RISE OF EROS

Handing over the letter, he remained silent, while Johan opened and read it. The letter was not lengthy, so Johan finished reading it rather quickly and said, "Tell Mr. Andrew that I will visit him in a couple of hours."

Dino nodded his head in understanding bowed slightly and said goodbye. Simon escorted him out and then returned to Johan\'s office. "Did you notice that this young man is not normal?" asked Johan.

"Yes. His demeanor, although formal, is very straightforward, characteristic of intelligence and assassination agents," Simon replied in a deep, serious voice. "Yes, it seems that Mr. Andrew is increasing his power rapidly. We must take action soon", Johan commented, but it was more a thought-aloud than a comment waiting for a response from Simon.

The butler understood that, so he said nothing, however, he did ask about what the letter said, "May I ask what Mr. Andrew wants to talk about?", to which Johan responded by handing the letter to Simon.

Simon was the man Johan trusted the most among his subordinates, so he didn\'t mind sharing his secrets, much less the letter sent by Andrew which only said he wanted him to go to the Heavenly Palace to discuss a new product.

When the butler finished reading the letter he said, "Master, what do you think this new product is?" to which Johan replied with a smile, "A while ago he told me he was working on a cream that removes scars, it should be that."

Simon who had followed Johan for so many years understood about the medicine and cosmetics market, so he was surprised by Johan\'s words, as he knew that this cream would be as popular as the rejuvenating cream.

While Johan and Simon were talking in his office, Dino returned to the Heavenly Palace and reported Johan\'s answer. Andrew along with his wives who were in the office were glad that Johan decided to come so quickly, as this cream would be another source of income and they needed money.

Andrew thanked Dino and dismissed him to return to his duties, but Dino did not leave. This puzzled Andrew and his wives, as none of the Heavenly Palace employees disobeyed orders and although Andrew did not give an order telling him to leave was enough to get them out of the office.

Seeing Dino\'s strange behavior, Andrew couldn\'t hold back and asked, "Is something wrong?". Andrew\'s question brought Dino out of his thoughts and with a strange expression on his face he looked at him as if wanting to ask something, but didn\'t know if he should.

Helena who was the more experienced at reading people understood Dino\'s hesitation and said, "If you have a question, speak normally." Dino turned to look at Helena who was smiling at him as if encouraging him to speak and after a few seconds of silence as he organized his thoughts he began to speak.

"I am sorry to bring this problem to the young master and the ladies, but I would like to ask you a query." Andrew seeing Dino\'s difficulty in expressing what he was thinking figured it was a serious problem, so he urged him to speak, "Speak with confidence."

Receiving Andrew\'s encouragement, Dino spoke, "What happened is that both the time I delivered the message to Ms. Candice and now to Mr. Johan, I have noticed that they have a change of expression when they see me, but I can\'t identify the reason or the meaning."

Listening to Dino, everyone had the same expression on their faces. Everyone was frowning, as they did not understand the situation and so Andrew asked, "I don\'t understand, can you describe what happened?".

Then Dino told them all the details of the two interactions. Aki who was similar to Dino in that aspect, did not notice anything wrong with the performance Dino described, but Andrew, Carolina, and Helena understood the problem immediately.

"Dino, what happened, was that they discovered your skills as an intelligence and assassination agent," Andrew said instantly. Dino\'s eyes widened like saucers in surprise, as he prided himself on his skills and couldn\'t believe that he was discovered so easily.

He wanted to ask the reasons, but before he could speak, Helena said, "Dino, your behavior from what you described to us screams out that you are an intelligence and assassination agent."

Dino was still in disbelief and noticing this, Andrew proceeded to explain, "Dino it\'s the direct way you acted. I know you did it in the most efficient way, but that\'s what gave you away."

Andrew paused and spoke again, "No envoy would act that way, they would always be cordial, try to be flattering gain connections in every interaction, and, above all, take the tea they are given."

.

Listening to Andrew\'s explanation, Dino was lost in confusion. It wasn\'t that he didn\'t understand what Andrew was saying, it just seemed unbelievable to him that those were the reasons he was discovered.

Before Dino could snap out of his stupefaction, Helena interjected, "I think Dino needs training. Why don\'t we ask Victor to train him?" "That\'s a good idea. Dino as you will now be our official envoy, you must master these skills and Victor is very good at it, so you should train with him, what do you think?", Carolina said instantly.

Andrew wanted to say that, but Carolina beat him to it, so he remained silent waiting for Dino\'s answer. "If it\'s necessary to do my job, I\'ll do it," he answered determinedly.

Seeing how serious Dino was, Andrew smiled and said, "Okay, Caro, take Dino to Victor and brief him on the training." Carolina wasted no time and left with Dino to find Victor.

As they left, Helena spoke again, "I think we need to think about these things before we send someone out to do something that might embarrass them like Dino."

Andrew nodded in agreement sharing the same thought as Helena, but they did not pursue the subject further and focused on talking about the dance room opening that was to take place the next day.

Carolina and Dino quickly arrived at Victor\'s and explained the situation, which made Victor laugh and he said jocularly, "Well, we all have our skills. Don\'t worry Miss Carolina I will train him well."

After the short interaction, Carolina left Dino with Victor and returned to the office, as Johan was coming in a couple of hours and they had to polish the negotiation plan they had.

Although they had already defined that they would use the same conditions of the rejuvenating cream and they were confident that Johan would accept, they had to prepare for the scenario in which Johan would not accept. At the end of the day it is a negotiation, not an imposition and although they could force him to accept, it would destroy the trust, which would be disadvantageous in the long run.