@Dislike: To be honest, I understand and agree with everything you said. You're absolutely right in saying that fear is irrational and therefore beyond her control, and that Renée's point of view isn't the same as the readers'. But the problem for me is that the author (whether that's the original author or the artist who adapted to novel to webcomic, I don't know), hasn't done a good job of making her fear believable before now. Intellectually, I could see where she was coming from, but emotionally, it made no sense. These last two chapters have been the first time that I've felt Renée's fear was remotely justified, and while Cabel is genuinely terrifying in them and I truly viscerally understand why Renée reacted as she did in this chapter, it's come too late.
Renée's fear stems in large part from her first encounter with Cabel coupled with how generally scary he looks and the rumours about him. In itself, that's perfectly reasonable. The problem is that there just hasn't been enough tension maintained for her fear to be convincing. I can get how a single terrifying experience can leave a lasting impression on someone. But as a reader, that one scene just didn't feel like enough to justify her three years of being terrified of him, especially since it was a one-time thing during which he didn't even do anything. Regarding the other two points: she of all people is well placed to know why he looks as terrible as he (supposedly) does, and the rumours haven't been made enough of a thing in the story (yet?) to be a major point against Cabel. Add to that all the scenes of normal interactions between them and her terror just seems really forced at this point.
It doesn't help that her fear of Cabel is dissonant with a lot of her characterisation. Yes, Renée has bee portrayed as a coward, so that's consistent, but she's also been shown as being very capable of reading the people around her. She figured out really quickly that Elvin was more concerned with her powers than her, and didn't mind. She knew why the priests resented her. She could empathise (even over-empathise) with soldiers who were mentally worn down by the march and the constant fear of ambushes. She
gets people. And she knows that Cabel is exhausted. Yet she doesn't get him, and
only him?
The fact that he's a strong warrior can't be a used as reasonable justification either: barring the priests, she's seen everyone around her kill others. Elvin is every bit as freakishly powerful as Cabel. And she's seen Cabel throw himself into battle to save others, herself included, yet - again - he is the only one she's this terrified of?
The problem is that her attitude to Cabel is inconsistent with how she interacts with literally everyone else, and, at least for me personally, the justification we've been given just wasn't enough. Rationally, I can justify her behaviour, but emotionally, I'm not convinced. It's not that the writing is bad, but the execution hasn't been good enough to pull off what the writing was trying to do.
(Unless we're supposed to think that her feelings towards Cabel are this much of a mess because she doesn't realise she's attracted to him. Then the romantic in me would be happy to give the author a free pass...)