Chapter 62 - 062: Peace treaty 2

By the time Anaria came outside, the servants had already gathered.

They stood in small groups, whispering among themselves as they tried to figure out why they had suddenly been called together. None of them seemed to know what was going on, and the longer they waited, the more curious they became.

The murmuring only stopped when Anaria appeared with her mates.

The servants immediately straightened and lowered their voices.

Kenai looked around at them before speaking "Don’t look at me like that. I wasn’t the one who called you here. It was Anaria."

Anaria smiled and stepped forward "Good morning."

"Good morning, Lady Anaria," the servants replied.

She nodded before turning to her mates "You two can leave now."

The men immediately looked at her "Leave?"

"Yes. I want to speak with them alone."

"We’re staying," one of them said.

Anaria sighed. "I’ll be fine."

"We can stay nearby."

"You don’t need to."

Her mates exchanged a look, clearly unwilling to leave her alone, especially after everything she had been through recently. But Anaria kept insisting that nothing would happen to her.

Eventually, they gave in "Fine. But we’ll be close."

"Alright"

They finally walked away, though they kept glancing back at her. Once they were gone, Anaria turned her attention to the servants.

She smiled "So..."

The servants looked at her expectantly.

"The reason I called you all here is because I wanted to get to know you."

The moment she said that, the servants started murmuring again.

Anaria blinked.

One of them finally spoke "Are we in trouble?"

She looked shocked "Trouble? Why would you think that?"

The servant hesitated "Well, meetings like this aren’t usually called for no reason. Most times, when all the servants are gathered like this, someone is about to be dismissed."

A few others nodded.

Anaria stared at them before letting out a small laugh "No. Nobody is being dismissed. I just want to know the people who work here."

Her gaze shifted to the packages that had been brought out "And I brought something for you."

The servants followed her gaze "Consider it a little treat. Maybe we can become friends."

A laugh suddenly came from somewhere in the crowd, It wasn’t that quiet either. Anaria’s smile faded as she looked toward the sound.

The servants turned too.

A young bunny beast woman stood among them. She was quite beautiful, with fair skin and soft white features that made her bunny ears stand out even more.

She folded her arms "Why are you bringing goodies for servants?"

Anaria stared at her.

The woman continued before she could answer "You’re the leader’s female. Shouldn’t you act like one?"

Someone beside her immediately whispered, "Keep quiet."

But she ignored the warning "Or are you planning to use those things to fool us?"

Anaria’s brows drew together "Why would I think of doing that?"

The woman scoffed "Stop pretending."

The servant standing beside her grabbed her arm "You can’t speak to the leader’s lady like that."

The bunny woman laughed "Who made her Kenai’s lady?"

The servants became quiet, Anaria remained still, trying to understand where this was coming from.

The woman looked her up and down "She probably seduced the leader. That doesn’t automatically make her his lady."

Her eyes dropped to Anaria’s stomach "And carrying his cub doesn’t make her special either. Any female can carry a leader’s cub."

A few servants exchanged uncomfortable looks.

The bunny woman wasn’t finished "So everyone should stop treating her like she’s important. She’s not even that good-looking. She probably seduced the leader and got pregnant just for the position."

Anaria’s expression slowly hardened, she could feel her anger rising.

The servants noticed it too. "That’s enough," one of them warned.

"If the leader hears you talking like this, you could lose your position."

The bunny woman merely laughed before falling silent.

Anaria took a slow breath.

Then the system chimed inside her head.

[Host, remain calm]

Anaria’s jaw tightened "Keep quiet."

[ost, you need to control your anger. Remember that you need to gain their favour to complete the task.]

"Fuck that favour." She was already irritated enough.

"I’m not going to stand here and let someone insult me just because I’m supposed to gain their favour."

The system went silent.

Anaria exhaled through her nose and looked back at the servants.

She couldn’t exactly punch the woman.

Well... She could, but perhaps that wasn’t the best idea.

Her gaze returned to the bunny woman.

Then she smiled "I’m sorry."

The woman raised a brow.

Anaria looked around at the servants "It seems an insect was making noise."

A few servants stared at her.

"I’ll properly disinfect it if it continues."

The silence lasted for a second.

Then someone laughed.

Another servant quickly covered their mouth, but it was too late, soon, several of them were laughing.

The bunny woman’s face turned red with anger.

Anaria simply ignored her "Anyway, as I was saying, I called you here because I want to know you better. If you have any problems, you can come to me. Think of me as a doorway. If there’s something you can’t handle, I’ll listen."

She gestured toward the packages "Please, distribute those."

Several servants immediately moved forward.

The goodies were passed around, and the mood began to lighten.

Anaria smiled "This can be our peace treaty. I don’t want problems between us. I want us to get along."

The bunny woman grabbed her package and threw it aside.

"Sorry, seems like the treaty wasn’t meant for me."

Several servants frowned. "Just leave it."

"You’ve said enough."

She rolled her eyes and turned to walk away.

Anaria’s patience ran out "Hold up"

Before the woman could turn, Anaria grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.

Smack!!!

The slap landed across her cheek.

Everything went quiet.

The woman froze, her hand rising to her face. "You slapped me?"

Anaria looked at her. "It’s a factory reset method"

The woman raised her hand to strike back, but the servants stepped forward.

She stopped and looked around but no one moved aside for her.

Her hand dropped. She glared at Anaria, murmured then stormed off.

Everywhere went silent

Then a servant laughed. Another joined. Soon they were smiling and clapping. Anaria looked at them, surprised.

The bunny woman glared at Anaria before pulling her arm away and storming off.

The courtyard fell quiet.

Anaria turned back to the servants, expecting awkwardness. Instead, they looked at her with something closer to respect.

"She really stood up to her," one servant murmured.

Anaria frowned. "Was she really that troublesome?"

"She has been for a long time," another admitted. "She uses her closeness to the leaders to push people around."

"We couldn’t complain to the leader. He’s always busy."

Anaria glanced toward where the bunny woman had left.

"So you’ve all just been putting up with her?"

"What else could we do?"

Anaria sighed before looking at the treats still being passed around.

"And you thought I would be like her."

One servant smiled sheepishly. "When you first called us, we thought someone was getting fired."

Anaria laughed. "I noticed."

Then her expression softened.

"Well, you work here. That doesn’t make you less important. If something is wrong, come to me. I may not be able to fix everything, but I’ll at least know what’s happening."

The servants exchanged looks before one bowed.

"Thank you, Lady Anaria."

"Thank you."

Soon, the others joined in, and a few began clapping. The applause slowly spread through the group.

Anaria laughed softly.

The system chimed.

<Congratulations, Host. You have gained the favour of the servants.>

Anaria blinked. "Now?"

<Yes.>

"So it wasn’t just because I slapped her?"

<The slap contributed. However, your actions throughout the gathering changed their opinion of you.>

Anaria narrowed her eyes. "So you were testing me."

<Yes.>

"You could have just said that."

The system went silent.

Anaria shook her head before turning back to the servants.

"Anyway, go and enjoy your treats."

"Yes, Lady Anaria!"

She waved as she walked away, smiling when the servants waved back.

This time, their smiles were genuine.

By the time Anaria returned, her mates were already waiting.

"How did it go?"

"Everything went smoothly?"

Anaria laughed softly. "Relax. It went well. They were actually such darlings."

Her mates exchanged relieved looks.

"That’s good."

Anaria glanced at her hands. "I want to wash my hands."

They frowned.

"Why?"

"I hit a wall."

There was a brief silence.

"A wall?"

"Are you hurt?"

They immediately moved to check her hands, but Anaria stopped them.

"Stay there. I’m fine."

"But you said you hit—"

"I said I’m fine."

She smiled reassuringly and walked away.

Her mates watched her go, still concerned.

Anaria sighed.

If they found out the wall had actually been a bunny, they were definitely going to ask too many questions.