Transmigrated To A Beastworld As The Lazy Wife Of The Fox Lord-Chapter 55: Life’s not fair.
Mrs. Miller looked at Sienna, eyes sharper than usual. "Sienna, I raised you to be better than that. You can’t put everyone on a scale of money and weigh them. Consider this, you are wife of the fox lord. You are the lady of the fox tribe. If you refuse to give out even one glass of water, some of them might come to resent you and complain to the beast king or tarnish your name online. You are a leader, so act like one. If they come, we endure. That is all."
Sometimes---in moments like these. Sienna was almost tempted to grab her mother’s neck and snap it.
She scoffed, exasperated. "Endure. That’s your answer for everything."
"Because endurance is survival." Her mother replied. "Rejecting them today does not mean they won’t come to your door tomorrow, so fix it today. You don’t have to give much. Don’t buy them a house, rent them one and tell them you are only covering three months of rent. After that, they need to start paying for it themselves.
Don’t give them money, give them jobs. You have been saying that you need farm workers around here because you want to expand the orchards. Give them a chance. Hire them and see if they can endure. If they can’t it is not your fault. Your part has already been done.
If they claim you were not helpful, produce your proof and shut up any voices that say otherwise. What matters is that in the eyes of the public, you must be a kind hearted, good lady of the fox tribe.
Before you divorce Elias, you need to have a stellar reputation, a steady source of income and a long line of guards, given how headstrong you are and how often you make enemies for yourself. Don’t think short term, think long term."
Sienna had no retort. None the less, she asked, "Do you even realize that you will be meeting the woman Paris chose to marry? The children he stuck around for! Aren’t you worried that you will hate them?"
Her mother laughed. "I told you, I knew your father would never marry me. I gave up after Soren was born and he failed to show up even once.
This has nothing to do with your father and everything to do with you and your brother. If they are good people, it doesn’t hurt for you to have more family in your lives.
You used to be so cut off from me and Soren in the past five years. I always worried that if I died, he would be alone and so would you. Nothing gave me greater joy than you coming home and pulling us back into your life.
I thought to myself that even if I died, you siblings had each other. Those children, are your siblings too and they need you both. Your grandparents need you. Until they prove to be bad, I say we endure."
Sienna looked at Soren, who was valiantly trying to stop crying, jaw clenched, eyes red. He looked so young, so fragile and yet so determined. It seemed like he would follow their mother’s advice to the letter.
She sighed. For his sake, because he was probably curious about them, she would put her assumptions on pause and wait to rush to judgement.
At the end of the day, she might not care because she was not the original Sienna but Soren was the same boy. He had just found out that he had a tribe and he had been cut off from it before even getting a chance to join it.
He had a right to his family. All she could do was protect him as best as she could.
Meanwhile, Elias was upstairs, on her bed, with two confused five year olds. Instead of bed time stories, they were getting a lesson on blood heritage.
"Is mama a fox or a falcon?" a confused Ali asked.
"Your mother is the daughter of a falcon beast man." Elias replied. "But, she was born without the beast gene so she is neither a fox or falcon beast man. She is just human."
"But she smells like a fox." Ali pouted. "I smelled it."
Elias smiled. "That fox scent is mine," he explained gravely, tucking the blanket around them. "It means your mama belongs to me and she is a member of our tribe."
The twins blinked at him, wide-eyed.
"We belong to you and mama. Do we smell like foxes too?" Ali asked.
Eli rolled his eyes. "You are dumb Ali. We are foxes, of course we smell like foxes."
Elias flicked his son’s nose. "Don’t call your sister dumb." He smiled at Ali, trying his best to seem softer than he was. "Yes, you smell like foxes but you also have a scent that is unique to you. Right now, you smell like sugar and lemons."
Eli wrinkled his nose. "It’s the soap that woman...." He stopped because Elias narrowed his eyes at him. "Ma..ma..Mama made soap and the nannies used it when giving us a bath."
"She used the sugar flowers," Ali squealed. "And the lemon peels, and...."
Elias sighed. "You two are supposed to be sleeping."
"I don’t want to smell like sugar flowers forever." Eli sat up, raising an alarmed voice. "Boys don’t smell like that. Father, you don’t and neither do my uncles or grandpa." His eyes shimmered with tears that were waiting to fall.
Elias pushed the boy back down gently. "It is not forever, it’s just for a short moment."
"Papa, can you read us a story about rabbits?" Ali asked.
Elias looked at the door, wondering when his wife would return. It was not that he could not read the children a story, he just thought they would fall asleep quickly and he would be able to join the Miller’s at the table.
"Papa...." Ali whined.
Elias sighed and relented. "Very well. Once upon a time, a rabbit tried to outwit a fox. It failed. The end."
The children were flustered for a moment. That had to be the shortest story in history.
"That’s not fair!" Ali groaned.
"Life is not fair," Elias said, patting their heads. "Now sleep."
They pouted but snuggled under the blankets. Elias stood, regal even in the dim lamplight, and left the room.
Back at the table, Sienna rose from her chair, weary. Soren had finally stopped crying, though his eyes were still swollen. Mrs. Miller remained silent, lost in thought. Frankly, her calm aura confused Sienna. She would have felt better if her mother just cried and let it out. The silence was just going to make her stay up at night, wondering if her soft willed mother was plotting to follow that wicked father to the grave!
