Hearing the voice confirm her thoughts, Cordelia felt loud thunderclaps resounding in her mind as she failed to comprehend the truth for the first few seconds.
Then, as if some sort of flame set ablaze, her eyes glimmered fiercely as she thought of the countless possibilities and how she could use the current situation to her survival and durther advantage.
Just as she thought of that, in resonance, Juder felt a chill run down his spine causing his countenance to turn dead-serious.
'This woman... is dangerous. Better to leave before I get entangled in something weird.'
Unaware of the thoughts of the injured Juder wanting to escape her clutches, Cordelia's facial expressions started to morph and change as she went through a series of thoughts as fast as possible to save her precious time.
'Juder Bayer... The Sole Villain... The only one unaffected by the "Protagonist Halo"...'
'Basically, he is the only one who didn't get charmed and enamored by the protagonist.'
'But that same thing is the cause for his downfall and demise as he is declared a Villain for having braincells and not falling for the girl.'
'How ridiculous.'
'Not like I hated the protagonist or have something against her.'
'I can definitely use him, but...'
'The most important thing is I am of the same age and generation as the protagonist and rest if the main cast!!'
'But this world is no good!'
'Also, getting entangled with him is a sure death sentence, yet he is the only way for me to survive after leaving here.'
'Arghhhhhhhhhh'
'What do I do?'
If not for her fervent desire to maintain her poised and composed image in front of Juder to not make a bad impression, she would've been pulling her hair out at her current dilemma.
After all, who wouldn't want to meet their favourite characters in their favourite novel when they get transmigrated?
But for that, she needed to survive.
And to survive, the only way out was Juder Bayer.
Yet he would be the death of her in the latter parts!
However, there was one minor, very minor, yet crucial detail she missed. Her impression on Juder had already gotten etched as a vile, uncouth, crazy girl.
All negatives!
So, how could it get any worse than that?
Nor could it suddenly change to a good impression.
Ignoring all that, she continued to rack her mind to brainstorm some sort of miraculous solution.
'Ahhhhh...'
'Fuck it! i need to survive!'
'The current time should be around chapter 100 of the novel, depending on the time, and it should be chapter 118 where the trial ended before the banquet...'
'The starting chapters just introduced the protagonist and a few random males before the first and second male leads come into play.'
'Then there is that banquet where more people and potential male leads get introduced.'
'However, one thing I am sure of, Juder and she didn't meet at this point of time, so he hasn't become the Villain yet.'
'Even further down, they didn't meet before 1 year into the future, nearly around chapter 500 as the author said for it to be some sort of milestone and he introduced the "Villain" before killing him at chapter 1100...'
'So, I have a long time to use and change the novel's past, present, and future, don't I??'
'This is like the perfect chance, ain't it!?'
'Just thinking about it is making me want to try it and make it work...'
'There is no option of what-ifs! I have to make it work!'
Cordelia started nodding her head in approval as her changing expressions stopped before a bizzare smile adorned her emaciated face, causing Juder to gulp in nervousness when he looked at it.
Now, he wasn't the type to fear anyone, but he just had an inherent omnious feeling about this woman, even if she looked pitiful with her emaciated stature.
Fortunately, he had no idea about the kind of wicked scenario Cordelia cooked up in her head, or he'd get ready to fight her to the death, right then and there.
Her scenario just so happened to be absurdly bizzare.
'A Beautiful Female Angel wearing white furred clothes with black hair and blue eyes appeared out of nowhere and saved a weak and injured man, who had resigned to his fate. As he thought of repaying her, he came to a realization that he had nothing but his bod–money. Ahem, yes, money'
For a second there, even Cordelia got charmed and lured by the charm of Juder's handsomeness.
Luckily, she returned to herself fairly quickly, saving herself from the embarrassment of Juder noticing her flustered expression and mocking her.
Unfortunately, the girl had forgotten that she still looked like a malnourished, pitiful girl as she rarely had any actual food in this life and got used as a blood bank of sorts.
In the end, even if Juder saw it, he would think of it as nothing but some sort of symptom of malnutrition that got to her, given her feeble condition.
'Given her condition, it's a wonder she can stand, how did she run so fast and catch me?'
'Her clothes too are stainless without a single speck of dust! They are just way too clean for this environment!'
'Wait...!? Now that I take a closer look at her...'
'Isn't she the first one I saved? The crying and puking girl?'
'How come a weak-willed girl like her survive?On second take, everything about her seems changed!'
Juder failed to comprehend what happened in the place, but he put those thoughts to the back of his mind as he noticed her bizzare smile.
'I must escape!' Only one thought resonated inside his head as he moved left, right, front, and back to inch away from the girl without disgracing himself with his pride intact.
'What good is pride? Living is better!'
If it was anyone else, they'd die than have their pride break, alas, it just had to be Juder who knew how to navigate various situations throughout his life.
After all, he had already gone through quite a few kidnapping and even assassination attempts.
Though, all of them failed. He learned his fair share from all of them and got to where he was.
"Juder Bayer! Where do you think you're going?"
Alas, it all became useless in the face of this demoness whose voice caused his body to flinch without a cause.
'What the hell? Damn it!'
"You owe me your life," declared Cordelia as she inched closer to the disoriented Juder who couldn't even respond for a few seconds, trying to process her worlds.