The dark prison was stifling.
The damp of early autumn mingled with the underground moisture, leaving Anbi feeling sticky all over.
Scattered firelight illuminated her fur, which should have been snow-white but was now dusty and dry. Realizing she was dirty, she instinctively stuck out her tongue to lick herself.
But that was something only a beast would do.
Anbi is a person, not a monster.
Thinking this, she hastily shook her head, trying to shake those bestial instincts out of her mind.
Even though all the other "fellows" around her were doing just that—
They huddled in other corners, keeping several body lengths apart out of mutual distrust.
Their suppressed bestial natures forced them to pant heavily, low growls like those of bears and wolves straining from their throats.
Perhaps the "scent" throughout the prison felt deeply familiar to them.
That actually subdued their instinctive savagery.
It was her first time breathing the same air as so many of her "own kind."
The feeling left Anbi frightened—
She felt that the Golden Oak was her home.
Yet her searing blood seemed to tell her that the Beastkin before her, burdened with shackles and stocks, were her true "family."
She refused to admit it and hugged her slender legs a little tighter.
"Relax, child. No one here will hurt you."
She heard someone comforting her from the shadows.
"Thank you..."
Anbi instinctively turned and discovered a woman in a white robe—
Her robe was so tattered it looked as though it had been torn to pieces.
The blood soaking her clothes and her disheveled hair marked her as the sort of dangerous person Anbi would normally avoid.
But Anbi could feel her gentleness.
She had only felt a similar gentleness in her sister's arms, listening to her sing softly to