Nichs wasn''t sure if he was seeing things, but the sight of Sophie in the town of Hauntingen surprised him. Sophie was wearing her uniform from Cawden and she was also carrying two baskets filled with berries and fish.


    Before Sophie could say anything else, Nichs rushed out and took the heavy items from her hands, and asked. "What are you doing here, Sophie? Why aren''t you in Hastings?"


    Nichs rushed to Hauntingen and promised to return to Hastings to pick up Sophie once his lycanthropy curse was cured but now she was here as well. He couldn''t believe it.


    Sophie stared at the young man and said, "Why don''t we get those things off from your hands though? I need to sell them to make money."


    "Uh, Okay…" Nichs nodded. "But, just let me carry them. I will follow you."


    Sophie finally relented. She headed to one of the market stalls and sold the berries and fish to a fruit and meat vendor. Nichs watched her collect the small amount of money and pocket it.


    All throughout the transaction, Sophie felt Nichs''s heavy stare on her shoulder. He had no idea what happened back in Hastings that led her toe here. Likewise, she also didn''t know why he was here.


    "You must be really surprised to see me, huh?" Sophie smiled at him. "I''m shocked to see you as well. I thought you went back to the capital with your uncle."


    "I have something to do around this area. So, I left the capital. Did something terrible happen with your family?" Nichs asked her straightforwardly. The man did not hesitate to ask her right away about her reasons foring here.


    Sophie was honest with him before. So, she smiled reluctantly. "My aunt pped me in the face and threw me into our cer. That was the wake-up call I needed to happen to run away back here."


    "What?!" Nichs could hardly hold back his own voice from rising. His blood boiled at the thought of someoneying a hand on Sophie. He reached out and touched her face and stared at it closely. "Are you okay? I''m sorry, it must have hurt."


    Sophie''s cheeks warmed at his touch, but she grabbed his hand and pulled it down. "There''s no scar or anything. It already happened a few weeks ago, so you don''t have to worry about it. What brings you here, Nichs?"


    "Sophie, do you have a ce to stay?" Nichs asked. He couldn''t exactly exin that he was afflicted by the lycanthrope curse and was looking for a cure so he changed the subject to an important thing. "I am currently staying in an inn so if you''d like to stay in a room there…"


    "Stay with you?" Sophie raised a brow.


    Nichs blushed but waved his hand. "No. But I can get you a room right next to mine if you''d like. I wish I was there when that trouble happened with your aunt then I would have been more of help."


    Sophie smiled at him and shook her head. "You don''t have to feel responsible about what happened to me, Nichs. Besides, didn''t I tell you that I used to live here with my parents?"


    "But that''s…" Nichs stopped himself from saying anything else. She still didn''t remember him.


    "How about I invite you to have some tea at my house?" Sophie asked. "I was worried about what happened when you suddenly left for the capital, but now you''re all the way here."


    Nichs quickly nodded. "Sure, I''d love to visit your ce a…"


    "A?" Sophie raised a brow.


    Nichs cut himself from saying the word ''again'' and instead said. "I''d love to visit your ce and see the neck of the woods here? You mentioned it before about it being there haha. Let''s go."


    "I''ll lead the way so you won''t get lost," Sophie took his hand and then led the way back to the forest. "Nobody has really been there except me for quite a long time so the path is overgrown with thistles, roots, and other vegetation that makes it a lot spookier."


    Nichs chuckled. "You say that, but inside of the forest, the sunlight wafts in through the trees'' leaves so wonderfully that it''s hard to believe that people call it haunted."


    "Huh?" Sophie looked back at him in surprise. "How…?"


    "I mean, aren''t most forests actually beautiful?" Nichs said. He wanted to tell her about their past together at a much better time. Probably when the two of them could sit down and have a nice talk together.


    After staying in Sophie''s hut for about a month with her, it was impossible for Nichs to not feel ovee with nostalgia and especially when Sophie was here as well. Somehow, it felt like they were kids again.


    But of course, things were now different since they were older.


    Sophie smiled and shook her head. "During the early morning and evenings, the air is so frost-bitingly cold that white mists and haze tend to make the area rather eerie. A lot of people get scared and say that they see things."


    "Hmm, it must be their imagination though," Nichs said. "There''s nothing in the forest."


    "How can you say that?"


    Nichsughed sheepishly. "Well, if it''s really haunted then you and your family wouldn''t be there, right? I mean there are probably animals around, but that''s what hunters are for."


    "Uff… if only people would think logically like you then they wouldn''t be afraid ofing here." Sophie sighed.


    "People tend to be afraid of things that they do not know or cannot exin," Nichs smiled a little bitterly.


    "That means that I''ll just have to prove them wrong if I''m determined to change their minds," Sophie smiled brighter and wondered what made him upset. "Especially when I''m building a tavern."


    "Huh, you want to do it here?"


    "Mhmm, but let''s leave the talk for tea time. For now, it''s time for us to take a little shortcut. The walk usually takes about ten minutes if we take the one my parents used, but—"


    Nichs nced in the direction of some bushes and was already heading in the shortcut that she mentioned.