters from now on.”

He swept his hand down her tense back and continued.

“Nobody can force you to do it.”

His manner made it seem as if he knew about Yuriel experiencing a horrific death every time she had a prophetic dream. His hands that were rubbing her shoulders stopped moving.

Holding her slender shoulder in one hand, he lowered his head slowly.

He swept her long hair aside and carefully kissed her exposed neck. Slightly cool lips touched the back of her neck, which had been warmed by the heat of the bath.

As soon as Yuriel flinched and stiffened, the man’s hand made its way down slowly. It moved from her shoulders to her forearm then lightly grazed her submerged wrist. He held her hot hand for a moment before letting it go.

“Wa, wait. Wait, there is…!”

The man, who hadn’t even rolled up his sleeves, moved his hands to Yuriel’s chest. He gently caressed the underside of her half-submerged mounds and pressed on the peaks before grabbing them entirely with his large hands.

“Aah, wait–”

“I won’t go all the way. Just… let me touch them for a little while.”

Yuriel was thrown in a state of complete confusion.

Breasts? My breasts? These? You want me to let you touch them?

It was the first time someone asked her if she could let them touch her chest.

Yuriel stared at the man’s hands in a daze as he fondled her mounds. For some reason, the copper skin looked familiar.

Wet sleeves and thick wrists. Big hands that were warm and clean.

The man tenderly pressed and squeezed her breasts, like he was giving her a massage. It was a warm touch that made her feel good. When she felt him pinch and roll her towering peaks between his fingers, she closed her eyes and tilted her head back, letting out a light moan.

“Nghh…”

It was a sound that came out naturally.

As she tilted her head back, the man behind her leaned down slightly so that her head could rest on his shoulder.

Yuriel slowly opened her eyes. She was curious about the identity of the man who was doing this to her.

Even if it’s a dream, I want to kn—

“Kyaaak!”

Yuriel interrupted her own thoughts, breaking out of her languid state, and let out a loud scream when she recognized the man’s face.

“Ma, master! I-I to my m-master, I d-dared to, h-how, this wicked dream…!”

Raphlet, who held on to Yuriel when she abruptly stood up, hurriedly spoke, “Calm down, Yuriel. You’ll fall–”

But Yuriel was unable to calm down and her feet ended up slipping in the bath. Seeing her falling backward, Raphlet hugged her body and fell with her in the tub.

The water, which had been running over the huge bathtub, overflowed and spilled out as the two people fell. Water poured down onto the dry floor with a loud splash.

Despite the loud noise, Yuriel’s dream continued.

T/N: I saw a user’s comment under the korean raws, which I’ve translated below so we can all be sad:

“I was wondering how she was able to endure the electrical shocks so well, but I see now it’s probably because she grew some resilience after getting attacked so many times in her dreams ㅠㅠ Yuriellll”