Lara panicked for only a brief moment before regaining her usual composure. Her sharp gaze darted around the cave, and she let out a sigh of relief upon spotting Reya and Sandoz. Though they stood rigid in the corner, they appeared unharmed.
Sunlight filtered through cracks in the cave walls, casting a soft glow that illuminated the cavern's interior.
Still lying on the ground, Lara's eyes drifted upward. Her breath hitched as she noticed a sharp stalactite directly above her, its tip seemingly aimed at her forehead. A cold shiver ran down her spine.
The man holding the sword to her neck frowned, his brow furrowing. Why did she react with fear to the stalactite above but remain unaffected by the blade threatening her life?
The mysterious man looked up and saw the stalactite, which looked like a massive drill about to descend on the girl lying on the ground. Even he shuddered.
"Who are you, and how did you find this place?" the man asked sternly, his voice echoing in the depths of the cave.
Lara looked at him without a hint of fear. Her dark brown eyes mirrored the coldness of his gray ones.
"Could you please remove the sword you're pointing at my neck? I'm already having a stiff neck as it is. I'm just a helpless girl, after all," Lara replied nonchalantly.
The man, whose straight white hair cascaded down to his waist, raised his sword-like eyebrows, and his lips twitched. 'How dare she!' he thought. Despite his anger, he pulled back the sword and, with the pointed end embedded in the soft floor of the cave, lazily leaned on it.
Lara effortlessly stood up, and her eyes met the level of the man's chest. She realized just how small she was; she wasn't used to looking up at people. At twenty, she stood tall at 173 cm, but now she estimated her height to be just 153 cm.
She studied the man before her. He appeared to be in his fifties, but she wondered why his hair was strikingly white. Her uncle, who was her father's eldest brother, was also in his mid-fifties, yet he still had black hair.
His lower face was covered with a thick mustache. A full, flowing beard cascaded down to his chest, its texture soft yet robust. Both his mustache and beard sparkled with the same luminous whiteness as his hair, creating a striking contrast against the warmth of his tanned skin.
"We discovered this place by chance. I saw the entrance when I climbed a tree yesterday." Lara replied to his earlier question in a relaxed manner.
The man scrutinized Lara as if he were gauging the truth in her words. The entrance to the cave was hidden, making it difficult to spot from the ground. However, he hadn't considered whether it could be seen from up in the tree.
"Who are you, and why are you on this mountain? Don't you know how dangerous it is here?" he asked with annoyance. The cave was his sanctuary for meditation and bathing.
"Kind sir, we were abducted by human traffickers. We managed to escape yesterday, thanks to Miss Lara's bravery," Reya chimed in.
Lara glared at her servant. Why did she have to add that last sentence and expose her name to a stranger?
The man was curious about Lara. He scanned her from head to toe, his gaze lingering on her lower garment. He quickly assessed Reya and the child beside her.
"What kind of crappy dress is that? I have only been in seclusion for five years, and the fashion has regressed so much?"
"It's cumbersome to run around the forest in a long skirt. It's much more comfortable this way," Lara explained impatiently. She glanced at the bonfire, which had already died down. The twigs they had used to skewer the boar meat were lying beside the fire, along with the leftover meat.
The four bamboo tubes were still buried in the ground and covered by leaves. They finished one of the tubes the previous night.
Lara pulled one of the twigs and passed it to the man.
"Please have some meat, Sir. You looked very thin." Lara said as she passed the skewer to the man.
The fifty-something man rolled his eyes at her.
Lara chuckled. She did not sense a killing intent from the man even when he pointed a sword at her. She was a good judge of people's character, and she could tell when a person had bad intentions. She felt that the man was harmless.
"Miss Lara, is he the man from your dream? He looked very much like a hermit." Without waiting for Lara's answer, Reya turned to the elderly man and babbled excitedly.
"When we were abducted, one of Miss Lara's cousin's servants struck her hard on the head. She was unconscious for two nights and three days. When she finally woke up, she told me about a vivid dream she had during that time. She dreamt she was living in a forest, where a hermit taught her survival skills. Thanks to what she learned in that dream, we managed to escape from the human traffickers. Miss Lara even killed a boar—she simply threw a knife, and it struck the boar dead instantly. I believe you must be the hermit Miss Lara encountered in her dream."
Lara was speechless. She did not know that her maid was a chatterbox.
Mysterious man: "..."
"Reya, I did not know you talked a lot." Lara glared at her.
"Miss, I am always , and you like it too. You said that I have a bubbly and likable personality." Reya said as she puffed her chest, proud of herself.
Perhaps she felt that they were no longer in danger, and her cheerful personality resurfaced.
"What nonsense are you talking about?" the man asked in confusion.
"You are the hermit, right? Look at your long white hair and white beard. Only hermits would look like that. We are now in the forest, so Miss Lara's dream must have been prophetic."
"Reya, why don't we have our breakfast? I think it is just hunger that is messing your mind." She took out her small knife and cut the twig in two. Then, she cut a portion of the meat from her skewer and put it into the other twig before passing it to Sandoz.
"My father is a general, and I have six brothers who are trained in martial arts. How can I not learn survival skills?" She spoke softly. Her voice was only meant for the man to hear.
The man took a bite of the meat as he looked at the girl with interest. A flicker of emotions swirled in his eyes turning them into a darker shade.