Transmigrated To A Beastworld As The Lazy Wife Of The Fox Lord-Chapter 63: The cold fox lord’s bizzare ringtone.
Elias Veythar was not yet aware of Sienna’s decision. He was at the headquarters of the fox tribe, a cavern of polished obsidian and steel in the middle of the city. The building was two hundred stories high, had fox runes embedded in the walls and figurine of a nine tailed fox at the very top.
Everything that happened inside was fox tribe business related, and as the fox lord, Elias Veythar practically owned the building. He was the CEO of the fox tribe. At the moment, he sat at the head of the long table, his eyes like shards of winter ice. Every breath he exhaled seemed to lower the temperature in the room by a degree.
The attendees--elders, advisors, senior employees at headquarters sat stiffly, their tails tucked or absent. Their claws hidden beneath the table or retracted. No one dare to meet his gaze for too long. This was because of of his temper and the ridiculous rumors that he had once frozen a delegation from the hawk tribe with a single glance, leaving then encased in ice statues until spring thaw.
It was ridiculous! None the less, it just boosted Elias’s fierce reputation.
Today’s meeting was no less perilous. The agenda: the Fox tribe’s expansion into trade routes that crossed into what the White snake tribe was calling their territory. It had sparked a trade war which resulted in espionage, sabotage and betrayal.
"Numbers," Elias said, his voice low, each syllable like a blade scraping across stone.
An elder from the accounting department shuffled papers with trembling hands. "Profits from the southern trade routes have ...they...have..." he wiped sweat with the back of his hand. "seen a thirty percent decline. The White snakes spiked ten ships with fox brew. Some was stolen and resold on the market as White brew. The White snake tribe lodged a complaint with the Economic Council. They claim we--ah--appropriated their wine brewing techniques."
Elias’s eyes narrowed. "Appropriated?"
The elder swallowed hard. "Stolen, they mean."
A silence fell so heavy it seemed to crush the air from the room. One advisor’s hand twitched toward his throat, as though already anticipated Elias’s paw or tail strangling him. Another shifted uneasily, calculating whether leaping out of the window would be faster than waiting for judgement.
Elias leaned back, his chair chair creaking under the weight of his aura. "And did we?"
"No." an elder from the product development team shouted. "The new fox brew recipe was created in our lab from scratch. Josephine Lambert suggested we add spicy fruits to add heat to the mixture. There was nothing like that on the market before."
Elias spread two hands slightly, "Well, the problem is already here. Whether the idea was an original one or not does not matter, we are never admitting to it. We are also not pulling it from the market. The question is, what do we do. Any suggestions?"
No one answered. To speak was to risk death. To remain silent was to risk worse. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖
Elias’s gaze swept the table. "If the White snakes believe we stole their ideas, then perhaps we should steal more from them. Trade routes, markets, even their allies on the Economic Council. Why stop at ideas?"
A collective shiver ran through the room. The advisors exchanged panicked glances. Was this a declaration of war?
The tension was unbearable. Someone’s claws dug into the table, leaving grooves in the polished obsidian. Another tail lashed beneath his chair. Elias aura thickened, frost creeping across the edges of the table.
And then--
A sound shattered the silence.
Not the clash of six tails against the table. Not the clash of steel or claws. Not the howl of beasts.
But a ridiculous, off-key song that did not match the harmonic buzzing in the background.
"I am a cutie pattootie fox, I dance in the snow, la la la, tails so fluffy, la la la, my eyes are so pretty, la la la---"
Elias froze. His hand twitched. His ears flicked back. The song grew louder, shrill and absurd, echoing through the solemn room.
Everyone stared in horror. Was this....the fox lord’s phone?
Indeed, from the depths of his pocket, the cold fox Lord withdrew his phone. It’s screen glowed cheerfully, displaying the caller ID: SIENNA MILLER.
The ringtone continued, the first part of the song was sung by a woman and the second, a child. It was his daughter Ali--singing wildly off-key, giggling between verses.
"Papa’s tails are long, la la la, Mama says he’s wrong, la la la--"
The boardroom was stunned into silence. Advisors hawked, elders fought the urge to laugh, senior employees wondered where the best corner to hide was. Anything--to save them from witnessing the icy fox lord losing his composure.
Elias’s aura faltered, frost receding from the table. For a moment, he looked less like a terrifying cold fox lord and more like a husband caught in a domestic humiliation.
The ringtone blared again. It seemed like they had recorded an entire song!
Sienna’s voice, unmistakable, slightly nasal, utterly unmusical: "Fox tribe, fox tribe, richest in the land, but Daddy fox won’t buy me a band--"
Elias growled, his tail lashed violently at the table. "Get out, get out, all of you."
The room was emptied within less than a minute, while the ringtone started afresh. The caller was determined to reach the fox Lord. As soon as the doors called, laughter escaped them as if it was running from something within their bodies.
Meanwhile Elias was thinking of all the ways in which he would strangle his wife when he got his hands on her. He was sure that she had orchestrated this humiliation deliberately and timed it for this very moment. How had she even managed to hack his phone and replace his dignified vibration ringtone with this absurd family chorus!
He closed his eyes. He imagined the look of regret on her face when he punished her. When he silenced her giggles. When his dignity was restored. He sighed and pressed the phone to his ear. "Sienna," he growled out the name.
