RISE OF EROS

Everyone in the office understood that the hypothesis given by Oliver earlier was a reality, that excited and worried them at the same time because it was both an opportunity and a threat.

"What should we do?" asked Andrew cautiously, but no one responded. It wasn't that none of the people present didn't hear the question, but rather that they were all waiting for Oliver to speak as he was the most qualified to talk about the situation.

However, Oliver did not respond immediately. He was thinking about how they should handle this situation, as he is the person who understands the situation best and knew that while it was true that they could gain a lot from this event, it could also be catastrophic if they did not handle it properly.

Oliver thought for several minutes and no one dared to interrupt his thought. Everyone was silent and some even held their breath. After a few minutes that felt like hours, Oliver finally opened his mouth.

"As we had thought earlier we should contact the nobles and report this," then he paused and spoke again, "The problem is that the only noble we know of is Baron Castal and I don't think he has that much power to handle this situation."

"True, that's what I thought myself, however what do we do?", Andrew interjected with a worried tone of voice. Oliver seriously said, "Young master, I think we should contact Ms. Candice."

Oliver's comment not only confused Andrew, but everyone present and Carolina not being able to stand her curiosity asked, "Why her?", to which Oliver replied, "Because Mrs. Candice has a more powerful contact".

Seeing that everyone was confused, Oliver began to explain, "Because Mrs. Candice is an important business ally, I obviously did some research on her, and thanks to that I discovered, that, although she is considered a mid-level businesswoman in the city, in reality her influence is much bigger than that."

After a short pause, Oliver continued his explanation, "She has quite a diverse business, with provisions and groceries being her main business, but she also has business in the fashion sector and lately she is investing in the beauty sector."

Oliver paused his explanation again and gave Andrew a meaningful look as he said, "This is all possible because Ms. Candice is a friend of Marques Valoide's wife."

Everyone in the office's eyes widened like saucers. They knew Candice had quite a bit of influence, but they never expected it to be this much. Despite the surprise, Andrew recovered quickly and began to internalize all the information told by Oliver, and after a few minutes, the surprise came back to him.

Oliver did not overlook the change in Andrew's expression and with a smile asked, "Did the young master notice?", to which Andrew responded by nodding his head with a serious expression.

Carolina and the others did not understand, so Carolina took the baton and asked, "What did you understand?", to which Andrew responded without changing the expression of seriousness he had, even though his voice was deep for this very reason.

"Candice not only has friendships with a Marquisate, but she is also dabbling in the beauty sector, so if together, we inform the Marquis Valoide about what we know, we will not only gain a favor from the Marquis but from Candice."

"I understand that, but what's so special about...?", Carolina was in the middle of her question when she understood the implications of what Andrew was saying and practically shouting she said, "She's in the beauty sector!".

That was the important point. Andrew and Carolina being the more experienced in business, understood how important Candice was. Not only would she give them contact with Marques, but she would be the perfect ally to deal with Johan.

Johan had become greedy, but Andrew still worked with him because he needed to sell his products and Johan had the channel to do so, however, he had already decided that he would no longer work with Johan, but that left him without a distribution channel.

However, if Candice also had a channel, she could replace Johan. Although Candice like Johan was a trader and therefore could not be trusted, Andrew and Oliver who had dealt with her believed that she was an intelligent woman and would not prefer to damage such a beneficial relationship for short-term gain as Johan had done.

They did not think this blindly. Thanks to the collaborations they have had with her, they knew, reflected in the issue of dress designs because, like Johan, she could have tried to take everything away from Andrew, but instead, she preferred to forge a closer relationship and that shows a lot about her character and intelligence.

For this reason, they thought Candice was a reliable ally. However, after a few minutes of thought, Andrew asked again, "But why didn't you tell me this information before?".

"Young master, it was not necessary. Johan hadn't shown his treacherous claws and we don't have that much production to supply two people, so I didn't see the need," Oliver answered immediately.

Andrew understood Oliver's point, so he said nothing more on that subject and proceeded to the important thing, "Let's go see Candice." Andrew didn't wait for a response, he simply got up and walked out of the office, while Oliver followed close behind.

After informing everyone of their departure, Andrew and Oliver did not walk to Candice's store as was customary, as it was an urgent matter and should be treated as such, so they took a public carriage, which was like a primitive cab.

The carriage they took did not take long to arrive at Candice's store and after paying, they entered the establishment. When the receptionist saw them, she immediately got up and went to Gaston's office to report.

All of the store's receptionists had been instructed on which people were to treat each other with respect, as they were important customers or allies, and among that list was Andrew.

Gaston was sitting behind his desk with stacks of papers and books piled up. He had a tired expression, it was obvious that he had not slept much and worked too much, but he was still reviewing several reports at high speed.

Soon he heard a knock at the door and though annoyed at the interruption he said, "Come in." The young woman at the front desk who identified Andrew said fearlessly, "Manager Gaston, Mr. Andrew has arrived at the store."

Normally a low-ranking employee could be nervous and scared in the presence of a high-ranking employee like Gaston, but this girl was calm, as Gaston had instructed them, that when a VIP arrived, not to worry and tell him.

Obviously, just by saying this, the employees would not overcome this fear of offending Gaston, but after some VIPs visited and carried out their orders, they noticed that Gaston had not lied to them, so they were no longer worried.

Gaston hearing that Andrew had arrived surprised him. Usually, Andrew always told them when he was going to visit them, so his sudden arrival surprised Gaston.

Believing that Andrew's visit without notification was due to an important situation, Gaston did not dare to delay and quickly left the office heading to the reception.

A few minutes later Gaston arrived at the reception where he found Andrew and Oliver enjoying some tea that had been served to them while they waited. "I hope I haven't kept you waiting long. Welcome back Mr. Andrew," Gaston said cordially.

Andrew put down the cup of tea and also greeted, "Always so kind Mr. Gaston. Sorry for the unannounced arrival, but something important came up and I need to find Mrs. Candice."

Just as Gaston had suspected, something important had happened, but he didn't know what it was, so he wanted to try his luck by saying, "Something important? May I ask what happened?", but Andrew shook his head as he said, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Candice must be the first to hear it."

Andrew's comment made Gaston wrinkle his eyebrows, as he didn't understand the reason why Candice should be the first to hear it, but he didn't pursue the issue and said, "It's okay, follow me please."

Andrew and Oliver followed Gaston into Candice's office and noticed that the facility's security was still as tight as last time. Although it again piqued their curiosity, they didn't ask, as last time Candice was unwilling to tell them, so they didn't see why this time would be any different.

Besides, this time they had come with too much important information. One that could change their lives, so there was no time for idle chatter about unimportant matters.

In front of Candice's office doors, Gaston spoke to the guards stationed there, "Inform Mrs. Candice that Mr. Andrew is visiting with an important and urgent matter to discuss."

The guards know Gaston, so they know that he is one of Candice's most trusted men. Because of that, they could from his expressions determine a lot of information and when they saw his serious expression, they understood that it was not a simple matter.

One of the guards entered the office and after a few minutes came back out. "Mrs. Candice welcomes you," said the guard who had entered to notify as he opened the door.

Andrew, Oliver, and Gaston entered the office and there they could see Candice sitting behind her desk signing some documents in an elegant and graceful posture that made her look intellectual and beautiful, to the point that Andrew couldn't help but think, "This woman is really stunning."