‘’Lord Cooper!’’ A male voice enters the ballroom before its owner, a small-stature overweight man with a mustache and stained clothes approaches the couple. ‘’You’re late for your wedding clothes fitting!’’ He exclamates short of breath once he gets closer to the two men. The man looks at Yongsun with a displeased look, before softening his expression once his gaze is on Rowan. Something’s wrong, both think at the same time, their feelings of anxiety and worry being shared to each other. Rowan’s eyes go to Yongsun, who’s staring at him blankly. The small-stature man grabs Rowan’s hand, pulling him fiercely, Rowan retracts his hand once the warning window pops in front of him, deep inside him an artificial feeling of anger can be felt, probably Yongsun’s feeling coming through.

Why is he angry? Did something show up to him as well? Rowan asks himself, staring at the window.

Due to the effects of the ‘Soul Link’ skill, once you enter contact with someone who’s not your Link, you are penalized.

5 second hand in hand contact made. Status: Forced. Penalty: -2 CON.

Even if the touch was involuntary and the time was short, the penalty is strongly felt, as Rowan feels his heart tightening and his previous top-notch condition is now a bit weaker. 

Due to the nature of your Link, you’ll be further penalized if the abnormal status: anxiety isn’t quelled in your Link.

Penalty: -20 CON will be applied in 10 seconds.

What? Rowan screams inside his mind, his face still calm, how can I quell an unfounded anxiety? He saw that I was dragged against my will! What is this bullshit?

Fair enough, Yongsun knows it, and to be exact he can even tell his feelings are unjustified, however that’s the thing about demons, they have extreme feelings, jealousy, anger, lust, etc, any feeling isn’t felt in nuance, they’re all exaggerated by their own nature. When the attendant touched Rowan, Yongsun felt a little anxious, but due to his nature and his corruption, the small anxiety became an abnormal status, strong enough to make him want to grab Rowan and lock the man up.

Which is wrong, but knowing it's wrong and being able to fully control his own feelings are different. Something inside Yongsun started growing once he touched Rowan, perhaps something that always existed inside him, perhaps something not belonging to him at all, but something that was overtaking his rational well enough. It doesn’t help that his INT was his lowest stat. I can’t stop this, Yongsun thinks, to everyone around them their faces are neutral, but to each other with the effects of the ring they can tell exactly what the other is feeling. And through it, Yongsun can tell that Rowan is frustrated and angry, I don’t want to make him angry at me, what if he doesn’t like me anymore? Well, he doesn’t like the man either way, but in Yongsun’s eyes, if the skill exists it means their feelings are mutual.

Rowan looks at the attendant, and that’s when he notices the small screen floating on top of everyone’s head but him and Yongsun, informations about every person surrounding them, enough for them to not be exposed for being outsiders, of course, what they do with the information is part of the challenge. 

Harrison Larchier, 31.

Rowan Cooper’s attendant & Merchant.

Citizen of the Jasmine Kingdom.

‘’Harrison, don’t touch me carelessly, I’m engaged now, I shouldn’t be touched by others’’, his words are firm, his gaze is cold, he looks at Yongsun, who’s standing still next to him, as if waiting for his words. ‘’My apologies, your highness, I will educate my attendants better in the future’’, he bows, he can feel the eyes of the maids and attendants surrounding them, he’s not sure if his attitude was correct or not.

He can feel the anxiety subduing, Rowan sighs with relief, he acted fast enough to avoid the penalty, the short time would be his biggest enemy if his INT status wasn’t raised by the ‘Soul Link’ allowing him to think a little better, the urgency of the situation and understanding of Yongsun’s feelings also played a part, his heart racing so much with this small situation that the man wonders how will he deal when he will be in a life or death situation. I recommend summoning another spirit for this challenge, the hummingbird flies back, he lands on Rowan’s head again. Can’t people see you? He asks as he notices no one staring at the green metallic hummingbird.  No, and I can’t help you much with this floor, but if you’re lucky with your next summon you might be able to lower its difficulty. For a lower spirit, its knowledge complements Rowan's lack of, and his hints are also helpful enough for the talentless man. I will think about it more in a moment, he replies, staring at Yongsun who hasn’t replied to his apology yet. 

They’re interrupted again, by an older man, he seems to be around his 40s, his red beard and messy hair match Yongsun’s colored one, and the name floating on top of his head make it clear that he’s a relative to the character Yongsun is playing.

‘’Pardon my lacking nephew, you see, he might be stellar with a sword, but he doesn’t have much going up here’’, his voice carries weight and he mocks Yongsun, looking down at him with disdain. Making it even clearer that he isn’t well seen in the family. ‘’I heard you offered a hefty dowry to marry this stupid nephew of mine’’, the man hugs Yongsun forcibly with a bright smile, mocking him further. ‘’If you’re interested in marrying a low-born royal, you should’ve considered my useless son, at least he’s smarter than this good-for-nothing’’. Rowan can feel Yongsun’s burning anger, but the man doesn’t move or speak. Maybe it is part of his character? He wonders, but by his Link’s eyes, he can tell that he’s struggling internally not to speak, perhaps scared to blow his own cover up. 

‘’I must apologize for my lack of care, I should’ve known better, my Lord’’, Rowan’s attendant speaks, bowing down hastily. ‘’But we truly should go to make it in time for your engagement ball’’.

So the ball where the Crown Prince will be poisoned will be our engagement? This realization makes him look at Yongsun, his eyes clear with intent, but the other doesn’t seem to understand completely. He will blow up if you don’t calm him down, the spirit makes an observation, and Rowan can tell, by the overwhelming anger inside him, almost enough to overshadow his own emotions, if the feeling wasn’t artificial, Rowan would think that it was his own. 

But what does he know so that he can calm the man down? Anxiety because of a clear reason is easy to fix, but in the end of the day Rowan doesn’t know anything about Yongsun, they just met for fucks sake! Soul Link bullcrap aside, he can’t for the love of God understand how the man’s brain works, nor can he know what to do to calm the man down. All he knows by now is that Yongsun thinks they’re dating because of a skill and a stupid ring and that his eyes shine like jewels when he’s looking at Rowan, as if he’s happy to see him. Everything would be much better if they weren’t linked by that skill, or if that stupid concept of Soulmates wasn’t intertwining them at all. How can we be soulmates? We don’t even know each other? 

Stop thinking too much, time is ticking and your constitution isn’t the best, the spirits' words make Rowan open his status window just to see his constitution going from 36 to 10. The reason why it was dropping slowly isn’t clear, but it must have something to do with his overthinking. At least that's what he thinks, as the ringing in his ears start, similar to what happened at the maze. Your body is getting used to the mana, so your constitution is paying the price, that’s all the spirit says, but that still isn’t a proper answer to why his head hurts so much.

Rowan recalls something amidst his pain and the ringing in his head, a Valentine’s Day Festival he went in the United States of America, he isn’t sure which city since he was ten at the time, but he remembers holding his mother’s hand as they walked through the bustling Festival, and the couples surrounding them were also holding hands and engaging in the activities with that unusual shimmer in their eyes. He asked his mother why everyone seemed so happy, and all she answered was: Because they’re idiots. Nowadays he understands better his mother’s words, as she saw emotions as something useless if it wasn't for the purpose of studying them, she was there for a job, not for the fun or the company like all the others around them. Rowan now knows that she said they were idiots for being in love, he wished he could say he was an idiot as well, that he could understand those couples. But he can’t.

What he can do, however, is simulate what he saw across his years observing those around him and years of introversion reading books and webnovels about a love he will never have.

He smiles, a fake smile, but a smile nonetheless, ‘’Well, aren’t we all stupid in the face of those we love?’’ He asks with a giggle, taking all the three men aback, ‘’I should get going, see you later your highness’’, his words are supposed to come out as sweet but they only sound robotic coming out insincerely from his mouth, he approaches Yongsun, hesitating before kissing the man’s cheek quickly. 

Due to the 2 second cheek kiss with your Soul Link your skill leveled up!

Soul Link (Lvl. 1 → 2 / 50% → 20%) ↑UP

When we shaked hands it only went up by 50%, but a cheek kiss made it go up by 70%... What’s the criteria? Even if Rowan wished to investigate further, time is ticking against them, so he turns to leave with the attendant, his mind still bustling with all the information he gathered, not that he could do much with it.

Yongsun on the other hand is in a true pickle, not only does this floor require him to play a part of a Prince and swordmaster, but also changed his name, so he must be in constant attention to not let his disguise fall apart. The difficulty of the floor still lingering in his mind, why is it hard? What makes it so? Once Rowan leaves the ballroom with the short attendant, the older man hugging Yongsun takes off his hand from his shoulders and looks at the man with disgust.

‘’Luckily for you, that idiot merchant seems to be head over heels for you, but try not fucking this up, Charles, this is your last chance, the Kingdom needs the money from that sucker.’’ The words of the older man make Yongsun boil with anger, he knows that he’s not referring to him and Rowan truly, as they’re only playing a part, however, he can’t avoid the annoyance of the man’s words. And once his anger reaches a threshold, he might not be able to fully control his powers.

Due to Corruption reaching 89%, you might experience issues with the skill ‘Transformation’.

Shit, he thinks, Yongsun glances at the older man, trying to think of a way to leave, but the man doesn’t seem eager to stop talking. Inside he can feel, the anger boiling strongly, reading to overflow on the surface, maybe I should use one of my skills? Even with years of experience in showbiz he can’t truly control demonic emotions. Especially considering that everything is new, as he never felt anything this intently. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, he tries to focus on the artificial emotions inside him, Rowan’s emotions, confusion and embarrassment, those aren’t overwhelming emotions, they’re almost cute actually. He smiles unconsciously.

‘’Besides being stupid, you’re also crazy now huh?’’ The older man says with a laugh, Yongsun takes another deep breath, calm down, stay in character. He doesn’t really know how his character is, but judging by how others treat him he must be one hell of a pushover. ‘’No wonder your parents are crazy about sending you far away’’, he laughs again, his voice makes Yongsun want to push his head onto the ground and exfoliate it by dragging his ass around until only a mush of his brain is left.

…

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THIS URGE?

Surprised by his own thoughts, Yongsun feels ill, his stomach churns and his head starts spinning. At first he was only worried about his appearance and what would he tell his fans once they found out what he had become, but now? He might become an actual murderer if he doesn’t fight his new instincts. 

‘’Hey, I’m talking with you!’’ The older man shoves Yongsun, not strong enough to make him fall, but enough to make him lose balance. ‘’Did you lose the only brain cell you had?’’ His words are hostile, but all those surrounding them keep walking as if there was nothing wrong with what just happened.

You got to be kidding me. 

Bloodlust is the first thing the older man feels before Yongsun’s fierce gaze reaches him, his previously obsidian eyes are now red like blood. It takes every single cell in his body to prevent him from turning into his true form, right there. He wants to pluck the man’s eyes off, he wants to chew on his organs and spit it out after it loses flavor, he wants to take his beating heart off his chest while he’s still breathing… 

Calm down or you’ll make us fail the floor! I don’t know why your emotions are so… extreme, but please calm down Yongsun!

Rowan’s voice suddenly flushes through inside his brain together with a small breeze, his words are low, as if he’s whispering them, and they sound like music, as if they were sung. He sounds adorable, and that was enough to calm Yongsun down, his eyes turn back to normal and the bloodlust is quelled. He isn’t exactly sure why Rowan’s voice and actions help him so much, maybe that’s the true effect of the Soul Link skill, maybe it’s a skill that was born due to his nature as the Demon King. It sounds unreal that he is someone made just for me. His thoughts are bordering obsessive, but that is within his new nature. 

He smiles his best idol smile. ‘’I’m sorry uncle, I’ll try staying out of trouble’’, his words are forced out.

The older man looks at him with disgust. ‘’You better, freak’’, and with those words, Yongsun is left alone in the middle of the bustling ballroom. I should start working on the quest…