Transmigrated To A Beastworld As The Lazy Wife Of The Fox Lord

By midday, the arrivals had turned the beach into a carnival of banners, drums and celebration. The sand was lined with tables, showing off the different products produced by companies owned by different tribes. It was also buzzing with dozens of white parasols, with beast lords lounging like oversized cats in the sun.

While King Leon’s welcome speech boomed across the sand, citizens laughed at the lords, wondering if they had come for a vacation, or serious summit.

Sienna was nowhere near the parasols, she was in the kitchen of the Meridian Cottage Hotel, the only one in the area, which was hosting half of the summit attendees. Her sleeves were rolled up, apron tied tight, hair pinned back like a general preparing for battle.

She tossed shrimp in a large sizzling wok. Oil popped like fireworks.

Queen Serenya, ever curious, had followed Sienna to the kitchen. She was leaning against the counter, sipping wine, watching Sienna flip shrimp with the precision of an eagle beast man wielding a sword. "You cook like you fight," the queen observed. "Fast, loud, and dangerous."

Sienna smirked. "That is what makes my food delicious. You haven’t eaten shrimp until you have eaten my shrimp."

The hotel’s head chef silently mimicked Sienna, unhappy with the way she had taken command of the kitchen. He had been hoping to impress some lord with his cooking, and be whisked away as a private chef, paid a hefty salary.

Now, he was competing with Sienna, who didn’t need to impress anyone because she already had a heft salary, courtesy of being a beast lord’s wife.

The Beast King’s speech thundered on a hologram on the wall high up, "Unity...prosperity....discipline...." His voice rolled like waves.

An hour later, sneaked into the kitchen and snatched a shrimp off the tray. She blew on it, and popped it into her mouth. "Mama, this is delicious! Better than the ones Shalin cooks."

Sienna swatted her hand. "This is for the guests, not you."

Meanwhile, grandma Byra shuffled in, brushing past a waiter taking out another order of the famous fruit bowls. She sniffed the air, muttering, "Something’s off. Too much vinegar in the salad. I know for sure that the rabbit and sheep beast men will not take a bite of it. We need to do it again."

Sienna frowned. "I didn’t add vinegar yet. I wanted to ask Serenya about that first."

Mrs. Abernathy, who had no business in the kitchen, cleared her throat. She was Sienna’s shadow from a distance. She wanted to remind the Lady fox of her manners around the queen. Sienna had just broken one: addressing the queen by her direct name!

Grandma Byra marched to the salad bowl, poked it with her spoon, and froze. "Aha!" she barked. "I knew my senses were not off. If you didn’t add vinegar, then someone else did. Who was it?"

Not one person raised a hand.

The head chef said, "My people have only touched what they are assigned."

A scrawny attendant, dressed like any other servant, hovered near the salad tray, hands hidden behind his back. His eyes darted like a cornered beast. Grandma Byra yanked his wrist, and something dropped on the floor. It was a glass vial that made a sizzling sound. "Poison!" the old woman declared, her body trembling.

Chaos erupted instantly. Ali shrieked, dropping the newest shrimp she had stolen. Sienna spat out her wine, and it ended up a pan with a stake being fried. Fire rose from the pan, setting ablaze the apron of the chef that was frying it.

Sienna grabbed a frying pan, her preferred choice of weapon. "Don’t you dare run."

The would be assassin tried to run, but grandma Byra tripped him with her cane. He crashed into a tray of fruit bowls, sending the mixed fruits flying.

"Nooo..." Ali wailed.

The queen laughed at the little fox cub who looked more worried about the fruit than the fact that someone had almost set her mother up for disaster. "Sienna, even your kitchen is entertaining.:

"Not my kitchen." Sienna growled, marching to the poisoner with her pan. She leaned down, and grabbed the assassin’s shirt with one hand, pulling his half-way up. "Who sent you? The white snakes? Eagles? Susie Wiener?"

The man sputtered. "No one! I...I was just paid to ruin the feast."

Sienna pressed smacked him with the pan, over the head. "That doesn’t answer who. Give me an answer I need to hear or else, I will chop you up, roast you in the grill and serve you as part of lunch."

Some people winced. Others flinched. The queen laughed.

Outside, the Beast king’s speech droned on, oblivious to the kitchen war. Beast lords nodded gravely as if they agreed with everything the King said. Meanwhile, stomachs rumbled, because food was being distributed and they really wanted to start eating.

But in the kitchen, were their meals were being sent from, Sienna’s pan was still swinging.

"I don’t know.." the assassin cried. "It must have been the eagles. The person who paid me had brownish golden eyes, those are mostly found in eagle beast men."

Grandma Byra snorted. "Chaos! more like an attempt to sabotage the fox tribe and humiliate it. What exactly does this vinegar smelling poison of yours do?"

The assassin muttered, "It just makes you want to go to the toilet. I swear, I wasn’t trying to kill anyone."

The head chef walked over, shoved Sienna aside, and smacked the man with a spatula. "Devis, you moron, how could jeopardize the kitchen like that? Do you realize that the fox Lord would have all of us killed if something goes wrong? What if someone actually dies, wouldn’t the finger end up being pointed at you?"

Before the man could reply, fox guards stormed in, alerted by grandma Byra. Other than guards, a new team of chefs arrived. All of the old ones were removed.

Liman looked at Sienna solemnly and said, "The Lord said, from now on, we are only using our own people for the most important and sensitive jobs."

In the distance, they could hear shrieking. It was the head chef who had attacked Devis, scratching his face with sharp claws. "You cost me my opportunity," the head chef wailed. "I will kill you for this."

"What opportunity?" Sienna asked.

The queen laughed. Sienna could be so oblivious sometimes.

Sienna, meanwhile, threw herself into her grandmother’s arms for the first time ever. "Thank you." The salad had been prepared by her. If the old woman had noticed in time, day one would have been a disaster. Only God knew how day two would go when saboteurs were already hard at work.