Chapter 305: A sister who wants everything.
The guards ushered Sienna in, and she took a seat at her desk. She was expecting to meet two families, but there was just one. It was hard to miss the fact that two of the women standing opposite of each other were sisters. They were both fox beast women with the same eyes and ears. Each had come with her husband.
"Sit down." She ordered.
Elias pulled a chair and settled beside her, while Mija and Mika settled behind her. Before she arrived, all the necessary parties needed for the hearing and recording had been invited.
Mija leaned forward and whispered, "The one who is heavily pregnant is Happy Ardente. The one with the deep frown is Betty Ardente, she is newly married."
Happy was not just pregnant but heavily pregnant, her belly round beneath her winter clothes. Tears streaked her cheeks, her sobs echoing pitifully in the chamber. Betty, though newly married, lacked the glow someone like her should have had. Her eyes were flashing with exhaustion and fury.
Sienna gestured to them to begin. "Happy, since you are crying the most, perhaps you should enlighten me first on why we are all here."
Happy’s voice trembled as she spoke. "Matriarch, my sister tried to kill me. She pushed me down the steps. If not for my husband catching me, I would have lost my child. I wanted to call the enforcers, but my father insisted that we come to you for a tribal hearing."
Gasps echoed through the room. Happy’s husband, handsome but ordinary, nodded solemnly. "I saw it. Betty really shoved Happy. Maybe she did not mean to do it, but it happened. Betty is not a bad person, I would like to think that this was an accident."
Sienna’s gaze turned to Betty. "Explain."
Betty drew a deep breath, her voice steady but laced with bitterness. "Matriarch, that is not the truth. I just touched her and she stumbled extravagantly, as she always does when she wants attention. And now, she twists it into attempted murder. All my life, Happy has stolen from me. She is my younger sister by two years. She was born weak, so my mother has always pampered her. All the hard work at home was left to me, while she lived like the daughter of a noble. I was at her beck and call, like her personal servant.
It got to her head that she started to believe she owned me. When I got into a prestigious university, Happy was not happy that her maid would not be at her beck and call anymore. She took my admission ticket and got rid of it. She called the school and said I was not interested. She went so far as to change my contact details so that they would not reach me."
Sienna raised her brows. In all this, where were the parents?
Betty continued, "I got a job as a receptionist at a hotel and Happy stole it by bribing the manager. When she found that it involved having to be polite and respectful and running errands for clients, she quit. Then, she suggested to my mother that I take my job back, but give her half of my salary." She rose, as did her voice, packed with emotions. "As if that was not enough, she seduced Martin over here, who used to be my fiance, and slept with him. She flaunted it before me, and then married him."
The gasps which rippled through the room were much louder than when Happy accused Betty of trying to kill her.
"Every step I took, she blocked." Betty cried out in despair. "I moved to another part of town to escape her. I took on part time jobs while studying at night. I earned admission to a lower university and became a pharmacist. I met a good man, I built my own life. Today was the opening day for my own private pharmacy. I had just opened the door when she showed up.
She talked to me sarcastically, demanding I give my pharmacy to her. Not just that, but she wants me to leave my husband, as if she has the right to everything I touch."
The room fell silent. Happy’s sobs grew louder, more pitiful. She clutched her belly, rocking slightly. "Matriarch those are all lies. She envies me. She envies that everyone loves me, that I am blessed with a child. She envies that our mother has always favored me. She didn’t leave home because I stole Martin, she left because she couldn’t stand to see me doing well. She envies that I am the true daughter of fortune."
Betty’s laugh was sharp, bitter. "Fortune? You call theft fortune? You stole things that belonged to me because you couldn’t get them on your own. You stole my admission ticket because you had poor grades and you knew you would never make it to a prestigious university like I did. You stole my fiance and I left him for you. I moved away so that you could live your life and I lived mine.
And now you want mine. You showed up at my door, demanding I leave my husband. You said I was not worthy of him. You said I should live in the shadows while you basked in the sun. You tried to grab my arm when people were coming and I knew what you were up to so I shoved you away slightly. And you, being the cunning piece of shit you are, you staged this pitiful fall down the stairs."
Happy denied everything, her tears flowing as fast as water from an open tap.
Sienna turned her gaze to the men. Happy’s husband Martin shifted uncomfortably, his hands clenched. He was handsome, but ordinary, his aura lacking the authority of other man. Betty’s husband Jericho, a soldier from the vanguard and son of a noble family. His posture was tall, his presence commanding. His looks were beyond Martin’s. His eyes were cold with disdain when he looked at Happy and Martin.
"My wife speaks the truth, Lady Sienna," he said firmly. "Happy came to her pharmacy while I was supervising the workers in the back. I heard Happy make those silly demands. She insulted my wife and belittled her. I was on my way out of the store and I saw Happy clearly trying to grab Betty’s hand. Happy staged her fall. I saw it. She leaned too far, then cried out as if struck."
Happy’s sobs grew louder. "Brother-in-law, you are biased! My sister has told you bad things about me, but they are all lies. You don’t know how cruel she is. You don’t even know if she truly loves you or she is still in love with Martin."