"Please... just let me hide in this sanctuary for some minutes… only this place is peace for me."
Jazzy whispered, her voice swaddled in highly strung as she huddled against her daughter's collarbone.
There were so many hysterical sobs that peaked out from her lips as she prodded her face deeper.
"Of course, Mom!"
Jessica replied, her heart melting at the defenceless request.
Yet deep inside her compassion, a coruscate brood bursted into hot flames.
What had pushed Jazzy to such distress? Jessica's mind swirled with a lot of questions.
Why did her mother seem so iffy about Jass? And how had she metamorphosed into this distant, aloof person?
It was as if a stranger had replaced the vibrant, warm-hearted woman Jessica and the world once knew.
Jessica couldn't help but meditate what experiences had chilled her mother's spirit, turning her once-cheerful attitude into this frosty fabrication or… reality.
The brain was wrested between the contribution of comfort and getting the answer to the mystery behind her mother's tears.
As Jazzy's cry subsided, she still continued her enfold, arms covering her daughter's waist.
The younger woman matched the measures, languidly rubbing her mother's back in a soothing undertaking.
"You know! I never had any ill feelings towards Jass. The name I chose for her enunciates the capacity."
"I took the first two letters of my own name and altered the rest, establishing a unique identity for her while still perpetuating a mother-daughter link between us."
Jessica tenderly kneaded her mother's sour back, giving commiseration as only a loving daughter could.
She was soft but also insistent.
"I can understand that you don't hate her but It's clear your fondness for her isn't the paired as what you have expressed for my brother and me."
"What's the reason? Jass is just as much your flesh and blood as we are, ain't she?"
"That…"
Jazzy paused, her lips divisioned slightly as she scout out for the unerring lines.
Jessica saw through her mother's facade.
This time, she situated herself onto the spacious couch, feebly shepherd
guide her mother to join her.
As Jessica made herself comfortable on the sofa, she patted her lap invitingly.
"Put your head here."
Her mother hesitated.
"... What's this about?"
"Remember how you used to alleviate me and my brother? I'm simply returning the favour of using the technique. There's no need to feel embarrassed. Come, let me take care of you for once."
Jazzy layed congenial on the sofa, resting her head in her lap. With a gentle nod, she encouraged her mother to resume the explanation.
"You're curious about my apparent lack of affection towards Jass, aren't you… Do you recall my journey to the demon realm?"
"Indeed, I do!"
Jessica's fingers absentmindedly running through Jazzy's hair.
Jazzy took a deep breath before proceeding.
"Well, during my attempt to map out the connections there, I escorted in a grand ball. It was a lavish affair where members of the royal court were being introduced…"
As Jazzy continued her tale, Jessica listened carefully.
"At this grand event, the cream of demon society was present. All the elite people and the powerful fraternise freely, constructing an atmosphere of enthralling and machinating."
"I was actually enjoying myself when I was nudged by none other than Michael Star, the son of the demon realm's current ruler."
"He publically enhanced an invitation to dance, but I politely declined, explaining that I was still in mourning for my husband, who had passed away just a few months prior."
Jessica nodded sympathetically with downheartedness.
"To my surprise, Michael wasn't offended at all. Ideally, he paraded a genuine compassion for my loss that really mattered to me the most."
Jazzy was poking her face roughly into her daughter's abdomen.
"We quickly instituted a disconcerting friendship, sharing stories and finding common ground. As the evening progressed, we were in a secluded balcony, away from the bustle of the party…"
***
"Your husband's death was caused by an ailment, wasn't it?"
The man commented again, his intermediary was glassy and cultured. "It originated from demon blood."
He has a salient aggregate opposite of the night sky - tall and handsome, with jet-black hair framing his face.
Two sleek horns obtrude from either side of his head, and his eyes incandescent in a deep crimson.
As Michael speeches, he sipped wine from an elegant glass while glancing at the sprawling forest beyond the balcony.
Beside him stood Jazzy, though she looked markedly different from her present self.
In this memory, her face discharged with an energetic mood, and a carefree smile gambolled on her lips.
She pirouetted her wine glass passively, the picture of modified tranquillity.
It was insinuated the accident that day had transpired since on this consequential night.
"Yes, you are right! My purpose in coming here was to investigate bloodline variation with an official licence."
"My husband was an ordinary person, weak but very innocent, and loving.
"He was assaulted by a demon that somehow infused its blood into him. We suspect the creature may have been connected to some form of demonic royalty."
She glanced at Michael, scratching the back of his head, making sure that she doesn't look like as if she was acting.
"It is not that I blamed the demon for his and my disaster. Anyhow, my goal is to study this mysterious disorder. You broached it's unfamiliar to you as well."
"If goes with logic and as per scientist's concept, Regardless of its potency, the most powerful cultivators can readily overpower it using their extraordinary life force."
"You're quite naracassist of singing your own praises, aren't you, Jazz?"
Michael chuckled, giving her shoulder a friendly pat.
She didn't flinched at this action. To her, It as nothing more than a casual conversation.
"Oh, come now. I'm simply stating facts. But let's get back to the heart of the matter, shall we?"
"What about ordinary people? Developing an antidote within a tight timeframe isn't a serene operation. All because we have a target to rescue victims in the next hour before they die because of this illness."
Watching at her plagued expression, Michael said gingerly.
"I can see you are upset. Please, don't fret as it hurts me seeing you like that. My friend, because I'm here to help. Why don't you enjoy your wine? Ahh, It is tasty. Also… We can communicate all the troubles later."
Jazzy glanced at her glass, then faintly smiled before slurping its serenity in one expeditiously.
After a few seconds of silence… Michael let out a sinister laugh as he inched closer.
"My dear, You are truly the most exquisite creature I've ever laid eyes on."
"Oh, you flatter me."
Jazzy murmured, puffing out her chest with a hint of pride.
Her vision began to swim, and she squinted to focus on anything.
"Yes. In my realm, physical proximity is highly valued. The closer we are, the more... intimate our assimilation becomes."
Michael drawled with a low and hypnotic features.
He gently tucked a stray lock behind her ear, his fingers traced the curve of her cheek.
"I can't help but feel we are destined for each other. Don't you see how well I interpret you? I can read you like an open book as if I'm writer. A husband like me isn't easy to come by."
"... What on earth are you talking about?"
Jazzy's intuition screamed that something was dreadfully defective.
She slapped the man's hand away, her vision beclouded as she underproped herself on the wall.
Even with her endeavour to cast a spell to counteract the effects, Jazzy was inexplicably unable to do so.
"It's useless just like that of your so-called husband. That potion has cut off your access to magical power."
"Such a shame... you are a beautiful woman and aren't mine. If it weren't for your husband, I could have married you myself…"
He grabbed her waist as her physical strength faded.
Jazzy's heart accelerated, her breathing heavy as an unnatural heat rolled out through her body.
"... Now that he's gone, I can make you mine and take you as my wife… but since you are not a virgin, Your positions will be concubine."
***
"M-Mom, what happened after you lost consciousness when he mentioned marriage?"
Jessica's eyes soused with tears plus from overthinking, and inappropriated scenes in mind.
Jazzy embedded her face in her daughter's lap, masked her expression.
Her body tottered as she withdrew in shaky breaths to compose herself.
"After that... everything's a blur. I came to an unknown bed, unclothed and with my wrists bound to the headboard."
Jazzy's body quavered more.
"For the next quarter of a year, I was nursed as nothing more than a plaything for his levity."