RISE OF EROS

While it is true that after the war the marquis and his wife had tried to repair their relationship, Andrew knew that at this point there was no way to return to the relationship they had before.

Candice and Teresa might be friends, but Teresa had made her position as a noble of the empire clear, and Andrew realized that the Marquis would never trust Candice as he once did.

None of the members of the Heavenly Palace were stupid and they knew the reason why Andrew preferred to leave, rather than asking the marquis for help. Candice had proposed talking to him because all of her businesses were in the empire, and her friendship with Teresa, but now that Andrew had asked her if she was willing to leave, she didn\'t hesitate.

She is an intelligent woman. She hadn\'t been a businesswoman for so many years without knowing how things moved in politics, so she knew that Donald would take advantage of them if they asked him for help.

Since they were clear about this, it was better to leave everything and start again than to live under the control of the Marquis. With that defined, they waited for the agreed time for the meeting with Patricia and her friends to arrive.

The rest of the day passed without problems, at least in the Cannaris Palace and Andrew\'s other businesses, since the businesses founded by Candice were still under attack.

The enemy viscounts were much more intelligent and cautious than Vocgo and Oslo, so they knew not to attack these businesses. Their information network was better than any of their previous enemies, so they knew that attacking the businesses in the red-light district was a bad move.

They were not clear about how the Heavenly Palace worked, but they were clear that it was difficult to attack in that place, so they did not touch it. In fact, Andrew and the others were waiting for this establishment to be attacked, because that way they could show Andrew\'s power and thus have more bargaining power, but since they didn\'t, Andrew and the others had to suffer.

The next day arrived and it was time to meet Patricia and her friends. Andrew took the carriage in the company of Oliver as usual and they went to a restaurant in the commercial district of the city.

This restaurant was pretty special. Not only was it exclusive and high-end, but it operated differently than many other places. Their business model was customer unanimity.

In short, the workers at this place never crossed paths with customers. Their operation was strange. First, a room was rented for a certain time and each room had its own access.

The building had two floors and was massive. Andrew didn\'t know about this place, but Candice had told him that it was extremely expensive and it was difficult to rent a room in this place.

Although on the outside it didn\'t look luxurious, on the inside it was a completely different matter. When Andrew saw it, the first thing that came to mind were the motels from his previous life.

Each room had a wide door so that two carriages could enter without problems and once the carriage entered, the door was closed. Although the door seemed to close automatically, Andrew deduced that it must be controlled by magic, since in this world the mechanics were very backward.

Once the door was closed, the guest would exit the carriage and go up the stairs to the private room. Andrew increasingly thought of a motel, in fact, he praised the system in his mind.

When Andrew arrived, there was already a carriage parked at the spot, and the driver was waiting on the carriage without making a sound. Oliver, who was acting as the driver, parked the carriage and after the door was closed, Andrew got out of the carriage and went upstairs.

Oliver did not follow him, because it was obvious that all this preparation was for Andrew and the ladies to talk in private, it would be not polite for him to go up. The door was obviously closed, so Andrew gave a gentle knock, and seconds later, Patricia opened the door.

Andrew did not delay and entered. There, he could see all the ladies that Sonia and the other courtesans had served in the massage house, so Andrew formally greeted them, "I thank the noble ladies in advance for agreeing to meet me."

"Mr. Andrew you don\'t need to be polite. We organized this intending to be more casual, please sit down," Marin responded immediately with a cordial smile.

Andrew stopped short of further ceremony and took his seat. The ladies were having tea and some snacks. Andrew became distracted and began to wonder if they had brought this or if it had been served to them, but his question was answered in the next second.

Patricia approached a small table near the wall where there was a square device and after pressing a button a few minutes later a soft knock was heard on the side of the wall.

Patricia approached and opened what looked like a small wooden door and there was a teapot with some wells and some plates with sandwiches. Andrew was surprised, not because these things appeared, but because this system was becoming more and more like motels.

Despite thinking that, he didn\'t say anything, because he didn\'t want to make a comment that would offend the women, so he waited for Patricia to take the teapot and the other things and put them on the table.

Once everything was in its place and Andrew had his drink and snacks, the conversation began. "So, Mr. Andrew, what did you want to talk to us about?" Marín was the one who started the conversation.

Although she and Patricia were countesses, Marín\'s status was superior, as she was the wife of the current count of her family, while the title of count of Patricia\'s family had already been granted to her son, so she had more influence.

"As the ladies know, I don\'t like to beat around the bush and I know that such distinguished and powerful women as you already know the situation," Andrew began to say and after pausing to take a sip of tea he continued, "Recently two men tried to assassinate me, but I overcame them, however, some nobles who had connections with them are now making my life difficult."

Neither woman said anything, as if waiting for Andrew to finish. Andrew was right, all of these women already knew this information and although they didn\'t know the details, they had the general idea.

Seeing that Andrew didn\'t say anything anymore, Marin spoke again, "Mr. Andrew wants us to help you deal with these people, right?" It seemed that they had agreed that Marín would be the one to speak, even though Patricia was the one who had known him the longest.

Andrew paid no attention to this and simply nodded his head. He didn\'t seem worried, nor eager to gain the ladies\' help, which confused them, since from what they knew, Andrew must be suffering a lot right now.

What they didn\'t know was that Andrew had a hidden card. His card was to leave everything and move to another country. While this didn\'t seem like anything special other than admitting defeat, Andrew knew that if he said he was leaving, these ladies would be more anxious than him.

Although Andrew didn\'t want to play tricks, he had to do this, as he was at the limit of his wits. He knew that these women loved his massage house, not to mention the courtesans of Cannaris Palace, so they would be the ones who would lose the most if he left.

What was even more problematic, was that, although Andrew didn\'t know it, these ladies were also customers of his rejuvenating creams and the clothes that Candice sold, so if Andrew said he was leaving, they would be in trouble, since they liked too much these products.

Despite this, they did not know about Andrew\'s plans and wanted to take advantage. In this world, there was no one so selfless as to help someone without gaining something and although these women were less troublesome than Donald, Andrew showed no sign of concern.

Confused, Marin couldn\'t help but ask, "For being in trouble, Mr. Andrew seems very calm. As if you don\'t need our help, can the Mr. tell us the reason?"

Although Andrew did not want to reveal his hand so early, it was also true that he resented playing scheming, so he declared his intentions, "Well, I have too many good things, what do you think would happen if I leave the empire?"

With those words, all the ladies\' eyes widened. Some even looked frightened, as they understood Andrew\'s implications very well and then adopted a serious position. Before they wanted benefits for helping, but now they just didn\'t want to lose what they already had.