RISE OF EROS

While Andrew and Nadila were having their passionate encounter, Arturios returned to the castle. In the palace office, Candice was still not over her nervousness, as she was having tea with the Marquis and the king.

It was not the first time she had tea with Donald, but never in her wildest dreams had she imagined herself having tea with the king, let alone in the imperial castle.

On the other hand, Donald and the king were comfortably enjoying their drink, when Arturios appeared saying, "Augustus the spies have been captured." Arturios' sudden appearance startled Candice who almost spilled her tea in surprise.

The king for his part was calm and with a slight smile said, "Good work. I imagine Demon is already interrogating them, right?", to which Arturios replied with a short, "Yes".

Arturios' answer made the king smile even more, but he soon noticed Arturios' strange expression and couldn't hold back from asking, "Did something happen?", but Arturios didn't answer him.

The protector of the empire looked at Candice and Donald and asked, "How well do you know this young Andrew?". The question surprised not only Candice but also Donald and the king.

"I don't know him. I only heard of him today," Donald replied coming out of his surprise, and looked at Candice as if waiting for her to say something. Candice who was already nervous, being watched by the three big characters, was white with fear and couldn't think.

"Miss Candice, don't be alarmed. We are not playing you, I just came across him and got curious, can you tell me about him?" said Arturios with a soft tone, trying to reassure her.

Candice, took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself, and began to speak, "Well, I've known him for a little while. He approached me with a business proposition that I found very attractive."

"What kind of business?" asked Donald. He had noticed that Arturios was very curious about Andrew and it caught his interest and Candice didn't dare hold anything back.

"Clothes. He came over with some designs for women's clothing. The pleasure house he runs previously belonged to an old client; when he bought it he became my client," Candice explained.

"At that time, the bosses in that area in the red light district had hurt some of my business and wanted to deal with him, so I warned them, as I couldn't keep losing money," Candice continued, adding, "He found out and proposed that business to me."

"Now he is the boss of that area isn't he?" asked Arturios seriously, to which Candice replied, "Yes, he is now the boss of the area." The office fell silent until Arturios spoke again, "Miss Candice, I would like to hear your objective opinion on what kind of character this young man is."

"Well, honestly speaking, he is an intelligent and planned young man. Although he seems to have a lot of secrets, I think he is a person of integrity," Candice replied.

"Integrity? In what way?" asked Arturios and Candice replied, "In every way. From what I know of him, as long as you don't mess with him there won't be any problems, but if you bother him, well, it can be problematic."

"In what way?", this time it was Donald who asked and Candice continued to answer, "Like I said, he's smart and a planner, plus he has good subordinates, so it's best to have him as a friend."

Everyone was silent when Candice finished giving her assessment of Andrew, but this time it was the king who interjected, "Is something wrong with that young man Arturios? You haven't been interested in a young man in a long time."

"Yes, indeed, that young man has something special about him," Arturios said seriously. "That's quite an assessment coming from you. Is he dangerous?", the king asked seriously he knew Arturios, he was his master after all and he had never seen Arturios as serious as he was now, which worried him.

"I don't know yet, however, I share Miss Candice's opinion. It is better to have him as a friend than an enemy", Arturios answered as if he wanted to say something else, but in the end, he didn't say it.

Everyone in the office understood that Arturios wanted to say something else, but he had held back, probably because Candice was present and it was not convenient for her to hear his thoughts.

Candice was no fool. Although nervous, she could read the atmosphere and knew that Arturios had reservations about Andrew. She did not know if this was good or bad because being under the empire's gaze could be a blessing or a curse.

The king noticing this decided to intervene, "Well, both he and Lady Candice have helped us, so the rewards are in order," but before he could continue speaking Arturios interrupted him, "That young man told me that he only needs the property that the spies used, apparently he already had an agreement for that."

Arturios paused and continued, "Besides, he wanted us to help him by holding the nobles who have connections to a merchant named Johan." Candice knew what Arturios meant, but Donald and the king were confused.

"Who is this Johan? And why does he want us to hold the nobility who are connected to him?", the king asked sharply. Arturios knew a little of the situation, but it was unclear, so he looked at Candice because he knew she must know the whole story.

Candice noticing Arturios' look began to explain, "Andrew is the producer of a beauty item called rejuvenating cream. It is a highly sought-after product among the nobles, but production is low, so Andrew set a low price so that it would be distributed as evenly as possible and save him trouble."

Candice paused and continued her explanation, "He didn't want to be sought after for that reason, but Johan who helps him as a sales channel felt that the product should be sold at a higher price and pressured him by revealing his greed, so Andrew lost confidence in him."

"I see. I imagine Miss Candice would be the new distribution channel, right?" the king asked interrupting her, to which she replied, "That's right. He had told me that getting rid of Johan is not complex for him, but Johan thanks to the cream has created connections with several nobles, which could create problems for him."

"Actually, I don't dislike that he is aware of the big picture and didn't look for the big profits by causing problems. I don't think it's a problem for us to help him, at the end of the day if Miss Candice becomes the new sales channel, the nobles won't be upset, they will just switch suppliers," said the king assessing the situation.

"That is correct, the young man has the same idea," Arturios replied. "Well, then let's do it," concluded the king and added, "Miss Candice, you may retire, in a few days Marquis Valoide will notify you of your reward for the help provided."

Candice dared not delay and bowed to the king saying, "I thank you in advance for your generosity my king, I only did what I had to do." No one in the office swallowed Candice's sweet words.

While they had nothing against her, they were clear that Candice only acted on the basis of the gains this action would grant her, not out of nationalism or anything like that, but they nodded anyway.

Once Candice had left, the king wiped the carefree expression he had from his face and asked seriously, "Arturios, tell me what you really think of this young man."

"Well, the young man has no fighting strength. At first glance, he looks like an ordinary person, but something about him feels out of place. Besides...," Arturios was saying when he paused as if organizing his thoughts and added, "Besides, one of his subordinates is Oliver Brown, former general of Nufa."

Arturios' revelation, surprised the king and Donald, to the point that the latter could not restrain himself from exclaiming, "Isn't that troubling?", but Arturios shook his head and said, "Honestly, I don't think they have any hidden agenda again the empire."

"Your evidence?", the king asked inquisitively to which Arturios replied, "None tangible. You can take it as my intuition". "Although the intuition of an expert such as yourself should not be underestimated, I think we had better observe this young man," said the king.

"Yes, I think so too," seconded Donald, but Arturios said nothing, he just nodded in agreement. The three continued to talk about how to deal with Andrew and in the end appointed Donald to keep an eye on him.

Candice was traveling back to her store in one of the carriages provided by the castle stewards. In the carriage, Candice remained composed, but her heart was pounding because not only had she been in a stressful situation for the past half hour, but now she had to evaluate her association with Andrew.

She knew that Andrew would be under the empire's surveillance and she didn't know if it was right to associate with him because there were too many risks. Even when she arrived at her store, she had not made a decision and summoned Gaston to discuss the matter.

In the office, she had told Gaston everything that had happened and asked his opinion on whether they should continue their partnership with Andrew. Gaston was seriously thinking through the pros and cons, but in the end, he could not make a decision and just expressed, "My lady, I don't have an answer. All I can say is that I will follow you no matter what decision you make."

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