RISE OF EROS

After the initial surprise, Aki calmed down and asked, "How do you guarantee that you will keep your promise?" Andrew then did not know what to say, because he had not thought of that.

The office fell silent, Aki observed all of Andrew's movements, no matter how small they seemed, and Carolina only remained silent waiting for Andrew to say something, but the latter was in trouble because nothing occurred to him.

"See, you have no intention of keeping your promise", Aki said with some scorn. Andrew was a little annoyed with Aki's comment, after all, she was his slave, he didn't have to guarantee her anything, but after thinking about it, he decided not to attack her, because he had decided to treat her as a human being, not as an object.

The office was silent for a few minutes, when Andrew said, "It's not that I don't want to keep the promise, it's just that I don't know how to guarantee it." He decided to be honest and say what he thought.

Aki didn't believe him, but she didn't say anything, so Carolina said, "She's a slave, you just have to change the contract to put that condition". The comment surprised the other two in the office, as neither of them understood.

Seeing that Andrew and Aki had no idea what she was talking about, Carolina explained, "Magical contracts like slavery can be modified, you just need a scribe to do it."

Andrew and Aki then understood. Andrew wasted no time and negotiated the clause with Aki. It was quite simple, Aki would work diligently for Andrew for three months and in that time Andrew had to heal her scars and show her decent treatment or she will be free to go.

Since the contract is established with the soul of the users, Aki could not lie about the fact that she was not treated with dignity, since her soul would be the one that made the decision, not the brain, so that was the course of action.

At that time, Andrew had no way to repair Aki's face, but he had already talked to Fluffy and he had told him that the system had a recipe that would allow him to reach his goal, the problem was that it cost 3 million points, but he knew that in three months he could reach that amount.

With that decided, they went to a scribe and modified the contract, making Aki more willing to cooperate. The first thing Andrew commanded her was that she eat and stay healthy, for right now she was no different than a bag of skin and bones.

Although it would be a while before Aki recovered her proper physique, Andrew had managed to solve one of his problems and that was having an intelligence agent, now he needed to find the chefs and the matron.

To his good fortune, when Víctor found out about the plans to hire a new kitchen team, he proposed a candidate. He was a young friend of his and although it was a bit difficult to convince him to work for the Heavenly Palace, with a high salary and Victor's help, they were able to hire Hector.

Hector was young but quite skilled. He prepared a simple tasting menu for everyone in the Heavenly Palace to show off his skills and everyone had to admit that his level was far above the current cooks.

Since Hector knew the culinary trade, he easily found 4 other helpers, and the new kitchen team was completed. Carmen and the other women who used to be in charge of the kitchen began to clean and serve as waitresses.

Despite that, Andrew did not fire the temporary employees who performed these functions, he only increased the number of employees and also hired Victor as a permanent receptionist, since to date he was only a part-time employee, but has proven his skills, Andrew welcomed him as a trusted employee.

Hector and his cooks immediately went to work creating a new menu. That wasn't something they could do overnight, but he promised he'd have a full menu in a week, so Andrew was happy.

With that resolved, only the matron was missing, but that was a position they could not fill at the moment. Andrew didn't stress, he just continued to coach the courtesans, but he no longer tried to do four a day.

He divided the work, he would attend two courtesans each day, and that way he didn't lose so much energy, allowing him to enjoy Carolina at night. Quickly a week passed and the Heavenly Palace had changed tremendously.

The rejuvenating creams were a complete success, which generated great profits, Carolina had gradually transformed the place, making it more elegant, and Héctor created the new menu.

As the new week began, regular customers began to notice the changes. Certainly, the prices had increased, but they were delighted with the changes since they enjoyed better amenities and services.

While the Heavenly Palace carried out its activities, in the commercial area, Candice evaluated herself in front of a mirror. She had been using the rejuvenating cream that Andrew had given her for a week and she was surprised by her changes.

Candice was a very beautiful and well-preserved mature woman. Anyone looking at her would think that she was in her 20s, however, for a woman there was no such thing as too young or too beautiful.

Seeing the changes in her appearance, Candice decided that it was time to visit the Heavenly Palace and meet his young master, so she asked her employees to prepare the carriage and in the company of her cold butler marched towards the red light district.

The sun was still shining when Candice's carriage arrived at the Heavenly Palace. Victor looked at the flashy and luxurious carriage seriously, as he could tell that it had a higher profile compared to Johan's, who was the highest-ranking visitor to the establishment.

He watched the cold butler come downstairs who reached out his hand to help Candice down. When Víctor saw the beautiful woman, he was immediately stunned and it was not strange, because although the courtesans of the Heavenly Palace were beautiful, Candice could only be compared to Carolina.

He without delay approached them and with a polite and subservient bow, he greeted, "Welcome to the Heavenly Palace. May I ask who the lady is and to whom we owe the honor of her visit?"

"Oh, what a surprise, such a polite reception. My name is Candice and I come to visit your young master, can you inform him of my arrival?" Although surprised, Victor remained calm and invited them inside, while he sent one of the guards to notify Andrew.

A few minutes later the guard returned to the reception desk and informed Victor that Andrew had invited the visitors in and politely led Candice and her butler to the office, where Andrew and Carolina were waiting for them.

When Andrew saw Candice walk in, he couldn't help but be surprised. He immediately evaluated her with his Eros's eyes and discovered that Candice had a normal beauty level of 925 points, which even surpassed Carolina.

Well, it surpassed her in her previous state, because currently Carolina, being Andrew's wife, had received many benefits from the love seal and the use of the rejuvenating cream, so Carolina currently had 963 beauty points according to the system.

Even Carolina was surprised by the woman's beauty, but she didn't show it on her face, she still kept her characteristic serious expression. Andrew on the other hand had to make an effort to regain his composure.

After adjusting his mood, Andrew greeted the visitors, "Nice to finally meet you, Mrs. Candice. I must say that I did not expect such a beautiful lady". The butler didn't react in the slightest and Candice just muffled a small polite smile and replied, "Young Andrew is quite the Casanova, trying to flatter this lady."

Candice's response relaxed the atmosphere, as she showed that she didn't mind being flattered, or at least she allowed it. Then Andrew invited her to sit down and introduced Carolina, "I introduce my wife and manager, Carolina."

Candice immediately looked at Carolina as if she was evaluating her and after a few seconds she introduced herself still keeping her slight smile, "It's a pleasure Miss Carolina, Candice" and Carolina responded professionally, "The pleasure is mine, Mrs. Candice."

With the formalities completed, everyone took their seats in the office furniture set. The butler just stood behind Candice without saying a word and soon Carmen came in with some cups of tea.

After serving each one, she left and without embarrassment, Candice picked up the teacup and took a small sip. No one spoke, they remained silent for a few minutes like evaluating each other.

"So, did Mrs. Candice like my gift?" Andrew broke the silence. Candice put the cup of tea down on the opposite table and smiling she said, "It was a splendid gift, I see that young Andrew's words were not empty."

"I'm flattered," Andrew replied with mock embarrassment. Candice evaluated him and the more she saw Andrew's behavior, the more interested she became. She found it fascinating that a young man like him could sit on an equal footing with her.

That thought was not pretense. There were very few non-nobility people who could maintain their composure in front of her. In her experience, there were only two types of people who could do it, those who did not know her or those who considered themselves equal to her.

In her opinion, Andrew belonged to the second group. That he considered himself on her level had nothing to do with wealth or power, but with attitude and so far, Andrew had performed wonderfully, setting Candice's expectations high about this meeting.