Return of the General's Daughter-Chapter 21: Reya’s Fears

In the blink of an eye, Reya was behind Lara, her body shaking uncontrollably like a sieve being shaken.

"Mi.. Miss Lara, sna.. snake," she stammered.

Lara approached the snake, which she had carelessly thrown to the ground. She wrapped it in a leaf to avoid scaring Reya and Sandoz, but unfortunately, her maid was too curious for her own good.

"It’s dead, Reya. It can’t hurt you now. See?" Lara said, her voice calm but firm as if willing Reya’s fear to dissipate through sheer reason.

Lara picked up the upper half of the snake and walked steadily to where Reya and Sandoz were.

"To overcome your fear, you have to embrace it. Come here, Reya. Touch the snake." Lara beckoned Reya.

Reya stood frozen beside Sandoz. Meanwhile, the little boy took four steps forward, and with trembling hands, he touched the cold body of the dead reptile, which Lara wrapped around her waist, the snake’s head in her hand.

"Can I hold it?" Sandoz’s voice was tentative.

"It is quite heavy." Lara reminded him but still proceeded to place the half body of the snake on Sandoz’s outstretched hands.

Sandoz stumbled, and he and the snake fell to the ground. Determined, he stood and tried again, but the snake was too heavy for his tiny body.

"Don’t force it. You have a long way ahead."

Sandoz nodded his head, but the look of frustration was apparent on his face.

Lara’s gaze shifted from Sandoz to Reya.

Reya’s pupils constricted. She shook her head multiple times and took a step back. Her face turned as white as paper.

Lara then realized how scared Reya was. Although her skin was dark, she could tell that her face had turned pale.

Lara sighed. Indeed, it was difficult to teach an old horse new tricks. She didn’t know that Reya was easily scared. She seemed brave when they were in the carriage.

She re-wrapped the snake in a big leaf and brought it inside the house. On top of the banggera, she found an empty clay jar, in which she placed the snake in.

It was cooler inside the jar. She hoped her master would know how to process the snake into medicine.

Lara went to the kitchen, where Reya had started cleaning the fish.

"Miss Lara, I’ll grill the catfish and simmer a few carps into fish soup. Do you have some requests?"

Lara was craving for sweet and sour fish, but there was no ingredient.

"I am okay with whatever you cook. I am not that picky."

Reya seemed to have regained her cheerful disposition. She started humming while preparing the fish.

"Sandoz, come help me with the fire outside for grilling the fish."

Sandoz nodded obediently and followed Lara to the stone stove under the canopy of the big tree.

Lara saw a heap of charcoal in a small pit under the eaves on the west side of the house. A wooden shovel was beside it. Lara looked at the charcoal and shovel. She picked up the shovel and admired the craftsmanship. Did the old man make these?

She let Sandoz carry the charcoal and taught him how to start the fire using a match she found on a hanging shelf beside the earthen stove inside the house.

Sandoz was very obedient, and how he looked at her was full of adoration and respect. Unlike her two younger siblings, who always acted spoiled and would cry and tattle on the simplest discipline she would impose on them. Her father and stepmom would reprimand her harshly and tell her that the two kids were still young.

But wasn’t she disciplined even when she was much younger than them? They were already five. Her father started punishing her when she was three for the little mistakes that toddlers like her would understandably make.

Three-year-olds would have forgotten those memories as they grew older, but Lara did not. The pain she suffered from her father’s discipline was imprinted on her young mind, and she could not understand why her father did not instill the same discipline in her siblings.

"Ouch!" Sandoz cried as he hastily pulled back his burnt small hand when he stoked the fire.

Lara blinked as she was pulled back from her reminiscing.

"Be careful next time." Lara reminded him. She did not comfort him because he needed to experience those pains so that he would learn how to avoid getting burnt next time.

However, Sandoz’s skin was still delicate. Blisters soon appeared on his fingers. Lara brought Sandoz inside the house. She took the wooden dipper, filled it with cool water from the jar, and poured it over Sandoz’s hand.

"It will hurt a bit. Stay here. I’ll get something outside."

Sandoz obediently sat on the bench; his legs, too short to touch the floor, were swinging gently. He gazed at his burnt fingers. It was painful, but his face did not show any sign of being at pain.

When Lara came back, she was carrying a green, fleshy leaf. She had found the aloe vera behind the moringa tree, and there were many of them. If she had known earlier, she would have used them to wash her hair.

She rinsed the leaf under cool water, then carefully sliced away its thorny edges. The knife gleamed in her steady hand as she peeled back the tough skin, revealing the translucent gel beneath. With a practiced motion, she sliced it into thin, glistening pieces and gently pressed one onto Sandoz’s burnt fingers.

"Just leave it there for a while. When you feel better, you can come out and watch me grill the catfish."

Reya, who was skewering the catfish using the bamboo sticks she found on a bamboo holder, paused and watched her young miss processed the aloe vera and treat Sandoz’s burns. She seemed to be mesmerized. Why did her miss seem to be so experienced like she was used to doing that?

Lara sensed Reya’s intense gaze. She looked back and said casually. "I read this from my father’s books in the library and memorized the steps. I also did this a lot of times in my dream."

Reya: "..."

Lara approached her, took the six pieces of catfish awkwardly pierced by the bamboo stick, and hurried outside. The coal was still burning,and she did not want to waste the heat.

Reya’s gaze lingered on Lara, a mix of doubt and fascination flickering in her eyes. Her young miss had changed so much, it was almost as if she were a different person altogether.

’Did reading books and having a dream that effective?’ She pondered.

She had no choice but to believe Lara’s explanation. If not, how could she explain the person her young miss had become?