The Incubus System

More than half an hour had passed and we were almost at our destination, Flower Castle banquet hall. Unfortunately, even though we knew the hall was not far from our current location, we were stuck in traffic. Judging by the cars around us, I could only guess there was another big event nearby.

Since the traffic made our car move slowly. Our unordinary car made everyone turn to us in amazement. Some people even took out their cellphones to take a picture. Some opened their car windows to see it more clearly or pointed at it.

Meanwhile, instead of paying attention to all that, Celia and I talked about the prom. Especially about the event, what we should do and... Several things that could potentially become problems later.

"So I can talk to this Jenny or not?" I asked after Celia explained how complicated her relationship with Jenny was. My eyes were on her and a frown on my forehead.

"Yes. But only if she comes to us. Otherwise, just pretend she's not there," she explained in a serious tone.

"Oh, one more thing. Don't get too close to her, but don't be rude or too cold either. Just be natural," she added.

Her explanation confused me even more. I knew she wanted me to be 'between hot and cold', but she didn't tell me the limit.

"Now tell me what do you mean by 'rude, cold and natural' ?" I asked.

"Um... Don't yell at her or brush her off. Also, you may answer her questions, but don't ask her any things. Just focus on me. I also hope you avoid Bern in case he comes to this event," she explained again.

I exhaled a long breath and shifted my gaze forward.

"Fine, I will try," I said. Who knew girls' problems could be this complicated?

Their problems started from a love triangle which developed into a misunderstanding. When one of their friends introduced Bern a few months ago, due to his gallant figure, Jenny fell in love with him. Unfortunately, Bern fell in love with Celia. Since neither of them confessed their feelings honestly and Bern used the group meeting as an excuse to meet Celia, it led to a misunderstanding.

I knew Celia never wanted to meet a new guy in private. She usually needed an acquaintance or a friend so she would feel safe if she wanted to meet new people. So to make Celia agree to meet him, Bern also invited Jenny. But Jenny caught that as something else. She thought Bern liked her, but due to his status as a young master, he didn't want to admit it. So he used Celia to cover up his interest in Jenny.

Unfortunately, Jenny had to wake up from her own illusions after Bern confessed his love for Celia. Back then, since Celia desperately tried to forget her feelings for me and didn't know Jenny's feelings. Even though she had no feelings for Bern, she accepted him. It broke Jenny's heart and their friendship. She even slandered that Celia dated Bern out of his money. While the truth was she never asked anything from Bern. After Celia and Bern broke up, Jenny took the opportunity to approach Bern again. But the fact that Bern was still in love with Celia made her even angrier and hated Celia. In the end, it only made their relationship further apart.

Based on what had happened, Celia predicted Jenny would bring Bern as her prom date. And like before, Celia guessed that Bern would definitely accept her since this was his chance to meet Celia. Another guess, Jenny would tell me some bad things about Celia. That was why she warned me beforehand.

Another five minutes had passed, we had arrived at our destination, a short modern design building dominated by purple decorative lights. It made this building look different from other buildings. As our car stopped in front of the building entrance, everyone's eyes were on our car, especially Celia's friends. It even stopped their steps since they wondered who would come out of this limited edition car.

The chauffeur quickly opened the door for us. As I got out of the car, the girls' jaws dropped and their eyes widened. It had been a while since I got this kind of attention, especially since I did it on purpose. I flashed a smile which made some of them blush before I turned to the side and held out my hand to help Celia out of the car.

"Thank you," she said as she took my hand and stood up.

"Celia?" said one of the girls in surprise. She released her grip on her prom date and walked over to us.

"Look at you. You look so beautiful tonight." Her eyes travelled to inspect Celia's dress. I knew it was just unimportant trivia since she kept glancing at me.

"Thank you, Martha. You also look beautiful tonight," replied Celia with a smile.

Then Martha turned to me. I could see her blushing face clearly despite her makeup.

"And who is this?" I was sure this was the main reason why she came to us.

"He's my distant cousin, Damian," said Celia. We decided to say I was her cousin instead of her boyfriend. It was the safest status since some news already called me the Prince of Ledred. Even though my face was not clear, who knew someone would recognize me?

"Nice to meet you," I said with a smile.

Martha's smile widened. Since I wasn't her boyfriend, it meant she had a chance to be with me.

"Why didn't you ever tell me you had a cousin?" she said cheerfully.

"He is busy and I rarely meet him. Besides, none of you asks about that," said Celia.

As they chatted, I swept my gaze around me and realized it was getting crowded here even though the chauffeur had brought the car to the parking lot. The women's eyes were on me. Some walked into the building at a snail pace since they didn't want to waste this nice view. Some guys grabbed their prom date hands so they could walk faster and hoped their girls' attention would be back on them. While some of the other girls smiled as soon as our eyes met.

'I think my appearance has brought a different kind of problem,' I thought. Realizing this could be worse since some girls started taking their hands off their partners and coming towards us, I turned to Celia.

"I think we should get inside. Besides---" I pointed at Martha's prom date who was waiting with an annoyed expression with my gaze.

"You shouldn't make your prom date wait too long."

"Oh, you're right! Let's get inside," said Martha quickly. Then we walked towards the entrance.

But before we got inside, my steps stopped as the stinking stench pierced my nose along with an announcement in a red box in front of me.

[!!! Warning!!! ]

[Another Demon detected!]

I turned to the origin of the smell and saw a handsome man in his 20s getting out of the car along with a blonde woman around Celia's age.

Celia approached my ear upon their presence.

"That's Jenny," she whispered. Without taking her eyes off them.

"Do you know who her prom date is?" I asked.

"No. It's the first time I've seen him," she replied.

I turned to Celia, showing my tense expression to her. In an instant, she gasped as she caught what I meant.

"Is he...?"

"Yes..." I returned my gaze to that couple or to be more precise at the Demon.

"He came for the feast."