RISE OF EROS

About five minutes after Aki left, she reappeared from the shadows, and before long there was a knock on the door, at which Andrew said, "Come in," and then Oliver entered.

Since Aki had already notified Oliver of the topic that Andrew wanted to discuss, Oliver wasted no time and immediately started to tell him what he had found and his thoughts on the matter.

"Young master, Marie already confirmed that Nadila really has no fighting ability, everything was as I had assumed before, she managed to deceive her", Oliver was informed when Andrew interrupted him, "I imagine Marie was angry".

"Quite a bit," Oliver replied with a bitter smile, remembering how upset Marie was when she found out that she had been tricked by Nadila. Andrew watched Oliver's expression and, muffling a smile, played a joke on him.

"I guess you comforted her, right?" To any outsider, this conversation seemed normal, like an employer telling his trusted employee to motivate his subordinates, but everyone in the room understood what Andrew really meant.

Carolina has become more sensitive to issues related to love. She used to be inexperienced on that subject, but her relationship with Andrew and her company with Helena has made her sensitive to these situations.

Helena on her side is an experienced woman, so she knew what was going on between Marie and Oliver. Aki is not an expert in these matters, but being close to Marie, she had told her about her feelings towards Oliver, so Aki also understood Andrew's question.

Oliver wasn't an idiot either and he understood that Andrew was making fun of him, so he coughed twice and went back to the previous topic avoiding answering Andrew's question.

"Since she is not a fighter, there is no need to fear when meeting her, but since it could be a trap, the best thing would be for her to visit us." Seeing Oliver return to the subject without answering his question, Andrew didn't pursue him and paid attention to what he was saying.

"But wouldn't it be suspicious if she came here?" Andrew asked to which Oliver replied, "That's why I said it would be for the best, but what the young master says is true, she probably won't accept, because of the risk, so that we must negotiate on a place that favors us".

"Like where?" Andrew asked, and Oliver immediately said, "There are two possible locations. Mr. Johan's store or Mrs. Candice's store". Andrew remained silent thoughtfully at the options Oliver gave him.

It wasn't that he thought they were bad ideas, but he didn't feel like he was close enough to any of them to ask for their help in negotiating with Nadila and so he was hesitating about which venue to choose.

Oliver understood Andrew's thoughts, in fact, he didn't think the relationships they had with Johan and Candice were strong enough to ask for these favors either, but there were no other options.

After thinking for several minutes, Andrew nodded and said, "Okay. Which of the options do you think is better? Oliver replied, "Preferably Mrs. Candice's clothing store."

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Oliver's answer surprised everyone, because, although very busy and high class, Candice's clothing store was not very big or safe, so they did not understand why Oliver had chosen it and as if understanding what they wanted to ask, he clarified.

"The first time Nadila came to the Heavenly Palace, she got off the carriage at Madam Candice's clothing store. I don't know if she was deliberate or accidental, but since she was there and her boss was with her, she had an excuse to go back there without arousing suspicion".

Andrew immediately understood. If Nadila leaves the small village where she is staying, she may raise suspicions and her boss is surely watching her, so it is not safe for her to visit establishments randomly.

However, the clothing store is different. First of all, her boss saw her enter it and although it could only be an excuse to separate from the member of Shadow that followed them, the fact was that she was there, so she could justify that she went back to buy a dress that she liked.

After understanding all this, Andrew said, "Okay, I agree, Tell Marie to notify Nadila that I will meet her there in two days at 9:00 am". Then Oliver bowed slightly and said goodbye to them.

Carolina, Helena, and Aki did not understand the whole conversation very well, so they began to ask Andrew about the details, and he had to explain all the details that were not told.

While in the Heavenly Palace, they were preparing to contact Nadila, in Baron Castal's house, his son had just returned. As a security measure, Duval Castal who visited the Heavenly Palace last night under the name of Stuart faked a short trip 3 days ago and so he didn't return home until now.

Everything was a simple plan, 3 days ago Duval's carriage left the baron's mansion in the direction of one of the nearby cities, but in reality, he left hidden in one of the mansion's supply carriages.

He stayed 3 days in a hidden villa owned by his father and yesterday he went to the Heavenly Palace. He then returned to the villa and waited until now to return by pretending that there was a delay in the return trip so that no one would suspect.

Duval entered the mansion and immediately went to the study where his father was reviewing some documents. He gently knocked on the door as he said, "Father, I have returned."

From inside the study Baron Castal's voice was heard saying, "Come in," then Duval entered. When his father saw him, he could notice the change immediately, because, although he didn't look like it, Duval had a deep look as if he had grown up quickly.

Noticing this, his father couldn't help but comment, "You definitely went from boy to man in one night." Duval didn't understand what his father meant so he asked, "What do you mean father?", but the baron had no intention of explaining and just said, "Don't worry about that, I was just talking to myself. You better come sit down and tell me how it went."

Duval did not go after his father with the topic and simply obeyed him. He sat down and began to tell him about his night. Obviously, he didn't go into details, since neither of them had that kind of fetish, Duval simply told him about the details of the room, the characteristics of the girl who was with him, and similar things.

The baron, upon hearing his son's story, was surprised, since he did not expect the Heavenly Palace to have such good services as Duval said, since he knew thanks to Johan that the Heavenly Palace was a small pleasure house without much money.

However, this was the information from before the remodeling, but now the situation is different. Certainly, the Heavenly Palace is still far from the major pleasure houses in the city, but it cannot be called a small or penniless pleasure house either.

After the baron heard the whole story from Duval, he even felt like going to the Heavenly Palace to have some fun. He was a man of experience, so he knows and has attended several pleasure houses, some even more luxurious than the Heavenly Palace, but luxury was an ornament for these businesses, what really matters is the service and according to his son the Heavenly Palace had a great service.

However, that was a passing thought, as he knew that he couldn't play in the red light district at the moment or it might cost him the peerage promotion, not to mention that his wife would kill him if she found out.

After the father and son finished talking, Duval said goodbye and returned to his room, but on the way, he ran into his mother and she asked him to come with her.

Duval did not refuse and after reaching the mansion's back garden his mother asked him how he had fared on his trip. Duval's mother knew nothing about the true reason for Duval's trip, as the baron had not told her because as fewer people knew the better, so even his mother was excluded.

While he was hesitating, his mother looked at him carefully and like the baron, she noticed the change in her son's eyes and seemed to have understood something, so after talking for a few minutes with Duval she went to look for her husband.

In the study, being confronted by his wife, the baron confessed everything to her, although she was furious at being left out of the plan. His wife was about to lash out at him when a homing pigeon flew in through the window of the house and interrupted her.

The baron did not delay and taking the message from the pigeon's foot, he read it carefully and by the time he finished reading his expression was serious, because it was a summons from the king.

Furthermore, it was not just any summons, because according to the message, the baron knew that not only he was summoned, but all the nobles of the city and that only happened when there was a threat to the city or a war against another country.