In a royal palace chamber, much similar to Tang Yue's current bedroom, but very obviously less luxurious, a slender blue figure was fast asleep.
Her features were remarkably similar to Tang Yue's features, except that she looked a lot younger.
All of a sudden, the sleeping eyes flashed wide open revealing a brilliant emerald color.
It was still the middle of the night, so the young snake girl couldn't see much.
But something had disturbed her sleep and had woken her up.
And Tang Yue had always been afraid of the darkness since her birth, so she slightly shivered.
"Shhh. Shhh."
"Go back to sleep, my sweet baby."
"It's just me."
A soothing voice immediately sounded near her, calming the frightened young girl.
"Mom?" Tang Yue's entire body stiffened up and she hurriedly shook her sleepiness off to sit up straight.
"Mom. Mom?" She reached her hand out in the darkness trying to get a hold of her mother, but unfortunately, she couldn't see anything, let alone feel anything.
The serpentine clan members had an unusually keen sense of sight and smell since they were spirit beasts, but at this moment this darkness was something that was beyond Tang Yue's understanding.
She felt extremely helpless.
"Shh… It will be fine. It will all be fine. Mom is doing this for your own good."
"Even if I am not there with you, remember that mom loves you the most."
"Go back to sleep, my dear. It will hurt less." A small sob sounded in the darkness.
"Mom. Mom. Please. Don't leave me. Please don't leave me again."
Tang Yue started screaming at the top of her lungs, but there was absolutely no reply to her desperate cries.
The next instant she felt a sharp searing pain in the center of her body and felt as if her entire soul had been sucked out of her.
"No. No. Mom, it's paining. Where are you? What are you doing?"
"Mom. Mom. Please."
Tang Yue curled up on the bed and bit her lips to withstand the searing pain coursing through her body.
She had no idea when she fell unconscious, but soon, she fell asleep deeply.
However, not long after she again woke up with her emerald eyes shining brightly in the dark of the night.
The pitch-black darkness made her unsettled and nervous when a familiar soothing voice sounded near her again.
"Shhh. Shhh."
"Go back to sleep, my sweet baby."
"It's just me."
Her mother's tender voice filled with love and affection calmed her nerves.
"Mom?" Tang Yue was startled. Her mother, wasn't she supposed to be dead? Huh? But why?
She hurriedly shook her sleepiness off to sit up straight.
"Mom. Mom?" She reached her hand out in the darkness trying to get a hold of her mother, but unfortunately, she couldn't see anything, let alone feel anything.
"Shh… It will be fine. It will all be fine. Mom is doing this for your own good."
"Even if I am not there with you, remember that mom loves you the most."
"Go back to sleep, my dear. It will hurt less." A small sob sounded in the darkness.
"Mom. Mom. Please. Don't leave me. Please don't leave me again."
Tang Yue started screaming at the top of her lungs, but there were no more replies to her desperate cries.
The next instant she felt a sharp searing pain in the center of her body and felt as if her entire soul had been sucked out of her.
"No. No. Mom, it's paining. Where are you? What are you doing?"
"Mom. Mom. Please. It's hurting. Please stop."
Tang Yue curled up on the bed and bit her lips to withstand the searing pain coursing through her body.
She then again fell asleep, only to wake back up in the endless nightmarish loop…
These were the most deepest and desperate moments in Tang Yue's life.
The modified Devil Awakening pill that she had popped in directly awakened this inner devil that resided within her subconscious mind.
Even Tang Yue herself did not clearly remember the last few moments with her mother.
But this tribulation right now had scooped up this inner hidden memory as this would give her the most suffering.
Tang Yue's entire body was convulsing and twitching with pain. She felt that same gut-wrenching agony over and over again.
She cried, begged, and pleaded with her mother not to leave her. But the ending never changed.
Tang Yue laid like this for a long time, even making Xander frown a little.
He couldn't help but wonder what nightmare was causing her to suffer so much.
The Devil Awakening pill was especially hard on people who have encountered more sadness in their life.
This was a fact, but at the same time, these people reaped far more benefits than the cushy life counterparts.
In fact, in Tang Yue's particular case, this could be considered both a bad thing and a good thing.
Her trial might be harder than the average joe, but in the process, her breakthrough would be bigger.
More importantly, she would finally able to remember something that was long forgotten or rather forcefully pushed down.
Tang Yue remained in her current state for an entire day and then for two more days.
And surprisingly, Xander found himself rooted near her for the whole time period.
He was doing other things simultaneously, but a part of his conscience always hovered on her and constantly monitored her condition.
The contest which was supposed to start this week was also coincidentally postponed.
No one knew why and when they asked for a reason, they were simply told that Xander did it on his whim.
But of course, everyone in the royal palace knew exactly why this was done.
They also knew that the Crown Prince and his personal disciple, consort Yue had locked themselves in the alchemy association practice chamber for almost three days now.
What wouldn't an alchemy disciple or trainee or even a master would give to personally witness a grandmaster concocting pills?
Unfortunately, they could only sigh and feel jealous of Tang Yue's special privileges.
But one thing was for certain.
Tang Yue's status as the Crown Prince's consort and his personal disciple were both irrefutably burned in the minds of Eldorian citizens and the royal family.
She was now more than a real threat to anyone and everyone who coveted her place in Xander's life.