RISE OF EROS

Since Victoria had gotten what she came for, she left Dunnas Palace with a big smile on her face and some employees can even swear that they saw her jumping for joy.

Despite that, none of them said anything, although they were curious about the reason. Although most of them were not educated, they were not foolish enough to believe that Victoria was happy to close the deal on the establishment's rental.

Still, it was only a momentary thought, as they soon got busy with their chores and forgot about Victoria. Andrew, for his part, was smiling from ear to ear when he saw Victoria's joy because it seemed funny to him that this woman was happy to leave after promising her a simple massage.

While Andrew was gloating about this, Oliver suddenly spoke, "It seems that the young master succeeded in his plan. That lady is delighted with you." Andrew looked at Oliver and replied, "It looks like everything is going according to plan."

"Young master, if it is not too much trouble for me to ask, why do you want to attract Lady Victoria?" Oliver asked curiously. He knew that Andrew wanted to become close to Victoria and he could see the benefits of having a noble and renowned merchant as an ally, but he didn't know his specific goal.

"Well, before I didn't have a specific goal, I just thought having a strong ally in this country was necessary, but now after the problem we faced in Cannaris, I think we should take her help and get Candice to do some business here," Andrew replied seriously.

Although Oliver is not particularly good at business, he is a great military strategist, so he immediately understood what Andrew meant. Certainly, with the help of Marín, Patricia, and the others, they could solve the problem they faced, but that would not be forever.

Oliver was clear that many forces were watching them and the enemies were only accumulating. Not just the enemies, but other forces that wanted what they had, so he understood that Andrew was creating a route to retreat in the future if eventuality something happened.

He was happy with Andrew's progress. He had always told him that he was very passive and direct in dealing with matters, but for some time now he had begun to plan more carefully and that made him happy.

Andrew had no idea what Oliver was thinking, so he didn't say anything else. After a while, he said goodbye to Lula and the other employees of the Dunnas Palace and teleported to the Cannaris Palace.

As the meeting between Patricia and the others with Andrew had barely happened, the viscounts had not been warned yet, so they continued to harass Candice's business.

However, this time, Andrew and the others did not move and waited for Patricia and the others to make their move. In this way, night came and while the Cannaris Palace was in full swing, 10 people gathered in Marín's mansion.

They were Marín, Patricia, Carla, Sara, Neris, their husband and Patricia's son. Since they had decided to establish a united front, they had met to address the topic discussed with Andrew.

These 5 families were on good terms, as Patricia and the others were friends, however, they were not close enough to be considered great allies, at best they are friendly acquaintances.

All the men were confused by the meeting, as they were dragged away by their wives and mother, without being informed of the reason for the meeting, but the women were so enthusiastic that they could not help but listen to them.

"So, what is this meeting about?" asked a tall, burly man, looking at Marín. He is Orom Alusa, husband of Marín and as the person of the highest status in the meeting, he took the spokesperson.

None of those present cared that Orom was the one who started asking the questions since everyone knew that he was the appropriate one given his status. Marín, although she was not happy with her husband, this was due to her sexual orientation, because this man had really treated her well and although she did not love him, she respected him to a certain degree.

"Well, we met you here to talk about business," Marín said with a smile that generated intrigue. All the men in the room frowned at her words and actions, as they could not read what this woman meant.

They became more confused when they saw that their wives and mother had a similar smile to Marin and a little impatiently Orom asked again, "What business?, woman leaves the intrigue and speaks clearly."

"Always so dominant, be patient is a good thing," said Marín, pouting not in keeping with her age, but she did not delay and began to speak, "As you know, these days there have been many problems in the city."

Marin paused again and looked at everyone as if seeking confirmation from them and when she got it, she continued, "It turns out that some viscounts are suppressing a fairly successful young merchant."

All the men obviously knew who Marín was talking about, but they were confused because they did not understand what they had to do with this matter, but Marín's next words left them shocked.

"This young man is an acquaintance of ours and he asked us for help and we decided to help him," Marín said with a smug expression. The men's shock was not because of the fact that Marin said that Andrew had asked them for help, but because of the fact that they were acquaintances of Andrew.

They know that Andrew is the owner of a pleasure house and for this reason, he is not a person his wives and mother should know. Marín, seeing the men's dark expressions, immediately understood what they were thinking and quickly clarified.

"Do not think badly, it is true that this young man runs a pleasure house, but that is not where we know him. He also owns a massage house and we are clients of that place."

Marín paused and continued explaining, "It is true that that massage house also offers strange services, but many nobles visit it just for the massages, they are relaxing and restorative, do not insult us with your bad thoughts."

Marin looked like an Oscar-winning actress because her indignation seemed so real that, if Andrew saw her, he would think that this woman would be a big star in his previous world.

Her performance was so good that the men were ashamed of having suspected her and as if trying to escape the situation, Patricia's son changed the subject, "Mrs. Marín, please, what did this young man propose to you?"

Casian Bulna is Patricia's son and the current earl of the family. Despite being only 22 years old and the youngest in the meeting in terms of status he was the second highest, so no one scolded him for interrupting the conversation.

In fact, they secretly thanked him for changing the subject, because they knew that his wives could be fierce when they were upset. In fact, this is one of the reasons why they haven't been aware of these women's crossover sexual tastes, for fear of upsetting them if they pursue them too much.

While most were political marriages, these women had played their roles well as wives and mothers, so there was no reason to be suspicious.

Marin, noticing that the men had believed them, continued talking about what was discussed with Andrew, "Well, I will give a face to young Casian. This young man asked us to help him suppress these viscounts."

"What do we gain by helping him?" Orom immediately asked, regaining leadership of the conversation, and Marín with a broad smile said, "I imagine you know that this young man is also the creator of rejuvenating creams."

Marín didn't have to say anything else, because all the men immediately understood the implications of her words and immediately perked up. Casian being the youngest and most immature asked, "Will he give us the cream business?"

"Well, he won't give us exclusivity, but he promised to give us the same amount that his wife's store sells every month," Marín responded immediately. Orom being the most experienced immediately stood up and asked, "What are the conditions?"

"He will give us that amount so that the 5 of us can sell them. I have already discussed with the girls and we reached an agreement that our Alusa family and the Bulna family take 25% each and the other 50% would be divided between the other 3. I don't know what you think?"

Everyone remained silent as if thinking about what Marín had said. While it was a fair deal, all nobles were greedy and wanted a better cut, but they had to plan how to say things.

Marín and the other women were not stupid and they knew what these men thought, but they were not going to allow their greed to damage the relationships so Patricia spoke up and began to say.

"We know everyone must be thinking about renegotiating things, but let me warn you. That young man will not give in, in fact, he already made plans to retire, so, if you pressure him, he will just leave and we will not gain anything."

Before any of them could say anything, Carla spoke, "Our proposal is to make a joint venture between the 5 of us with the conditions mentioned by Marin and establish a united front."

The girls seemed to have planned everything because they did not let the men think or interrupt, and Sara was the next to speak, "This way, we can avoid problems."

Neris was the one who finished by saying, "If we go separately, we would be easy prey for other people, remember that this product is not something we can swallow if we go separately."

The 5 men listened carefully to the women and had to admit that it was a good strategy. In fact, they were surprised, because they did not know these qualities of their wives.

Then Orom spoke, "I think the ladies are right, I don't know what others think? For my part, I think it's a good deal." Casian, who is still inexperienced, looked at his mother and Patricia gave him a slight nod, and upon seeing this he also agreed.

The other three were just barons, not to mention that the conditions favored them, so they could only accept the arrangement. With that, the creation of the joint company was decided, so they began to discuss how to deal with the 3 viscounts.