Chapter96

She felt incredibly empty, because no one had ever paid that ultimate price for her before and knowing it was her fault made the guilt almost unbearable. 
If she had just listened to him and ran when he told her to, maybe he would still be alive.
'This is my fault,' she thought, crying freely while she sat there. 'I was too proud and now Gazel is dead...'
She cried for a few minutes, shaking under the blanket until her throat hurt too much to make any more sound. 
Eventually, the smell of cooked meat reached her nose, making her hungry despite how terrible she felt and forcing her to look up. 
'Where am I?' she thought, wiping her wet face and looking at the walls around her.
It looked like a small natural cave, dimly lit by a campfire positioned near the entrance. The heat from the flames pushed away the cold night air, and sitting on the other side of the fire were two people she didn't recognize right away.
A boy was carving a piece of wood with a small knife, and a beastkin girl sat near him, quietly eating a piece of meat.
'Who are they?' she thought, shrinking back a little against the cave wall.
She didn't feel any hostility from them, but her guard was up completely. After what she had just survived, she wasn't ready to blindly trust anyone sitting in the woods at night.
Hajin noticed her moving and stopped carving, looking up at her across the fire.
"You screamed pretty loud just now," he said, setting the wood down. "Are you alright?"
She stared at him, her eyes checking his face before dropping to the cheap clothes he wore. 
'Wait,' she thought, her brows pulling together. 'I saw him earlier today.'
She remembered the carriage ride through the capital and the boy who had locked eyes with her through the window. It was exactly the same person.
"You," she said, her voice rough from crying. "You were the one on the street."