RISE OF EROS

I never expected to get to this point, but I can only thank you, my readers, for making this possible. My sincere thanks and I hope you continue to support me from now on. Now yo can read the chapter.

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These kinds of events are just for show, so most people try to socialize and try to make connections, but in every place, there are always some people who don't know how to behave.

This was the case for a small group of young noble girls who had not yet received their noble titles but were the heirs of their families. The group was composed of 3 women who were a little older than Andrew and the last was a man of similar age to Victoria.

In Dunnas, men do not hold noble titles, but at this meeting, there were several men and they were members of the younger generation of noble houses who attended with the intention of meeting noble girls.

The men of this country focus on gaining strength and for that they need resources, so finding noble women who can provide them with those resources is not scarce and that was the case for the man within this group.

One of the girls is the heiress of a marquisate, while the others are her followers who want to gain popularity from hanging around with her and are the heiresses of a Viscounty.

The man is one of the marquisate's relatives and one of Victoria's suitors. While they are higher up than the Caltu family, in terms of wealth and resources they are below them as the Caltu family was a noble merchant family.

They wanted this man to marry Victoria to take advantage of the Caltu family's resources, so they were resentful that the goose that laid the golden eggs had slipped away from them.

When Victoria and Andrew came to greet them, the marquis' heiress, Prisma Vilotti, after the initial greeting immediately started to release her venom, "Vic, I can't believe you gave up your title for this engagement."

Although their expressions looked sad and worried, both Victoria and Andrew understood that she was demeaning her by saying that she had given up her title.

Despite knowing that, Victoria didn't get angry and replied politely, "Well, I was going to do it anyway." Prisma didn't believe her, but she didn't care anyway, she was determined to make her feel bad.

"Well, I guess the young man... Wait, what's your fiancé's name?" she asked in bewilderment, but it was obviously an act, because even though Andrew's name wasn't mentioned in the introduction ceremony, everyone present had already been informed, so there was no way she wouldn't know.

The other two girls laughed in apparent dissimulation, but they really did it to half save face and at the same time in order to mock Victoria's face showing their appreciation for Prisma's comment.

The man accompanying them hadn't changed his expression. He stood there like a lifeless stick, but he was secretly delighted by his cousin's prank.

This isn't Victoria's first ring, so she didn't get angry and continued to answer calmly, "His name is Andrew." Victoria's answer seemed to have bothered Prisma, since, although she was the one who asked, not seeing a reaction from either of them was not what she expected.

"Well, I suppose young Andrew will have many extraordinary qualities since you chose him instead of my cousin," Prisma said this time being more direct and a small smile of contempt could be seen on her face.

She did not let Andrew or Victoria respond when she made another comment, "Well, it doesn't matter anymore, I suppose Lili is the important one now, congratulations anyway."

Seeing how they despised his wife, Andrew was already starting to get annoyed, but since Victoria did not seem to react, Andrew endured. Victoria had not been living with Andrew for a long time, but it was enough to know his character.

She was clear that Andrew would not be upset if those comments were directed at him, but if it was towards one of his wives, things were different and that was why she wanted to avoid the situation going down a bad path, so she said, "Yes, now she is the important one."

Not wanting to continue conversing with such a lowly character, Victoria thought about moving somewhere else, but then Prisma spoke again, "If you wanted to be in a harem you would have said so, my cousin would have obliged you."

All the guests nearby had noticed Prisma's verbal attack on Victoria and Andrew, so they were waiting to see what would happen. These parties are mostly boring unless there is drama and they are watching it now.

Victoria didn't want to bother entertaining the room with this spectacle anymore, so she held Andrew's hand and thought about moving, but then Andrew stood his ground, making her uneasy.

She knew that Andrew had reached his limit and was about to create a scene and not wanting this to happen, she approached him intimately and whispered, "Don't pay attention to her."

No one else could hear her whisper, at least that was the case of the girls, but the men did hear it since they are warriors and some are experts, especially Prisma's cousin.

Andrew, who was very aware of this, decided to be aggressive, and turning his head slightly he gave Victoria a tender and short kiss on the lips, surprising everyone, including Victoria.

What hurts a love rival the most? Well, the fact that his rival and his love interest showed affection between them and that was what Andrew had done, but he was not satisfied, after the short kiss, so he said with a smile, "True, it's not worth it."

Unlike Victoria who tried to hide it, Andrew said it loud enough for most to hear and that bothered not only Prisma and her friends, but his cousin.

The dark and bitter expression as if he had eaten an insect was shown on his face and in a deep voice, "And to think that you were that cheap." The man also did not measure his tone and everyone could hear him.

While everyone loves drama, this kind of comment goes beyond what is allowed. Making a comment like that and degrading Victoria's image at her engagement party was not only too much for the Caltu family, but for Andrew as well.

Clarissa, who had been paying attention to everything, was about to intervene angrily. Although she did not approve of this union at first, now the situation was different, and she loved her niece very much, so she would not allow her to be insulted in this way.

However, she was slower than Andrew who bitingly said, "Do you know that not even the royal family would intervene if I tear your mouth off?" Such a comment made everyone take a breath because such a direct and cold threat made it clear that Andrew was not someone to be trifled with.

Unfortunately, that did not seem to affect Prisma who immediately replied, "You should measure your words, cabaret artist," and now Victoria was upset. Like Andrew, she did not care what they said about her, but insulting Andrew would not be allowed.

The tension was palpable and everyone was waiting for what would happen. Even some older nobles who were present were interested in what was happening because although they knew that Andrew was not ordinary, they did not have much information.

They all knew that Andrew owned a pleasure house and his relationship with Yuri. They also knew that they had some involvement in the shopping center, but that alone was not enough to scare them and that is why they wanted to see what he was capable of.

The Marquisate Vilotti is not a family you want as an enemy, since it is one of the most powerful nobles in the city. They were not as close to the royal family as the Caltu family, but they were still not easy to offend and that is why everyone wanted to see if Andrew would dare.

They were expectant, but without being able to prepare themselves, Andrew's expert aura was displayed in full force, and for a young man like him to have the strength of a major expert was no joke.

Even Prisma's cousin was shocked, as he could see that Andrew was about half his age and yet he was stronger than him, proving his talent.

Little did they know that this was just the tip of the iceberg because, if Andrew released his divinity, these people would run away like headless chickens. At Andrew's display of power, everyone was left speechless and Prisma's group was sweating coldly from fear.

When the tension reached its peak, a middle-aged woman appeared in the middle of the group and calmly said, "I'm sorry for my daughter and nephew's comments, they're just being immature. I hope the gentleman and lady will be magnanimous and let their immaturity pass."

She is the Marchioness Vilotti who had not intervened so far, as she wanted to know more about Andrew, as the one who wanted to compromise Victoria and the man present was her.

She is an ambitious woman and wants to seize power in the Caltu family, so she wants to test the waters. She didn't instruct her daughter and nephew to put on this act, but she didn't stop them either, so she obviously agreed with their actions, but now that she saw that it had gone wrong she intervened.

Victoria, who didn't want to continue with this matter, was willing to let things go, but Andrew got ahead of her and said, "I'll let it go for today since it's our engagement party, but there's no second time."

Andrew's threat surprised everyone again because threatening the man from the Vilotti family and threatening the Marchioness Vilotti were two totally different things.

No one could believe the balls Andrew had to do it, especially being a common citizen. This only proved that Andrew was anything but simple and that generated even more curiosity among those present, but for the Marchioness there was only anger.

Not even the royal family dared to offend her in this way and she was not willing to swallow this humiliation so with a sharp look she faced Andrew ready to retort.