RISE OF EROS

After the assassination attempt incident, everything went smoothly. Oliver rearranged the office furniture so that it was away from the window to avoid similar attacks to the one they had suffered.

In the evening, the Heavenly Palace opened its doors for business as usual, but the number of customers was still quite poor when compared to the days before the monster stampede.

Andrew couldn't help but curse, "Damn stupid beasts, did they have to attack now?". Carolina, Helena, and Aki who had already gotten up joined him, and hearing him they couldn't help but laugh.

Certainly, they too were annoyed by the difficulties the stampede of monsters had caused, especially Carolina who had a business perspective, but since complaining wouldn't solve anything, they just accepted that they had to suffer for a while.

Since there were few customers, as were most businesses in the red-light district, the Heavenly Palace closed at midnight. Andrew escorted his three wives to the room, where he had a wild night.

As he had managed to convince them to be freer about sex, the girls pushed themselves hard during the night and after 3 hours of intense battle, they finally fell asleep.

The following day, Andrew decided to implement his plan and after writing a letter he asked Oliver to send it to Candice. In the letter, he informed her that he would visit her in the afternoon to discuss business.

Oliver did not dare to be negligent and sent one of Shadow's members to deliver the message. Obviously, the person Oliver sent was not dressed in his usual dark tight-fitting suit, characteristic of assassins, as it might create the wrong idea.

The Shadow member simply wore casual clothes over his usual assassin garb. In a short time, he arrived at Candice's store and approaching the reception desk asked for Gaston.

Since Gaston was one of Candice's trusted men and the one who always greeted them when they visited, Oliver told the messenger to ask for him. The woman at the reception desk wrinkled her eyebrows as she heard the young man ask for Gaston because he was no small character in this place.

The girl hesitated but still decided to contact Gaston. In his office, Gaston was reviewing some documents, when he heard a knock at the door. "Come in," he said without stopping checking the documents even when the woman at the reception came in.

"I'm very sorry to bother you sir, but at the reception, there is a young man who claims to be sent by Mr. Andrew," the girl informed a little nervously, but Gaston upon hearing that there was an envoy of Andrew, stood up and a little anxiously said, "Take me to him."

The woman led him to where the young man sent by Oliver was. Gaston did not know the young man, but it was not as if he knew all of Andrew's subordinates, so he politely greeted, "Good morning young man, I am Gaston, I was told that you brought a message from Mr. Andrew."

"Yes sir," the young man replied without another word and handed over the sealed letter. Gaston squinted at the young man's attitude and immediately identified the boy's occupation.

It was not difficult for a person like Gaston. First, the young man did not introduce himself and second, he got straight to the point without wasting time, both of which are indicative of a person who does not want to be recognized, so he correctly intuited that the young man worked in the dark as an intelligence agent os assassin.

Regardless of that discovery, Gaston said nothing. He merely took the letter and assured the young man that he would deliver it to Candice. The young Shadow member left and Gaston headed for Candice's office.

Within minutes, Gaston was outside Candice's office, where two guards stood erect guarding the door. "Inform Madame Candice that Gaston has come to deliver a message from Mr. Andrew," Gaston said.

Previously, these kinds of procedures were not necessary, but that was because Candice had her two strongest warriors with her at all times, Erick and Vala, since they were at Marquis Valoid's mansion training, she had to resort to this kind of security and strict controls.

One of the guards entered the office and came out opening the door within seconds as he said, "Mistress Candice is expecting you." Gaston nodded slightly and entered the office.

Candice upon seeing him, smiled wryly and said with an apologetic tone, "I'm sorry about all this Gaston," but the plump man, shook his head and replied, "This is necessary, no inconvenience, your safety comes first."

Candice smiled again as she heard him, but quickly adopted a businesslike attitude and asked, "What message do you bring?", Gaston reached into his pocket and pulled out the letter Andrew had sent.

"A messenger or rather an assassin brought this from Mr. Andrew," Gaston said seriously. Candice immediately caught on to what Gaston meant and couldn't help but ask quizzically, "Assassin?".

Gaston then told her all his hypotheses according to the encounter with the young man sent by Oliver to deliver the letter. Candice remained silent as if assimilating all the information.

A few minutes after Gaston finished explaining, Candice spoke as if thinking out loud, "It seems that Andrew is getting stronger too."

Gaston knew Candice was talking to herself, as she often did so when she fell into deep thought, but still replied, "Yes, I think Mistress Candice did well to befriend him."

Hearing Gaston, Candice snapped out of her train of thought and asked, "What do you think he wants?" but her question was met by silence from Gaston, who could not know and fixed his gaze on the letter.

Candice let out a small laugh and said, "Right, I should read the letter before guessing," then broke the seal on the letter and began to read it. After a few minutes she had finished and her face showed an expression of intrigue.

Upon seeing it Gaston could not hold back and asked, "Is something the matter?" to which Candice replied, "He says he will come to visit me in the afternoon hours to talk business, but he does not say what kind of business".

Gaston upon hearing that Andrew would be visiting them, wrinkled his eyebrows and with a concerned tone asked, "Is it wise to receive him at this time?". Candice understood Gaston's concern, as they knew Andrew had Oliver who was a strong warrior and she was currently without her more skilled subordinates.

Still, she said with conviction, "We can't show weakness or we will fall into a position of weakness." Business is about plots, deceit, and strength, that was a fact of life, so Candice could not refuse to see Andrew or she would show weakness, something she did not want.

Gaston understood this perfectly, as he is a businessman, but he couldn't help but worry and as Candice noticed this, she said with a smile, "Calm down, I doubt Mr. Andrew has bad intentions."

Although he was still not convinced, he could say no more, so he bowed and left the office. When Candice was alone she muttered, "I wonder what surprise you'll bring me this time."

The hours passed and the afternoon came. Andrew accompanied by Oliver left the Heavenly Palace on his way to Candice's store. As he walked, Andrew asked Oliver, "Do you think I should get a carriage?".

"At the moment we can't afford a carriage, but I think it would be nice to get one when we get some money. It's convenient and will show your status," Oliver replied.

Andrew didn't follow the conversation but nodded in agreement. He had thought about it a while ago and even Carolina had mentioned it before. A carriage was necessary, as Andrew was now the boss of the area around the Heavenly Palace, so he had a certain status and had to act as such, and walking everywhere was no way to show it.

After a few minutes, they arrived at Candice's store and as usual, were greeted by Gaston. "Welcome back. It's been a while, I hope you didn't suffer with the stampede."

"Thank you Mr. Gaston for the always warm welcome and we were lucky, no beast came near us," Andrew replied cordially. Gaston smiled and with a gesture showed them to follow him.

In a short time, they arrived at the entrance to Candice's office and were surprised to notice the guards at the entrance. They were already puzzled because on each floor they climbed, they could see that the security was tight and that caught their attention, but they said nothing.

"Inform Mrs. Candice that Mr. Andrew came to visit her," said Gaston, and one of the guards answered, as he opened the door, "Mrs. Candice had already given the order to let him in when he arrived".

The three of them entered the office and there they could see Candice, with her characteristic smile and intelligent look, however, Andrew and Oliver were focused on something else. They could not see the butler who always accompanied her and that made them wrinkle their eyebrows because, with all the security they had seen, it seemed strange that the butler was not with her.

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