Return (5)

Was God’s miracle this lewd? I squeezed my eyes shut and fell into contemplation. Isn’t a piercing or a womb tattoo pretty much the same thing? It was such a pathetic worry that I’d rather just shut down my mana circuits and live as a shut-in.

Still. Wouldn’t a tattoo be better? Neither is outwardly obvious, but if I had to choose, a tattoo seemed preferable. A piercing seemed like it would interfere with daily life. Sensitivity… is that what I should call it? I didn’t know what would happen if I came even easier than now.

And, I wasn’t confident I could stop at just a piercing. Given my adventurous nature that seeks more stimulation, I had an ominous feeling I’d do something crazy of my own volition someday. Like attaching a string to the piercing, or adding piercings to other areas.

“…I’ll go with the stigma. How long will it take?”

“It takes a full night for the stigma to be stably engraved. Shall I tell the Executor-nim?”

“It’s okay. I’ll tell him.”

“Okay. Then I’ll prepare to engrave the stigma. Yujin-ssi, when you’re done, could you take off your clothes and lie on the bed?”

Nodding, I opened the door with a reluctant expression. Humid air brushed my cheek. The rain was still pouring down without any sign of stopping. Walking a little further, I saw Shuriel leaning against the garden gate with his eyes closed. His shimmering blonde hair sparkled like jewels in the moisture and moonlight. I couldn’t bring myself to move, just gazing at his dreamlike figure for a moment.

“Shuriel.”

A voice buried in the sound of rain. But he heard it. Shuriel, who caught this faint voice, simply turned his head, still with his arms crossed, and sent a nonchalant gaze.

“Speak.”

A topic too embarrassing to bring up in the dark night, in a lyrical atmosphere with rain and moon, but my face had no shame in looking at the sky. I’d been with him for too long to be embarrassed by this kind of thing. If either he or I were to be embarrassed, it would be like back then…. Hmm. No. Let’s not think about that.

“I found a solution.”

“To what?”

“The breast milk flowing. Thank you for everything so far. For… squeezing out the accumulated stuff.”

“Ha. I only feel worse when thanked for something like that. So what is this solution?”

“I’m going to engrave a stigma on my body. That’s, um. …Never mind. Ignore it.”

“A stigma?”

…I stopped myself from saying it would be engraved above my womb. Maybe it was because it was a rainy dawn, but my heart was a little calmer. I didn’t want to overheat the atmosphere by adding unnecessary words. I was a little excited about his reaction, but it wasn’t too late to check when I returned to Lushelliny.

However.

“A stigma, you say?”

A strangely angry voice. He stopped me from heading to Serti’s room, twisting and grabbing my wrist.

“Haa… that bitch has finally gone crazy.”

“…Shuriel?”

He frowned deeply and took me away. It was in the direction of the teleportation magic circle. I was just dragged along with a bewildered expression, not knowing why he was angry. But, soon realizing what was happening, I shook off his hand and hesitated to step forward, Shuriel glared at me with cold eyes.

“…Why are you doing this?”

Shuriel tilted his chin lightly and asked me.

“Do you know about stigmas?”

“…I heard they’re blessings engraved on the body. Isn’t that right?”

“No. It’s not.”

A small laugh. He twisted his lips, even letting out a hollow laugh like someone who had heard something they shouldn’t have. Then, Shuriel leaned against the wall with a somewhat composed face. Then he opened his mouth.

“It’s a curse.”

“A cur, se?”

“Stigmas certainly grant power, but they take a price for it. And you can’t erase them halfway. Once any stigma is engraved on your body, it won’t disappear until you die. You have to pay the price forever. And you’re going to engrave a stigma just to stop breast milk from flowing?”

“…If it’s really bad, can’t I just cut it out and reconstruct it?”

“That won’t erase the stigma. It’s not something a priest or you can erase just because you want to.”

“…Serti didn’t say anything like that.”

“That bitch likes to hide things.”

Come to think of it, Serti was the one who lied and called the aphrodisiac a tranquilizer. Thanks to that, I gained a lot of embarrassing memories. I just fidgeted, listening to his words. Still. I didn’t think Serti would do something so harsh to me. It seemed like she had a definite backup plan.

“…I’ll go talk to Serti for a bit.”

“I’d rather go myself.”

Shuriel passed me and moved towards Serti’s room. I thought a big fight would break out if I just let him go, so I stopped Shuriel from passing, grabbing his wrist and twisting it slightly, like he had done to me. An annoyed look flew my way, but I knew it contained worry.

“Then let’s go together. She didn’t seem to have bad intentions.”

“…You’re too nice. You need to know how to get angry sometimes.”

“Thanks for the compliment. Still, shouldn’t there be at least one person like me in this bleak world?”

“With that personality, you won’t even get a high position-… No. Never mind.”

“…Don’t say anything until we enter the room and I open my mouth.”

“….”

Having persuaded Shuriel, I firmly grabbed his hand and headed to Serti’s room.

Walking a little, I saw a door painted pink from the entrance. It was Serti’s room. I grabbed the heart-shaped doorknob and turned it. Shuriel, behind me, trembled his lips and showed his aversion.

“Serti. I’m here.”

Serti was preparing for work, placing various incomprehensible tools on the bed. Turning my gaze to her chest, I saw that she had piercings on the opposite nipple as well. …Why is she wearing those? No breast milk comes out, though. Did she just do it?

“Oh my. Yujin. Welcome. Did you get permission from the Executor-nim?”

“…I wonder.”

“Looks like it didn’t go well. I knew it. I understand. He has bad memories of stigmas. That’s why I was going to go…”

Before I could ask what that was, Shuriel roughly threw open the door and revealed himself. His eyes met Serti’s. He was emitting an almost murderous, fierce aura. It was definitely not the kind of atmosphere an ordinary Executor would show to a priest.

“What is the meaning of this.”

“Oh my, what do you mean?”

“Even after seeing the Executor of Angrid break down, you still try to engrave a stigma?”

Serti made a slightly lonely expression and replied.

“It’s different now than it was then. The technology is much more stable, and there aren’t really any major side effects. And that’s not Angrid’s fault, even if it’s my fault. Do you know how much effort he put in to become an Executor? He wasn’t a superhuman from the start like you. He was desperate enough to use this unstable technology.”

“I still regret that time.”

“You should regret it. I’m still regretting it too.”

“Even so.”

When the story progressed this far. I cut between the two, blocking their view. I only came to get a womb tattoo, but the topic became too heavy. And I didn’t even know what they were talking about. Having stopped the fight between the two, I demanded an explanation with a somewhat tired expression.

“I don’t understand anything you two are saying, so can you just give me the conclusion?”

Is this dangerous, or is it safe? Just pick one. I was confused because their opinions differed. Of course, Shuriel said it was dangerous and tried to dissuade me. Unable to completely ignore his opinion, I sent a suspicious look towards Serti.

“This is okay, right?”

“It’s safe. I guarantee it.”

“….”

“If you’re really that distrustful, you can experiment on my body. If you still don’t like it, I’ll just give up.”

Serti giggled, bringing a sharp silver knife to her neck. At the same time, she carved a specific pattern on her neck, drawing it. Geometric patterns connected in an S shape. Drops of blood fell. Serti didn’t even blink, continuing the work with the same smile. Horrified by the sight, I stopped Serti and calmed her down. Fortunately, the stigma was not engraved.

“Hmph… I was almost done carving….”

A regretful nasal sound. She put down the knife and healed the wound. A healing wound. As a priest, she easily healed herself. I let out a faint sigh and said.

“Okay. Then let’s do that. If I engrave the stigma on my body and something goes wrong, Serti?”

“Should I hang myself? Or, should I walk around outside naked and get raped to death? Hmm, anything is fine.”

“I’m not thinking of making you do anything that… bad. I’m just saying, you should take corresponding responsibility.”

“Okay! Of course. I’ll do anything you tell me to.”

I almost said “good.” If I had, I might have been the one hanging myself. The cause of death would be suicide due to self-loathing. Shuriel looked at me with a distrustful gaze and opened his mouth.

“If you had seen what Angrid looked like, you wouldn’t even be able to say that. Fine. But if you’re still going to engrave the stigma, I’m going to watch closely.”

“Wa, watch? Th, there, um. Shuriel.”

“…Hmm?”

Hearing his words, I remembered the main point that had been obscured by the overly heavy topic. The vulgar content of engraving a tattoo on my womb to stop breast milk. And he’s going to watch that firsthand?

“…That’s, no, it’s nothing. Serti? Can I take off my clothes and lie down?”

“Yes! I’m ready?”

Mumbling, I threw off my clothes and lay on the bed. I closed my eyes. I probably wouldn’t open them until the stigma was fully engraved. Shuriel, seeing me flustered, sat on a chair with a puzzled expression. His gaze was directed at Serti. I could feel his strong will to stop her if she did anything strange.

“Yujin. It might sting a little. I’ll assist with divine power, so it won’t be too painful.”

Having become naked, I flinched at the feeling of cold metal touching my lower abdomen. Instantly, I remembered when I was dissected alive by Parsih. My thighs and womb were cut off and used as ingredients. It hadn’t been that long, but it was now a distant memory.

Shuriel, who had been chattering about telling Serti to be careful and that he would watch, gradually reduced his words as time passed. Well, it would be strange if he had a lot to say while a tattoo was being engraved on my womb.

The work of engraving the stigma didn’t hurt even though it was cutting into my flesh with a knife. There were moments when I flinched at the stinging, but it was only for a moment. Was it thanks to Serti’s help? And, I couldn’t see the process because my eyes were closed, but the pattern was presumed to be heart-shaped. I had been expecting it, but my heart tickled when I thought a heart tattoo would really be engraved. I didn’t want to feel this kind of depravity. Haa.

“Now, all that’s left is to inject divine power…”

After that, the work was finished, and Serti, placing her hand on the bleeding area, injected divine power along with a short prayer. A cozy energy wrapped around my body. The flesh that had been cut with a knife quickly healed and returned to its original clean skin. However, the blood-red pattern engraved on the skin did not disappear.

“…Want to open your eyes?”

Calming my pounding heart, I opened my eyes. First of all, there was nothing wrong with my body. I was a little confused, as she said my emotions might become more intense, but no major changes had occurred. The size of the pattern was about the size of an adult woman’s fist. It wasn’t too big, and it wasn’t too small. So, does that mean breast milk won’t come out now? I used both hands to press down on my breasts. A suggestive moan burst out, “Aht.”

But.

“Serti?”

“Yes?”

“It’s still coming out…?”

A trickle of bright yellow liquid. It was breast milk. Unlike me, whose face hardened, Serti began to organize the tools, chuckling.

“It’s okay. It won’t leak unless someone intentionally sucks or presses it. Rest assured, it was intentional. The baby that will be born has to have food to eat, right?”

Was that it. I let out a sigh of relief and got up from my seat.

Shuriel ran his palm over his face and let out a sigh that felt a little different from mine. I couldn’t tell if it was because he was relieved that the side effects of the stigma weren’t too severe, or if he was having an existential crisis because all he had watched was the process of engraving a womb tattoo.

“…Is it all over?”

I nodded in embarrassment. This heart tattoo, the more I looked at it, the more lewd it felt. It felt like it was openly seducing men. Maybe that’s why my body felt even more easily aroused.

“Just a moment, Executor-nim!”

“…What is it now.”

“For the stigma to be stably engraved, you need to stay here for about a night. Either wait until tomorrow to take Yujin, or go back alone.”

“….”

And what’s even more difficult is.

“…I’ll stay.”

“Oh my my. The person who said they would never stay here is doing so for the first time?”

…I had to spend the night with Shuriel in this state.