RISE OF EROS

"Brat, do you even know who you are threatening?" Marchioness Vilotti asked with a dark and menacing expression. Everyone in the room immediately felt a chill down their spine upon hearing her.

The Vilotti family is not only a family of marquises, but one of the most powerful, politically and militarily speaking, since being one of the oldest families in the country, they have helped the rise of many experts.

It is true that their experts are not the most powerful, within the kingdom of Dunnas, but not even the royal family has as many experts as they do. The Vilotti family has focused more on quantity than quality and that is why no one dared to bother them.

Although it may not seem like it, it is much easier to create 100 minor experts than one major expert, since the greater the force, the more resources are needed and that is why the Vilotti family had focused on creating experts in quantity instead of quality.

However, over time they had realized their fault and had begun to invest in their experts to level them up, but as stated, more resources are needed and that was why they wanted Victoria as their daughter-in-law, to take advantage of the resources of the Caltu family.

While they could choose to leave Victoria aside and pursue Lili who is now the countess, things were not that simple. Lili is still young and has just assumed the noble title, so marriage would be the last of her priorities.

It is for this reason that she still preferred it to be Victoria since she had been a countess for a long time and they would not have to delay their plans for long. Despite this situation, no one dared to make enemies with them.

The truly powerful families were not afraid of them, but so many experts, even if they were weak, were a problem, so it was better not to look for trouble, but this gave the Vilotti family the illusion that no one dared to offend them.

In fact, if Andrew wanted to, he could eliminate this family with his current resources. Hearing the Marchioness, Andrew did not flinch and calmly replied, "To a dead person, if you continue to talk."

Everyone was stunned by such a statement. Not even Clarissa expected Andrew to be so arrogant and this made her fall into deep thought. The Caltu family is powerful, but not enough to confront the Vilotti family

It is for this reason that Clarissa thought that Andrew must have a strong background or he would not dare to say this. She had not known Andrew for long, but from the few interactions they had had and from Victoria's words, she understood that he was not an arrogant person.

This was what led her to think that Andrew must have a strong backing and immediately the image of some women came to her mind and she could not help but murmur, "The royal family?"

Although she thought of that, she immediately denied that possibility, since the royal family would not intervene in a matter like this. She then looked at Victoria, because she believed that, with her niece's attitude in this situation, she would understand something.

Unfortunately, upon seeing her niece, she became even more confused. Victoria didn't seem worried or alarmed that her fiancé was threatening Marchioness Vilotti; in her opinion, Victoria seemed resigned.

Make no mistake, her resigned expression wasn't something like she accepted the bitter fate that awaited them, but rather as if she accepted that she couldn't fix the situation, but her lack of fear was what caught Clarissa's attention the most.

Although she couldn't understand the basis of such confidence, she was sure that Andrew and her were hiding something. Still, she didn't want things to get worse any further, so she tried to mediate, but it was too late.

"Do you think the royal family will take your side instead of mine?" the Marchioness continued to ask menacingly, without taking her gaze away, showing that Andrew's threat hadn't affected her.

Andrew was already upset, and seeing this woman flaunt her status and strength was making it worse, so he wanted to make a firm move to end this, but then, Victoria stepped in.

"Sweetheart, is it really necessary to bother with this?" she said softly, lovingly, but everyone could hear her, as they were focused on watching them, so it was hard not to hear it.

Andrew softened his gaze at his pleading wife and, letting out a sigh decided not to pursue the matter. He took Victoria's hand and began to walk away, but the Marchioness didn't seem to see that Victoria was trying to save her life.

"Are you going to run away?" she said angrily and added, "Do you think I'll let you go after this humiliation?" Victoria gritted her teeth at hearing this and, grabbing Andrew's hand tightly, turned around and shouted, "Why don't you just shut up? Don't you see that I'm trying to save your life?"

Even the Marchioness was surprised by these words, as no one thought she would say something like that. Just think about it, Victoria was declaring that if she didn't take her fiancé away, the Marchioness Vilotti would be dead.

What kind of statement was that? A very powerful one, one that only the crazy or the really powerful would say, and looking at the situation, it seemed like the second option was more likely.

While the Marchioness Vilotti was angry, she was not stupid. She was not afraid of Andrew, as she considered that her family had a lot of power, but at this moment there was no expert to protect her and Andrew had already shown his power.

For an expert to come to an engagement party, not being invited, only happens for two reasons. One is that they come with the royal family, since they being the rulers of the country, would never come unprotected.

The second is that they come to cause trouble, which is why the Marchioness Vilotti had not brought bodyguards, at least not inside the party hall they were in because outside the mansion she obviously had several.

They would not leave their houses unprotected, but bringing expert-level bodyguards into the house of someone who invited you to a party is a declaration of war and now that she was evaluating the situation, Andrew could eliminate her before any of those experts came.

Understanding the situation, she gritted her teeth and, turning around, told her daughter and nephew that they were leaving. When everyone saw that the Marchioness had decided to leave, they were shocked, but they understood.

They are all nobles and have been educated since they were young, so they understand the complications that could happen if she remained here. They knew that, just as they knew, the Marchioness would not sit idly by with what had happened.

This is not she running away, but a strategic retreat, and the words of the Marchioness Vilotti before leaving confirmed it, "Enjoy it while you can, brat." After they left, the room fell into an awkward silence.

Drama at these kinds of parties was never lacking, but it never reached the point of practically declaring war and this was what had happened. Not even the musicians and waiters dared to move.

In fact, even breathing was difficult, but surprisingly, everything changed when Andrew walked as if nothing had happened towards Clarisa in the company of Victoria and said, "You don't have to worry, if they do something, I'll take care of it."

Those present did not know how to react to those words. Andrew said it loud enough for everyone to hear and Clarisa was even more stunned, but being an experienced woman, she looked at the musicians as if indicating that they should start playing.

The musicians understood and the music returned. Thanks to this, the waiters began to move again, and although in an awkward way, the party resumed.

Clarissa took Andrew and Victoria out of the room to talk. "What did you mean? Do you even know who the Vilotti family is?" Clarissa asked in succession, clearly annoyed.

Victoria chuckled at how her aunt behaved but quickly regained her composure when she saw Clarissa's murderous gaze. Victoria had a lot of respect for Clarissa, since she was the one who had taken care of her and helped her when her mother passed away.

Therefore, she did not dare to continue mocking her. Andrew, seeing their interaction, smiled, because he thought that they really had a good relationship. Since he came to this world, he had not seen many noble families with such harmony.

It is true that he does not know many noble families, but those he knows are always more connected by benefits than by true love. Perhaps the Valoide family of the Cannaris empire and the royal family of Dunnas are the only similar ones.

Not wanting to worry Clarissa, Andrew interrupted them, saying, "Since Victoria considers you a second mother, I'll tell you, mother-in-law, what I said before is not a lie. Even the royal family must give me some face".

Clarissa was overexcited upon hearing him call her mother-in-law but quickly recovered upon hearing the rest of what Andrew had said. Seeing the confident smile on his face, she knew he wasn't lying, but she still wasn't sure.

Because of the doubt, she couldn't help but ask, "Your proof?", to which Andrew responded by changing his smile to a stern expression, "If things come to worst I can even call a demigod."

Clarissa's eyes widened upon hearing this, but then she remembered what the family expert had said a few days ago, "Divinity was felt in the Dunnas Palace."

Andrew didn't say anything more on that subject and taking Victoria's hand said, "Let's go back, the stars of the night can't disappear for long," and they returned to the party hall.

Although uncomfortable with what had happened, the party resumed and Andrew and Victoria continued socializing. Clarissa, who had been left alone, still stunned, only woke up when the expert from her family who had felt the divinity nights before appeared at her side and said, "That boy is anything but normal. Just follow his words and cut off all ties with the Vilotti family."

She surpesed upon hearing the old man's voice, but quickly recovered and bowed in a sign of respect and to show that she understood, and the old man spoke again as he disappeared, "Support Victoria and her fiancé if they need it, but don't be active, just move, if they ask for it."