After dinner, Alice returned to her office, as usual. However, she felt unsettled. One moment, she was flipping through her documents, and the next, she was pacing up and down the office floors, or looking out the window. Hui Wei, who was sitting opposite her, felt strange. After a while, he could no longer hold back, and asked, "Alice, what is the matter with you?"
"Anfey is not back yet," Alice gently opened the window and said. "Do you think…something has happened to them?"
"I think Anfey, Suzanna, and Anthony went together. I think they should be fine!" Hui Wei said with a smile. With Anfey's ability, and Suzanna and Anthony to help him, no one in the continent should pose a threat to them.
"I know they went together, but…" Alice hesitated for a while and said, "I have a bad premonition."
"Oh?" Hui Wei went blank, and just as he was about to speak, someone knocked on the door. Shinbela, who was standing outside the office, said, "Sir, Sir Anfey is back."
Hui Wei nearly broke out into laughter. Alice was just telling him of her bad premonition, and someone immediately reported that Anfey was back. This was funny. Hui Wei suppressed his laughter, and looked through the documents that he was holding on to, and acted as if nothing had happened.
Alice's face turned slightly red, and she quickly went back to her seat. She shuffled her documents and said, "Come in."
Shinbela opened the door and looked in. She could not understand why Alice had asked her to come into the office, when she was just notifying her. Why did she have to go in? Alice was flipping through a document, and was scribbling and circling something on it. One moment she was frowning, and the next, she was relaxing. She looked as if she was seriously looking through the document and was in deep thought.
Hui Wei covered his mouth and looked at Alice in amusement. Why was she working so hard now, when she could have done this earlier?
After a while, when no one spoke, Alice lifted up her head in surprise and asked, "What is it…where is Anfey?"
"Sir Anfey is not here yet."
"Did you not say that he is back?"
"Sir, I have sent someone to wait at the city gate, since you have asked me a number of times today. The moment I received news that Sir Anfey is back, I rushed here immediately to report to you," Shinbela smiled wryly and said.
Alice was stunned for a while, then broke out into laughter. She had thought that Shinbela was telling her Anfey had come to the office. However, Shinbela was merely informing her that Anfey was back. "What is wrong with me?" Although she felt stupid about her actions, she did not try to cover this up, but laughed at herself instead. She knew that the more she attempted to cover things up, the more embarrassed she would be.
Hui Wei merely observed and pretended not to have heard anything.
Alice threw down the document on the table and said, "That is all for today." She then stretched out and said, "Ah…I am feeling sleepy." Alice had put on silk clothes, as it was summer. When she lifted up her arms, the sleeves glided down, showing her fair skin.
"Sir, this is so unglamorous," Hui Wei said with a wry smile. Having assisted Alice for a while, this was the first time that he saw her stretching out.
"Does it matter?" Alice chuckled, then walked slowly to the window.
"If there is nothing else…can I make a move first?" Hui Wei asked.
"Yes," Alice nodded.
Hui Wei stood up and started to pack the documents on the table. Alice let out a sigh and sat sideway on the windowsill, humming a song. Hui Wei hesitated for a while, as though he wanted to say something. However, he decided not to, and let out a sigh.
Sometimes, one must pretend to be muddle-headed. Take Anfey, for example. Saul, Baery, and a few others knew what he was up to, but they pretended not to know. Everyone knew what Alice was thinking, but other than pretending to be ignorant, they could not do anything. No one could interfere in such a matter.
Anfey patted Shinbela's shoulder. Having seen that it was Anfey, Shinbela quickly stepped aside. When Anfey saw Alice sitting on the windowsill, he was shocked and asked, "What are you doing?" To Anfey, Alice was a helpless woman. What she was doing was dangerous.
"Anfey!" Alice was both surprised and glad to see Anfey. She looked at him and said, "Are you alright?"
"What can happen to me?" Anfey shook his head and said, "Come down, don't sit there. It is dangerous! If you feel bored in this room, you can change to another room. How about shifting to the fourth level? There are a few rooms with a balcony. You can take a rest in the balcony when you are tired."
Having said that, Suzanna and Anthony walked in. Alice regained her posture and slowly made her way to her seat. A woman would become stupid or crazy under certain special situations. When Anfey had said that it was dangerous, a thought flashed across Alice's mind. She had thought of pretending to have lost her balance and falling out of the window, so that Anfey could save her. However, when Suzanna showed up, she gave up the idea.
"Anfey, you can have this seat. I am going to look for Ozzic to discuss some matters with him." Hui Wei gave up his seat and said, "Oh, Alice, I have something to tell you."
"What?" Alice was stunned.
"I will never trust your premonitions anymore. Hahaha…" Hui Wei walked out, laughing.
Alice stared at his back, laughing as well.
"What premonition?" Anfey asked curiously.
"Who knows what this guy is talking about!" Alice changed the topic and asked, "Anfey, has everything…been settled?"
Suzanna visited the office every day, so she made herself comfortable bysitting down on a chair. However, it was the first time for Anthony to visit the office. When he saw the documents on the table, he was amazed. There were three big stacks of documents, a meter high, on the table. When would she be able to finish reading them?
"Yes." Anfey nodded, as he sat on Hui Wei's seat. "Alice, I met Ye at the city gate. He said…we will be having war soon."
"So soon?"
"We are already behind schedule," Alice said with a smile. "Our Lord had wanted to end the war before winter. We have sent our army in spring, and it is now midsummer, but we have only captured one province. If we delay it further, we will have to drag the war out to the following year."
"You have not been resting for two months. If this continues…" Anfey said softly, "you may not be able to take it."
"What to do? Although our Lord has never hastened me, I know that everybody is waiting. Everybody is waiting for the situation in Moro Province to stabilize. I can only fight on." Alice looked helpless and said, "But things will get much better. In these two months, I have around 300 people coming to me on a daily basis, looking for opportunities. Some have been recommended, and some came of their own accord. There were also some who were the relatives of the officers. There were quite a number of talents. Of course, this is a rough gauge. In terms of their capabilities and personalities, we will have to leave it up to time to tell us. My objective is to put the framework in place, so that Moro can function properly."
"I am thinking…our Lord could be testing you," Anfey said slowly. "That is why, our Lord has instructed the army to stay put in Moro Province. If you are unable to handle a single province, then our Lord…"
Alice pondered this for a while, and lifted up her head to look at Anfey. She had been too busy to consider other things. What Anfey had said had enlightened her. "Our Lord is amazingly patient. Although he has decided to end the war before winter, he has waited patiently for me for two months. What if I fail to handle this well?"
"No, you have handled things very well. No one has done a better job than you." Anfey said this with a smile. "As for our Lord…hahaha, he has waited for donkey years, what is two more months to him? All right, let's not talk about this. Please continue with what you have to say."
"I will keep half of the talents that have been selected, and the rest will be sent to Yellowstone Province."
"You mean you intend to let them manage Yellowstone Province?"
"Yes."
"Then what about those people in Yellowstone Province? They will be resentful if we are not getting the locals to manage them," Anfey said with a frown.
"We can promote some of the locals and let them work together. As for the rest of the people, I will send them to another province. In this way, I can set up the framework within a short period of time," Alice said. "The greatest problem that we are facing now, is that there is no suitable candidate. Once we can get this person, the rest will be easy."
"What will happen to the remaining ones?"
"Anfey, have you been to the Sacred City? Are there many royal families?"
"Needless to say."
"It is the same with Diamond City." Alice smiled. "I have a premonition that, when we step into Diamond City, there will be bloodshed. A lot of people will be wiped out, and their positions will be enough for our people to fill."
"Premonition? Hui Wei has just said that he no longer trusts in your premonitions." Anfey teased her.
"You…we are talking about a serious matter!" Alice was annoyed and amused at the same time. She turned over and said to Suzanna, "Suzanna, you need to take him in hand!"
"Me?" Suzanna was stunned for a while, and then said with a smile, "Sorry, Alice. Anfey always speaks his mind."