For a few seconds, nobody dared to say a thing. But, they were thinking it. How dare Sienna fire a servant in this house? What right did she have?
"Who do you think you are?" Marnie challenged.
A few other servant girls raised their voices in union with Marnie. Once again, before the Veythar's could respond, Sienna's hand moved.
Pah, Pah!
Two slaps this time, to Marnie's left and right cheek.
"How ridiculous." Sienna sneered, "In this household, servants seem to hold more power than their masters."
The maids shut up very fast. Accusations like that in a high ranked family like the Veythar's could get one fired and banned from serving in another high ranked family ever again. This was such a great loss because this was the kind of job that paid very well and gave low ranked beast men and non beast men some access to the parts of their society they would never be welcomed to otherwise.
"Hmph, we will see what Lady Cadelaria has to say about that." Marnie turned with a smirk to look at Elias' mother.
Mr. Marius Veythar, Elias' father stood by her side, his eyes firmly on Sienna as if he was trying to look through her.
Sienna did not shrink in the face of her parents-in-law that could not stand her. She stood her ground. "Mother-in-law, you may not like me much, but until Elias and I divorce, I am still your daughter-in-law. I am also Eli and Ali's mother. What right does a servant girl like her have to set me up? If I was truly a depraved molester, poor Kroton would have lost his innocence. How would we explain this to his mother?"
Kroton's mother burst into sobs, like she was in sync with Sienna.
Lady Cadelaria turned her head in the direction of mother and son. "Kroton, what happened? Did Sienna touch you inappropriately in any way?"
Sienna held her breath. Given her reputation and lack of popularity among the servants, it was fifty percent possible that she would be blamed. Hopefully, the robotic fox thing had a camera that had recorded everything.
Kroton pointed to Marnie, "Lady Sienna did not do anything to me. She was not inappropriate when she touched my ears, she just thought they were cute. I misunderstood her and she apologized already. It was Marnie that sent me back here against my will."
Sienna let out a short breath. "Vindicated at last." She smirked at Elias. "If you had looked into the situation properly, we would not be here now. Why else did this maid find an opportunity to set me up? In fact, if I am such a depraved woman, why was a young beast man sent to clean my bedroom? Were there no female servants?"
Murmurs rose. Questions were asked. Doubts were poked into Marnie.
"I raised the same complaint." Mama Kroton cried out. "But Marnie assigned my son to the Lady's bedroom. She was setting him up from the beginning."
Sienna tipped her chin up. "I want the maid fired or I am calling the authorities and reporting her for something. I just don't know what yet."
"What?" Marnie screamed.
"Pack your things and leave immediately." Lady Cadelaria ordered Marnie.
Marnie fell to the floor.
Sienna raised her voice quickly before everyone could leave. "If I hear any more rumors about me being horny and such nonsense, you will all be fired one by one." Deliberately, she looked up to Elias and added, "I am done with people ruining my reputation."
Someone huffed.
Elias scoffed. He had a feeling that she was deliberately referring to him. But how had he ruined her reputation? She had done so herself with her actions. This situation was a one off.
Slowly, the servants that had come to watch an affair left the room. Marnie was taken out by Liman. The older Lord and Lady Veythar left, as did their children and grandchildren.
Kroton and his mother also left, leaving Elias alone in the room with Sienna.
She sat down on the bed and raised her eyebrows. "Why are you still here?" He had been rude to her, so she saw no need to be nice to him.
She was not the old Sienna who clung to him and begged for affection. As soon as she maximized the ability to share his abilities, she would grant him the divorce he wanted.
Elias did not reply immediately. He was stunned. Sienna dared to question him--him, the Lord of the Foxes. She dared to talk to him as if he was bothering her! "I don't know what scheme you are cooking...."
Sienna raised her hand. "Stop, this is not a drama. Do not say cliche things like 'woman you have caught my attention."
Elias raised his eyebrows. What was she talking about?
Sienna waved her hand, "Or things like 'I don't know what scheme you are working but you will not stop me from divorcing you.'" She put a hand on her chest and took a deep breath. "I already said that I am willing to divorce. All you have to do is obey a few of my commands. They are not even embarrassing. You can do it now," she tapped the mattress. "Come over here, or stay where you are and sit."
Elias turned and walked out of the room.
Downstairs, he found his family gathered in the living room, discussing his wife.
"Did you see how domineering she was?" his younger brother Miro asked. "She never dared to raise her voice around the servants before."
His sister Cyra said, "She proved her innocence and threatened Elias. She was looking right at him when she said she was tired of people ruining her reputation." She whispered. "What do you think he did?"
Elias cleared his throat.
Cyra grabbed Ali and the squeaky starship plush. It made a loud protest and the little girl chuckled.
"I detest the accusation Cyra." Elias declared.
"She is just trying to put off the divorce." His mother said with certainty. "Even if she was proven innocent in the Kroton matter, it does not change the past. She is not fit to be the Lady of the Fox tribe."
"I am going to be bed." Eli hoped from the chair.
His grandparents followed, looking at his small figure with love in their eyes. Ali, meanwhile, abandoned her aunt in preference for the warmth of her father's arms. "Daddy, see." She showed off the plush.
Elias stared at the toy like it was an eyesore. But to please his daughter, he smiled. "Ali has a nice toy."
Ali nodded. "Mmm, Ali's toy."
She was declaring it hers because she clearly remembered her mother offering it to her dad if he sat down. The little one could not understand what was so special about sitting down or why her dad had refused to do it in exchange for this squeaky toy. She squeezed it again, and smiled.
Gael Veythar winced.
"So, what is with this sit command business?" Cyra asked. She was the only girl and the youngest and most curious. In others, the biggest gossip among the siblings.
Elias was the oldest at 32, Gael was 30, Miro was 25 and Cyra, 21.
Elias, Cyra and Gael looked more like their father, they even had his eyes and hair. Miro looked more like their mother, sharing her brown hair, small nose and slender frame.
"Can we talk about something else?" Elias asked. "If not, everyone should go to bed."
"The gene tests are almost done." Gael said, "Soren Miller is an A rank bird beast with mental strength. Do you plan to send any recruiters to admit him to an academy in Clawspire? The vanguard could use more flying beast men."
Elias preferred not to respond. He wanted to divorce Sienna Miller. Recruiting her brother was not something that appealed him to him greatly. "I will sleep on it." he finally said.