RISE OF EROS

By the time Candice arrived at Marquis Valoide's mansion, his butler Richard was already waiting for her. As was customary, she had sent word in advance that she would be visiting them.

She was quickly guided to the study where Donald and Teresa were waiting for her. Candice was surprised to see Teresa there, as she normally doesn't get involved in the negotiations she has with Donald.

"You seem surprised to see me," Teresa said with a smile, to which Candice replied, "Well, you never get involved in the negotiations I have with the Marquis."

"That's true, but this time I think it's pertinent that there is an intermediary. I think you bring important business," Teresa replied, surprising Candice because she did not know her friend was so perceptive.

After she regained her composure, she said, "Well, you're not wrong," Donald did not interrupt the two women's conversation. He waited patiently for them to finish talking and when they did he invited Candice to sit down.

"So, Miss Candice, what brings you here?" immediately asked Donald curious and Candice noticing that Donald wanted to get straight to the point began to explain the reason for her visit.

"Marquis, I wanted to propose to you to join our beauty products business," said Candice in a calm voice. Donald for his part, furrowed his eyebrows, because he didn't know the reason why Candice would propose that to him.

However, after a few seconds, he remembered that Andrew was the supplier of those products and understood Candice's intentions. "Miss Candice is very bold trying to use me as a deterrent for her business," Donald said.

"Well, I don't deny that's one of the reasons I'm inviting you, but you're missing out on the benefits this association can bring you," Candice immediately retorted, which intrigued Donald, and he couldn't help but ask, "And that would be?"

"Well, first of all, I think you underestimate the amount of money these products can generate. On top of that, you would be closer to Andrew, that way you can get a better idea of his intentions," Candice replied.

The office was silent after Candice's words. Donald was weighing the pros and cons of this deal and couldn't help but think that the benefits outweighed the disadvantages.

He wasn't thinking about the money, as he wasn't short of that, but having Andrew in full view was quite appealing to him. After a few minutes of thought, Donald spoke again, "Well, I have to admit they are nice perks, but what do you want from me?"

"Honestly, not much. First to be the deterrent for Johan and second your distribution channels" Candice replied without a hint of embarrassment. Donald was silent again, but this time for a shorter period, and asked again, "I thought young Andrew's production was limited, do you really need my distribution channels?"

"Not at the moment, but Andrew has already confirmed to me that in a month or so, his production will increase and then we will need it," Candice replied and added, "I can really swallow all that production on my own, but including you, the intrinsic benefits are greater."

Donald being a smart man understood what Candice was saying, so he didn't give the matter much more thought and agreed. They then discussed some details of the partnership and the alliance was established.

Teresa remained a spectator throughout the negotiation, as she only planned to intervene if the situation went awry, but as everything flowed as it should, she just smiled and drank tea.

As the formal business was finished Candice spoke to Teresa, "I brought some of Eris's size clothes, why don't we see how they fit," but before Teresa could say anything, Donald interjected a little agitated, "Eris is too young to wear that."

Candice was surprised at Donald's outburst but quickly understood that he had misunderstood her. Candice as an intelligent woman understood that the Marquis must have thought she was talking about the lingerie Teresa surely wore for him.

Noting the misunderstanding, Candice clarified, "Marquis is not what you think. I would never offer those outfits to Eris." Donald looked confused, but at that moment Teresa interjected, "Love, do you think I would allow my daughter to wear that? We are talking about something else."

Explaining nothing more to him, Teresa took Candice out of the study and they went in search of Eris, leaving Donald anxious, but Richard like a wise man said, "Master, you should trust Mistress Teresa on this."

While all this was going on, Andrew had returned to the Heavenly Palace just in time to meet everyone in the dining room for lunch. He was glad to see that Carolina was at the table and not cooped up in the lab.

After the sumptuous lunch, everyone returned to their activities. Carolina to the lab, Helena to supervise the courtesans or rather to train Sonia as a matron and Andrew returned to the office in the company of Aki who was hiding in the shadows.

Andrew didn't know if it was exhaustion from having sex with Nadila or if he ate too much, but sleep attacked him, and unable to resist he went to take a nap. With Andrew sleeping, Aki had nothing to do, so she decided to sleep next to her husband.

As the two of them snuggled in bed, everyone else in the Heavenly Palace was preparing for the night when they opened the doors for business. Although it might not seem like it, the preparations a pleasure house had to make before opening for business were quite strenuous.

Carmen led the maids with the cleaning of the rooms, Hector prepared the ingredients for the meals that clients might order, the courtesans and dancers took a break to be fresh and relaxed for the work, and Victor supervised everything.

Castor, who was the newest member of the Heavenly Palace was dedicated to training and maintaining his physical condition. He had to be in perfect condition and prepared for any eventuality, he had taken his job very seriously and Oliver was pleased with the young man's attitude.

While everyone at the Heavenly Palace was preparing for the arrival of the customers, the other businesses near the Heavenly Palace were also preparing for the same, but with some concerns.

Most of the owners of pleasure houses near the Heavenly Palace were a bit anxious. When the previous bosses ruled this area, they had many restrictions, which made them lose profits so when Andrew took power and did not inhibit them they were very happy.

However, now they were facing another problem. They did not know the reason, but even without directly pressuring them, most of the customers always went to the Heavenly Palace and they wanted to know the reason.

Although they did not meet, they all had the same thought. There was something about the Heavenly Palace that attracted customers and they wanted to know what it was, so they decided to go investigate.

Unbeknownst to them, Andrew would be visited by several managers and owners of nearby pleasure houses, trying to reveal their secrets. Even if he knew, there was nothing he could do.

Andrew was aware that his dance room would not remain hidden for long and he was even sure that many would try to imitate him. Even knowing that Andrew did not worry because he had something that would be difficult for them to implement.

He did not trust his dancers to be the best, the most sensual, or beautiful because he knew they were far from it. What he did trust was the music.

The music of this world was similar to the classical music of Earth, which is not suitable for a dance room like his. What made his dance room so attractive, apart from the beautiful dancers, was the atmosphere.

The electronic music, coupled with the hot dancers, incited the customers to consume and throw money, that's why his dance room was so popular and at this time electronic music was only produced by him.

It wasn't as if others couldn't imitate this type of music, it was just that in this world the instruments to recreate it didn't exist, that's why Andrew was confident that there would be no imitation of his dance room to threaten him.

While everyone was going about their business, on the other side of town Johan was worried. Although he had decided to give up on the battle against Andrew, that didn't mean he wouldn't keep an eye on him.

It was thanks to this vigilance that he had learned that Andrew had too many meetings with Candice. He also knew that Candice had started a new business in the beauty industry and that allowed him to sense that she and Andrew were allies against him.

If that was the whole issue, he would still not be afraid because although he did not have the backing of his relationship with the nobles due to the king's order, he was sure he could survive against them.

The problem was, the fact that he learned that Candice was having conversations with the Valoid marquis. Although he knew that Candice had business relations with him, now that he suspected that she had allied with Andrew for the beauty products, he could not help but think that they wanted to embark the marquis in this venture.

The addition of Marquis Valoide to the mix was a game-changer. That was an opponent he couldn't afford. Marquis Valoide is a discreet man and for that reason many people underestimate him.

Many believe that his prestige is declining and that he will soon be called to rescind his title as Marquis, but Johan was not as stupid as those who thought that. He was very clear about who Marquis Valoide was and he was the opposite of what others thought, so he started to think about how to get out of the situation he was in.

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