Note:

Hi~ I decided to continue Stigma Effect since I saw some readers were still waiting for this. I’m also still reading along from the beginning so pardon me if this chapter is still lacking!

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Baraha sat down slowly. He said he would protect Yuriel in his own way, but when he came to his senses, Yuriel had passed out and was drooping.

“As expected, my protection is not reassuring….”

Baraha muttered sullenly. Someone approached Baraha, who pulled at Yuriel’s hair who had fainted.

“… Commander Baraha.”

It was Raphlet and Helio. After finishing with the monsters, they looked at Baraha from above and made an absurd expression on their faces.

“Why were you falling from above, why is Miss Yuriel there? I heard she was sent out first.”

Albraka’s 4th general, Baraha, relaxed his body as if he had nothing to say. Raphlet approached him and reached out to Yuriel. Baraha, who had her braided hair wrapped around his fingers, got up and handed Yuriel to Raphlet.

While Raphlet was examining Yuriel’s body, Helio spoke to Baraha. It was a more comfortable tone than when he was dealing with Raphlet.

“Baraha, when you get back, you must report your return and come to the alchemist tower. You’ll get fired..”

“I don’t care if I get fired.”

“If you get fired, I’ll get bored. If you don’t mind, stick to Albraka.”

“If they don’t fire, I will stick.”

Baraha replied and nodded his head indifferently. After giving a rough greeting to Raphlet and Helio, he turned around first.

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Because of the terrorist attack in the alchemist tower, the vacation of all knights was over. The faces of the returning knights were grim.

Yuriel looked at the knights returning to Albraka, and then looked at Baraha’s face as his eyes closed in silence next to her.

His dark black hair was messy. Yuriel habitually arranged his hair and felt a gaze on her.

Raphlet was watching her silently.

“Do you know each other?”

“I saw him often in the Mogris estate.”

“Since when.”

“I think it was after Lord Raphlet joined. Because I first met him when I was in bad shape….”

In response to Raphlet’s question, Yuriel touched Baraha’s hair with her finger and muttered. His thoughtful face darkened.

Immediately after Raphlet left, Yuriel also wandered a lot.

While wandering through villages and forests without receiving any work from the Grand Ducal couple, she met Baraha.

Perhaps because they met at that time, Yuriel was quite comfortable with Baraha. She could have asserted that the only other person who she could show her rock-bottom state was Baraha.

Perhaps the same goes for Baraha.

Stupid Baraha. Baraha who came to die in the Mogris estate.

The coniferous forest surrounding the Mogris estate was so vast that it could easily bury the death of a single person. Especially in winter, it is so dense and dark that it is difficult to tell the four surroundings.A smile appeared on Yuriel’s lips as she patted his black hair. How could she have predicted that the boy that was about to die would grow up like this to develop guns and become the general of Albraka.

She thought he was just a stupid commoner.

When Yuriel knocked on his head, Baraha did not wake up. Rather, he seemed to be getting more and more into his sleep.

“I haven’t heard anything about you being in a bad shape.”

Raphlet said in a low voice.

“Are you not feeling well? I haven’t heard anything….”

“I wasn’t feeling well, not physically, but mentally. Lord Raphlet went like that, how could I have been fine?”

Yuriel stared into the air with blurred eyes. Yuriel, pulling Baraha’s hair straight, continued.

“Ah, I don’t blame Lord Raphlet at all. I support everything Lord Raphlet does. Except that you’re trying to keep me apart.”

“I thought it would be dangerous if you were by my side.”

“I’ve said it many times, Lord Raphlet. Lord Raphlet’s side is not dangerous to me at all, and I don’t care if it is dangerous. It’s best for me to be by Lord Raphlet’s side.”

Yuriel’s two eyes shone resolutely. Facing Yuriel’s eyes for the first time after meeting her again, Raphlet said.

“You will not accept me.”

A cold voice echoed through the room. Raphlet’s voice was like the winter forest of Mogris. It is a voice that covers everything coldly, freezes it, and eventually kills life.

The fragile seeds beneath him will freeze before they even bud.

But even so, what is the problem?

Yuriel didn’t care.

“I can accept it.”

“I am not what you think I am, Yuriel.”

Raphlet persistently pushed Yuriel away. He threatened Yuriel without hiding his cold eyes.

“If you knew what I was thinking about you, you would want to leave this room right now. After you leave the room, you will not return to the Mogris estate. You will want to run away from me.”

Yuriel chuckled as she listened to Raphlet.

His words were so absurd that she burst into laughter. She learned that even when she was not in a good mood, she could laugh.

Yuriel said provocatively.

“All right, Lord Raphlet. Then tell me. What do you think of me?”

“… I don’t want to say it.”

“I came to the Imperial Palace to meet Lord Raphlet. Now I’m a worker in Albraka’s strategy room. I never thought that my abilities, which I was so afraid of when I was young, would improve so much. It’s still a little scary, but…. As long as Lord Raphlet touches me, I will be alright.”

“It is the same thing. When you know the truth, you will….”

While continuing the conversation, Yuriel recognized the difference felt in Raphlet’s words.

Raphlet was talking on the premise that Yuriel would leave him.

Yuriel is Raphlet’s maid. She belongs to him. If Raphlet were to discard Yuriel, she would let it go, but for Yuriel to abandon Raphlet first, there was no such premise in the first place.

“I belong to Lord Raphlet.”

Yuriel cut Raphlet’s words and said. Raphlet, who had been speaking hastily, looked puzzled.

“If Lord Raphlet wants to have my head cut off, I’ll give it up as much as I can.”

“… Yuriel.”“So, whatever Lord Raphlet is worried about, I don’t care. As long as you don’t want to kick me out, that’s fine. I can’t live without Lord Raphlet, so if you want to get rid of me, I’d rather you kill me.”

“Yuriel.”

“If it bothers you, I could die myself. Even now….”

“Yuriel, stop!”

Raphlet got up violently. There was heat on his cold face.

“Yes, Master.”

Yuriel calmly answered. She had an obedient face, willing to obey any orders. There was a sense of madness that could not be hidden from Yuriel’s submissive appearance.

“You can do whatever I say.”

“Yes.”

A strange energy lingered in Raphlet’s eyes as he watched Yuriel. It was the moment when Raphlet stepped closer to Yuriel’s side.

“Yuriel, I thought you said you don’t want to die?”

A voice that broke the atmosphere resounded through the room.

After waking up, Baraha opened his eyes and asked a question. The madness surrounding Yuriel and Raphlet was broken.

A light of reason returned to Raphlet’s eyes. Raphlet covered his mouth and sighed softly.

“Ah….”

He was swept away by his momentary desires and almost showed Yuriel his insidious intentions. Because Yuriel is too obedient…. No, it wasn’t Yuriel’s fault.

His reason was thin and worthless..

But at least, shouldn’t he have enough faith to not hurt Yuriel?

Raphlet turned his body away from the pair of eyes staring at him.

“Lord Raphlet, where are you going!”

He heard Yuriel’s voice calling him, but Raphlet hurriedly left the room.

“You’re a little crazy too.”

Baraha, who got up with a big stretch, said as if passing by

Regardless of his messy hair, he got up and looked into Yuriel’s face.

Baraha was listening to all their conversations. Raphlet tries to push Yuriel out because he can’t accept it, and Yuriel accepts everything he has.

“I think I know what Commander Raphlet is saying.”

“What?”

“About being able to accept him or not.”

Baraha’s gaze scanned Yuriel’s body. He could only hear Raphlet’s voice with his eyes closed, but he could feel the lust brewing in it. That is what Raphlet was hoping for, and Baraha wakes up with the thought of what he’ll do in this room.

In fact, even if it does, it doesn’t really matter what Raphlet wanted to do, but it will have a lot to do with Yuriel.

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t think I’m going to tell you anything carelessly…. Hmm, wait until Commander Raphlet tells you himself later. He won’t be able to hold it for long.”

“What?”

“At this rate, it’ll take a month at most

Baraha muttered while tapping Yuriel’s forehead.

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