"Busy?" Cinderella asked.
Ailuo leaned against the back of her chair and rubbed her brow, the gesture carrying the helplessness of someone exhausted beyond endurance.
"Busy. Busy to death."
Cinderella said nothing, waiting for her to continue.
"You know what things are like in the Balak Kingdom right now." Ailuo lowered her hands and folded them on the desk, her fingertips absently rubbing the shaft of the quill lying there.
"The kingdom has split. The faction willing to follow Spirit Hall left, taking their fiefs and private troops with them. The neutral faction is still watching, currying favor with both sides without offending either. Fewer than half of the original group stayed with me."
Her voice was calm, as though she were describing something that had nothing to do with her, but Cinderella heard the exhaustion buried beneath that calm.
"Those who left took nearly forty percent of the fiefs, thirty percent of the private troops, and a whole host of experienced ministers. The people I have left can fight, but hardly any of them can manage affairs."
Ailuo sighed.
"Allocating provisions, recruiting soldiers, evacuating the wounded, maintaining contact with the alliance's other factions—I have to oversee everything myself. All day long, I barely have time for a sip of water."
She lifted the teacup on her desk and took a sip. The tea had gone completely cold. She frowned but swallowed it anyway.
Seeing her like this, Cinderella suddenly thought of Eva.
That woman who could turn clouds and rain with a flip of her hand in the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace had more skill and deeper schemes than anyone, yet she had never worn her exhaustion on her face the way Ailuo did.
Ailuo was still too young.
Though she was also a fairy-tale character, though she possessed