“That went well,” Lia said as she plopped down to her bed, closing her eyes in an attempt to sleep. But her mind had other plans. It replayed her conversation with Tamara and nitpicked her answers. The scenes made her wince. She could have chosen other words or done better. ‘At least, she didn’t seem to get suspicious, right?’

Giving up sleep, Lia stared at the ceiling and tried to sort out her tangled thoughts.

She really did transmigrate. Transmigrate! She was half-kidding when she thought of that earlier, but now that reality had set in, she realized how serious this could be. But, really? Of all the worlds, she had to transmigrate in that novel. As her namesake - the cannon fodder, no less. Great.

Lia clicked her tongue and thought back on things that she remembered from the novel. If she was going to live here from now, she had to, at least, remember the plot so she could avoid the disastrous end of her character.

Novel Lia was sixteen years old, still young and naive in Lia’s modern views, but too old in this world’s norm. She was expected to be married at this age. But there were a lot of reasons why she could not find a man to marry her.

For one, the men around her were not the protagonist. The novel Lia only felt an attraction to the opposite sex once she met him. Second, the novel Lia was the daughter of the witch. Obviously, no one wanted the witch which extended to her daughter. So Lia lived a secluded life… until the protagonist came and swept her off her feet.

Lia scrunched her nose in disgust, a plan brewing in her head. The protagonist would be the end of her so she might as well avoid him at all costs. How would she do that though? If she remembered correctly, they met when Lia joined a contest. She wouldn’t have fallen in love if they didn’t meet.

Her thoughts were interrupted as the air wafted in her room through the gaps in the wooden door. It smelled of chamomile, instantly relaxing Lia’s frayed nerves. She could hear the clanging of pots and bowls in the kitchen with Tamara preparing whatever it was for Lia.

She sighed. Right. There was also this person to think about.

While Tamara treated Lia as her daughter, she was not really Lia’s birth mother. Lia’s real parents died when the town they were living in had a plague, and her parents contracted the disease. They were poor so no one wanted to help them out. Only Tamara extended her hands to heal them with her extensive knowledge of medicine. But it was too late. Far too late. They were dying before she could even know how to treat them. Not too long after, Lia was left alone in the world.

At first, Lia was happy. Having been ostracized and bullied since young, she thought this wonderful and almost ethereal lady would help and save her. She thought it was finally her time to enjoy life like the other kids.

Only, the noble lady she thought was hated by many, known as the witch for most people. Five years living with Tamara resulted in even harsher bullying. Lia grew to hate the woman who once tried to save her family. She longed to be free, to be out there, far from this woods, far from this woman.

That was why she followed the protagonist in a heartbeat. She sneaked into his carriage and begged him to take her away from this town. And that was her biggest mistake, the beginning of her misfortunes.

Of course, he would allow her because, duh, beauties. Another pretty face in his harem. Lia rolled her eyes. She should never follow her namesake’s example. If she could and she would. Staying away from the protagonist seemed like the best option, both for her heart and for her life. Boy problems and other dramas should be left behind in her past life. This life, this kind of rebirthed life, she was willing to accept this new reality and live worry-free.

Her main concern at the moment was the witch. But Tamara seemed far from the witch of her imagination. She didn’t seem so bad like in the memories of the novel Lia. She shouldn’t let down her guards though.

Soon, weariness washed over her, and she let herself fall into a deep sleep.