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

Chapter 243: A literal Pandora’s box.

The call came in the middle of the night. It carried Soren’s frantic voice, and resulted in a sleepless night for Sienna and Elias. The seaside air was still damp and freezing when they returned to their home so early in the morning.

Sienna was still muttering something about resurrecting Paris and frying his bones when they stepped into the house. She sounded as cranky as the sea on a bad day. Elias, ever the stoic, only raised an eyebrow, and carried her luggage inside.

The atmosphere in her cottage was thick enough to slice with a butter knife. All the falcon relatives had crammed into the living room. They were gathered around a wooden box sitting on the table like it was a ticking bomb.

Mrs. Miller, wrapped under a heavy blanket, stood beside it, pale as moonlight. "Sienna, thank goodness you are here. Maybe you will know what to do about this. It came in the evening yesterday, by a courier who vanished before I could ask questions. I think he was a weasel beast man....he had those shifty eyes. It’s from.....your father. I know you don’t like it when I call him that but he is your father."

Sienna grimaced. The father who had taken his own life. And worse--left them with a mess because of his ties to the underground rebel movement. Nothing that came from that man was good.

"What do you think it is Corven?" Elias asked her grandfather.

The whispers started.

"What if it’s a weapon?"

"Maybe a manifesto."

Numia leaned in with wide eyes. "What if it’s gold, or money. Or shares in a large company. Maybe its jewels, or a deed to a mine."

Mrs. Miller snorted. "It could be socks. Paris would never send me money. Imagine all this fuss over socks! I don’t know why you all won’t let me open it."

Sienna pinched the bridge of her nose. "If socks could overthrow the royal family."

A few gasps came at her response, one directly from her mother. Mrs. Miller clutched her blanket. "Sienna...what do you mean? Don’t joke around like that. I know your father was not the greatest of men but he would never dream of overthrowing the royal family. Don’t say such things. Whispers travel quickly around here."

Elias, Soren and others looked at Sienna with wide eyes. They all had the same look of confusion in their eyes. ’You didn’t tell her!

Sienna sighed, moving to the closest armrest, and settling down. "Mother, we had a small conversation about dad in which I mentioned that he had many secrets but I left out the biggest secret which actually mattered."

Soren touched Mrs. Miller’s back. "Brace yourself," he whispered.

"He was part of the underground rebel movement." Sienna blurted as fast as she could. "I am sure you heard all about it, like the rest of the kingdom. Paris traveled from city to city, recruiting students and doing all sorts of bad things that I don’t know about." She raised her voice deliberately, "That we all don’t know about."

Mrs. Miller whimpered in fright.

"Why are you shouting when mama’s right here?" Soren asked.

Elias rolled his eyes. She was shouting because the spies keeping an eye on his family had probably reported the arrival of the package already. He could feel waves of mental strength probing around.

Mrs. Miller’s face was as white as a sheet by now. But nobody could focus on her because of the box.

Corven Junior crouched close to the box, tapping it with his claws.

Grandma Byra smacked him with her cane. "Stop poking the damn thing. How many times must I say this? It could be some kind of explosive weapon. We could all die if you trigger it."

Half of the people standing close to the box stepped back, while Elias stepped forward. He spoke with calm, but his voice was still sharp. "The issue now is not Paris’s past. It is what this box contains. And whether opening it will doom us all."

Many curious, but wary eyes looked at the box. Maybe it contained treasure, or maybe it brought trouble, they would never know until it was opened. But, if it was opened and what was inside brought danger, then was opening it worth it?

Numia immediately suggested, "We should auction it! Imagine the bids--’Mystery Box from Known Rebel Recruiter.’ No names or anything. The royals and everyone with secrets linked to the rebels will scramble to buy it. We could wake up as the richest family in the empire."

Mrs. Miller glared. "This isn’t a carnival prize!"

"Is money all you think about?" Grandma Byra hissed at her.

Sienna rubbed her temples, "We can’t just open it blindly. If it’s evidence, the royal family could use it against us. If it’s a weapon, we will be accused of being involved in treason. And it it’s socks, I will throw the box into the sea myself."

The debate spiraled. One uncle suggested burning it. A cousin suggested burying it in the garden. Someone suggested praying over it first!

Mrs. Miller finally snapped. "Enough! We have been up all night, staring at the box as if it is some kind of treasure or oddity. Now that I know what Paris was involved in, I want nothing to do with it. My personal suggestion is that we get rid of it." She looked at Sienna. "But you are his daughter, so you get a say, as does Soren. For all we know, this is an inheritance he left to the both of you. So, you two decide what should be done."

Soren bit his bottom lip. It was clear in his eyes that he wanted to see what was inside, but, he was also scared. His eyes collided with Sienna’s, leaving the decision in her hands.

Sienna stared at the box. Her father’s shadow seemed to hover it, whispering secrets. She wanted to laugh at the absurdity. A dead man had literally sent them a Pandora’s box! Ideally, she should have simply set it on fire, but that was not an option. To protect themselves better, they needed to know what was inside.

She stood, voice steady. "We should open it. But carefully. Someone needs to record a video as proof that we had no idea what it contains. If whatever is inside is dangerous, we will decide together what to do."

The falcon relatives immediately began arguing over who should lift the lid.

Elias whispered to Sienna, "What were you saying last time about the one with the most troublesome relatives between the two of us?" He chuckled, hot breath burning the tip of her ear. "I think we are tied. Right?"

Sienna rolled her eyes. "It is not a competition."

He snorted. She was wrong, it was a competition. One, that she had started. And he was winning because he didn’t have a dead rebel father sending mysterious boxes from beyond the grave!