When I woke up again, my mouth was gagged with cloth and my limbs were tied down to my bed.

"Mmph! Mmph!" I tried to yell out for someone to untie me.

What the heck was going on...?

My room was dimly lit and there didn't seem to be anyone nearby.

I used a bit of my magic to create a sharp shard of ice to cut open the cloth gagging me and the ropes tying me down onto my bed.

Once I was free, I took another careful glance over my room.

Nothing really seemed out of place...but my head was horribly fuzzy as if I had just gone through a whole mental war in my head.

Grey...

He must have done something to me after teaching me how to use copy magic!!

I groaned and rubbed the sides of my head as I tried to figure out what happened.

But, I immediately gave up on thinking since I already had a headache anyway and, instead, opened the windows of my room to let some fresh air in.

The moon was barely beginning to rise outside of my window and I could feel a soft cool breeze fly into my room.

On a nearby sidewalk, I could see someone with slightly curly red hair walking by from below.

"Wolfe!! Hey, is that you?" I yelled out to him.

He turned his head upward to face the window where I was and blinked twice.

"Oh, hello," he replied back to me with a wave.

Strange.

I felt a wave of...relief(?)...for a moment when I saw that his eyes were green.

I wonder why.

"What are you doing, walking outside at this hour? I thought you'd be sleeping," I said to him.

"I was sleeping...it's just that I was a little hungry...so I had to get up and go...pick up some food," Wolfe sighed as he looked as if though he were recalling some awful memories.

"Well...Did you enjoy your meal?" I asked him.

"Absolutely not," Wolfe replied as his face turned a little green.

"...Get out. Shoo. Keep walking and don't let me see your face again," I said seriously as I waved my hand for him to leave.

How dare he speak to me like this, thinking that I wouldn't get offended...??

Wolfe simply nodded his head lazily once and continued on his way back to his dorm.

I sighed and continued bathing in the cool breeze.

My mind was still feeling a bit fuzzy and for a brief moment, my eyesight went a little blurry.

I shook my head again and when my vision was focused again, I could see Wolfe walking back toward me from the direction he was walking to earlier.

"What are you doing here again?! I asked you to leave. So, leave," I yelled down at Wolfe.

But when he turned his head upward to look at me, I felt a sudden chill go down my spine.

The expression on his face...was terrifying.

He was grinning at me with a strange look in his...honey-yellow eyes.

"Wolfe...? Hey...Wolfe...is that you...?" I asked seriously as I took a step away from my window.

"It's lovely to meet you again, Lady Cyllia. I didn't think that I'd be able to meet you here today. Do you remember me?" he asked me with a small chuckle.

Suddenly, a surge of electricity flowed through my mind and memories that I had forgotten were brought back.

This dude isn't Wolfe...!

"What...are...you...doing here...?!" I growled as I stared down at the fake-Wolfe-doppleganger-dude-thingy with disgust.

If I recalled correctly, this man had the ability to control people using his words.

He forced me to forget about him.

Needless to say, he's extremely dangerous to be around.

"Oh...please don't be like that...It would hurt me very much to hear you speak to me in such a harsh tone. Please, I hope you'll speak to me nicely and not ask to many...unneeded questions," he said to me with a pitiful expression on his face.

...I could feel the feeling of pure guilt overcome my body in such a sudden wave that it nearly made me lose my sense of reason.

"I'm so sorry for treating you like that. I don't know what just came over me...! I hope...you'll forgive me, plea-" I said before I bit down on my lip hard.

My lip began to bleed and I could taste warm blood flow into my mouth.

That was close...I almost said more words that I didn't want to say to him.

"No...I'm not going to listen to whatever you say anymore," I said darkly to the boy below my window.

"...That scent..." the man mumbled quietly as he suddenly stared at me with wide eyes.

"What?" I questioned as the red-haired man jumped up to my window and secured footing on my windowsill, using his hands to grasp onto the side of my wall.

My dormroom was on the 11th floor.

The eleventh floor.

Never would I ever imagine for someone of the human race to be able to jump up to my room, which was partially the reason why I took the risk to continue talking to the man instead of immediately closing my window and hoping he'd leave.

"There's...no...way..." I gasped as I immediately leaped back a few times away from the man.

"I can't believe the pure amount of hunger this body of mine feels...I almost lost my senses for a moment. I hope you'll forgive me, Lady Cyllia," the man chuckled a bit as he shook his head, stopped what he was doing, and took a seat in the nearest chair.

"This is not your room. I don't know who you are, but I don't believe I've ever given you permission to take a seat. I'm going to need to ask you nicely to leave before I burn this whole place down," I said as I pointed to the door.

"Please, don't say things like that. If you burn this place down, you'll have nowhere else to go," he said as continued to sit in my chair casually.

I carefully focused on the throbbing pain from my torn lip instead of his words and forced myself to stay silent.

"You won't respond to me anymore...? What a shame..." he sighed.

I glared at him.

This was stupid.

Since he used his strange abilities to erase my memories of him before, I never made a plan for this type of situation.

And this was the type of situation that you'd need a plan for.

What should I do...?

I wasn't very sure about how strong he was, but after seeing him jump to my eleventh-floor window like it was nothing, I assumed his physical strength was much better than mine.

And, based off of the fact he can literally mind-control people with words, I'll need to assume that his magic is on inhumane levels as well.

Think...Cordelia, think...

As I was thinking, a stray thought crossed my mind.

Something that...I didn't understand why...I didn't think of it before...

The ability to make people lose their memories...

Amnesia...

"Hey...You...You can take away memories," I said a little quietly as my hands began to shake a little.

"Yes, I can," he replied as a wry smile appeared on his face...as if he were expecting me to bring this up.

"You can control people too...if you forced a dragon to be a human forever, he'd never be able to change back into a dragon..."

"I will not lie...that is completely in the realm of my abilities."

"...You're the one who messed up...Ace..."

"Perhaps I am."

I paused for a brief moment as I stared blankly at the man.

".......Hey...if I kill you...will he get his memories back...?" I said blankly as I reached out both of my hands to grab the collar of his blazer and pull his face up to mine.

"I wouldn't know. I've never died before, after all," he laughed a bit as he watched my expression.

"...Stop laughing. Stop laughing...It's your fault. It's your...You...You..." I growled.

At this moment, I couldn't feel anything anymore.

I didn't even think of anything anymore.

I neither thought of the risks of killing a fellow student nor thought about the idea that maybe this man wasn't the one who took away Ace's memories and, was in fact, simply playing along to what I was saying.

Unconsciously, I let my magic go out of control.

The walls of my room and the floor became coated in a thick layer of ice and the surrounding temperature dropped a few dozen degrees.

"Die...Die...Die..." I mumbled as I looped my hands around his neck and started to activate my destruction magic.

"Have you ever thought...that if you kill me maybe...just maybe...that your friend will never go back to normal again?" he asked me with a calm mocking expression on his face.

I froze immediately in my spot.

Right...if I kill him...there might be the tiny chance that Ace's amnesia won't revert and...he'll be stuck the way he is forever...

"Besides, if you kill this body of mine, I won't truly die, you know? I'm only borrowing this person's body to meet and speak with you...On the other hand, your friend, Wolfe, might..." he laughed a bit as he pulled my hands off of his collar.

"...Wait...then Wolfe...Wolfe...What did you do to Wolfe?!?!" I yelled.

"Oh...don't worry about him too much. He's completely fine...he's just peacefully sleeping."

"...Stop this...Stop messing with people around me...Stop...Stop it," I growled.

I don't understand.

First, it was Ace.

Now, he's messing with Wolfe's body like a puppet.

It's like he's purposefully trying to find ways to mess with me.

"You know, the past few times I met you, I didn't have a proper body to say hello to you with. But, I just recently gained enough strength to occupy a lovely body like this one!" he said to me in a sickeningly joyful voice.

"That body isn't yours...Get out of it now," I said darkly.

I couldn't believe it.

The time-stopping man who was able to take away Ace's memories reappeared right in front of me...with a good enough reason for me to not kill him.

Why...Why...Why...

After all this time, I finally come across the time-stopping man...but why is there nothing I can do?!

"Dear, foolish girl, it would be much better if you'd stop going against me...I'm not trying to kill you, you know. You're an important existence to my plans...It would really pain me to have you wish for my death," he sighed as he grazed his hand gently across my cheek.

I slapped his arm away.

"Don't you dare touch me again, you filthy piece of trash..." I said as I glared at him.

"Does that mean...you will never join my side?"

"Absolutely not."

Did he actually consider asking me to help him out after every single little thing he's ever done to me...?

There were so many things confusing me at this point.

This man kept messing up with my life, for seemingly no reason, but considered my existence important enough for him to keep me alive.

There has to be a reason...

Everything in this world happens for a reason...and the reason why he has to keep me alive...must be quite grand.

"...I swear...on my name...my blood...and on the pain you've inflicted on me...that I will ruin you one day," I spat out seriously.

"I doubt that you'd ever be able to do something like that. The only way you'd manage to ruin me...is by killing yourself," he laughed as if he had already won.

Was my life really that important to this man...?

Hahaha...

I hated him enough for me to even go that far to get my revenge.

I've already died twice and tasted the brink of death more times than anyone else would enjoy to talk about...

How bad could it be to just die another time?

"Oh? It looks like you're really considering suicide now...Hmm...That really isn't good. I hope you'll remember that you're contracted to your dragon familiar though. If you die..." he said as he stared at me with eyes of malicious intent.

I didn't know how to respond.

Ace...

I can't let him die too just because of my petty feelings.

"...give him his memories back," I mumbled under my breath.

"Haha...I'm sorry, little girl, but I couldn't hear you. Could you repeat what you said, but just a little louder?" he asked with a mocking tone in his voice.

"Give. Ace. His. Memories. Back," I repeated even louder with a glare.

"You should see the look on your face! It's horribly scary," he laughed.

His laughter was enough to make something snap in the back of my mind.

"GIVE ACE HIS MEMORIES BACK," I yelled once more as I grabbed his collar once more.

I could hear the sound of Wolfe's clothes tear, but at this point, I could care less about his clothes.

"I'm sorry, but you didn't complete the small test I've given you yet an-"

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANY TEST. JUST GIVE ACE'S MEMORIES BACK," I screamed.

I was horribly angry.

Angry at how this man messed up Ace...messed with me...came back to mock me like this...even took control of Wolfe's body for fun...

But what I was most angry of...was the fact that I was so powerless.

I've trained so much.

So much...

And, yet, I wasn't even close enough to even land a scratch on him.

I couldn't even do anything.

Anything.

I wanted to be able to do at least something.

But there was nothing...

And I felt so frustrated because of it.

That all I could do was scream and yell like a mad woman.

I hate this.

I hate the feeling of being weak.

It disgusts me.

"GIVE THEM BACK. GIVE THEM BACK. STOP MESSING WITH MY LIFE ALREADY AND GIVE BACK HIS MEMORIES. YOU LITTLE PIECE OF TRASH, JUST GIVE BACK HIS MEMORIES ALREADY," I screamed as a sore feeling flowed into my chest and my legs felt weak.

I wanted to just fall to my knees.

"You haven't completed my little test yet though...To be honest, I thought you'd be able to complete it a few months ago at the least...but you really are hopeless," he sighed without even a slight bit of mercy in his eyes.

His eyes were colder than ice even though he was laughing at me.

And he was still laughing at me.

Always...laughing...

I let out a loud scream.

My scream was neither out from anger nor pain.

It came from all the pent up emotions I had felt ever since Ace loss his memories, the disappointment that I felt when I realized there was nothing I could do, and the fact that I was still too weak.

When I first came to this world, I came with only two goals in mind.

The first was to have fun.

And the second was...to grow strong enough to survive this unfair death game against me, the villainess.

Somewhere along the way, I lost sight of my second goal and spent all my time having as much fun as I could with the side-goal of revenge on the Marquisdom.

It was laughable.

How could I forget?

"Hahaha..." I laughed as I covered the expression on my face with one of my hands.

I looked down at the person who was occupying Wolfe's body.

"I need to thank you," I said with a wide grin on my face.

"Oh? Did I do something?" he said to me with an amused expression on his face.

"You've served as a good reminder for me...I'll learn from this," I replied with a giggle.

"I don't know what you're planning, but I wish you well, I guess," he smiled as he gave me a wink.

I could hear the door to my dormroom slam open loudly.

"Hahahaha..." I continued to laugh loudly as feelings from my chest escaped through the air of my lungs.

"Lia...! Hey, Lia, what's wrong?!" I could hear the prince, Florence, say loudly behind me.

I couldn't stop laughing though.

It wasn't enough.

All of the stupid emotions that I had always kept locked up in my chest weren't all out yet.

"Sis? What the heck is wrong with you right now...?! Sis?!" my brother, Ash, yelled as he grabbed my hand as he began to shake me.

"Oh...Florence...Ash...I'm sorry you had to see me like that," I said after I stopped laughing and wiped away some tears of insanity from my eyes.

I turned to look behind me and was surprised to see all the male leads, other than Wolfe, and Ace standing near me with extremely worried looks on their faces.

Well, I guess it only made sense that they were all looking at me with such alarmed expressions.

I was acting quite insane in front of them after all.

And, my room was completely covered in ice.

Anyone would be able to tell that my magic had gone out of control.

"Cordelia...Are you okay...?" Ace asked me slowly as he approached me carefully as if I were currently some sort of wounded animal.

"Ace...I swear on my life..." I murmured as I looked at him.

"What?" Ace asked me as he grabbed my hands and stared at my eyes, hoping to find some sign.

I swear on my life that I'm going to grow really strong...really...really...really...strong so that I can protect you from anyone else who tries to loop you up in my mess.

"It's nothing," I replied with a smile.

From the corner of my eye, I could see the telepathic twins stare at me as they scanned through every single corner of my mind.

I paid them no mind.

I didn't care if they knew whatever I thinking anyway.

However...I'll be sure to provide them with the perfect entertainment.

"Milady...All of us came because we heard you screaming. The whole building could hear you. What happened here?" Grey asked me without too much patience behind his eyes.

"I was just having a good conversation with that person sitting over there," I said as I pointed toward the chair where the time-stopping man was sitting.

I waited for someone to give a response, but everyone was quiet for a while.

"...Lia...? There's no one there though..." Florence said as he looked at me with worried eyes.

I turned my head to look at the chair where the man was sitting.

And, just like Florence said, there was no one there.

He must have left.

I felt a storm of hatred as I recalled his mocking expression.

Even now, I could invision his cold eyes staring at me as his lips curved into a wry smile.

"Cordelia...If something ever happens, you know you can rely on us...right?" Ace asked me with a really pitiful puppy expression on his face.

"Yeah, and I'll never forget that," I replied with a smile as I comforted Ace.

I lied to him though.

I'll never let him be in a position where he'd be wrapped up in someone's plans against me.

And I'll never lose track of my goals again too.

------------------------------------------

A/N: Ahem. Cordelia's planning on acting serious from now on~ Ohohoho~ Will she be able to properly do it or not? Who knows~?

The time-stopping man's identity is still unknown, sadly, and apparently, Wolfe is innocent! Or is he...? Well...Who knows~?

We are almost at the last arc of the story...but then again, I'm really bad at estimating how long this story will be. At one point, I think I said that there would only be about 60 chapters...and now that we're almost at the 60th chapter, I can say that it's not true...

There might be 70(?) chapters-ish...maybe. Don't trust my word for it though...

Anyway, Cordelia's filled with hatred at this point. Will it make her stronger or weaker? Well, I'll leave that up for you guys to guess...

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter though! I had a lot of fun writing this specific one~

Thanks, again, to my readers/voters/commenters!

Stay safe, everyone~

Okie byeee!

Word Count: 3155