Lia opened her eyes and found herself in the middle of a small clearing. She remained sprawled on the ground, the grass tickling her bare legs. Her eyes swept a glance at her surroundings. There was nothing but woods, encircling around her as the leaves rustled every time the wind blew. It was a peaceful sight.
'That was weird.' Before she could think much about it, the serenity of the place lulled her mind as she watched the overcast sky. Staring off in space, doing nothing, feeling nothing. It was the peace she always longed for.
She stretched then let her body relax again, her mind drifting off. This place was just like how she imagined The Unparalleled General's setting to be like. Or at least one of the places the General visited.
The Unparalleled General was the web novel she had been reading, spending the last few days trudging through it. The plot and the characters were pretty good. The protagonist was not only good at fighting, but he was also cunning. Sometimes, Lia wanted to pick his brain with the schemes he came up with and couldn't wait for his final showdown with the novel's villain. But she had to take a breather from the novel.
While she was drawn into the story with its action scenes, she stayed because of a character who was also named Lia. Novel Lia wasn't anything great when she was first introduced. Lia thought she was kind of bratty even. But after knowing what her past was, and then, with the way she was treated when she entered the harem, made Lia root for her namesake. The Lia from the novel was a cannon fodder, who after giving her everything to the protagonist, was discarded once he met the beautiful female lead because everyone just had to bow down to her beauty and wit.
But the novel Lia was also beautiful. That was how she caught the attention of the protagonist. First, her beauty, second her brains for helping him for his siege, and finally, her heart for relentlessly taking care of him whenever he was on the brink of dying. That was the thing. Novel Lia was outstanding yet also too naive. Or she could be outstanding if she wasn't so naive.
After the main leads met, she was cast aside, doing menial jobs in the harem. A girl with only her looks and no family to back her up was like a food dangling in the lion's den. Her heart was slowly filled with malice. Once it was full to a brim, just a slight push in the wrong direction, and she was down to the dark path, leading up to her death.
Lia wanted her namesake to succeed or at least, avoid the protagonist. Maybe she could have done well by staying with her adopted mother. Anything but the palace. Too bad, the author had other plans, and her namesake died for playing the fool in love. Lia was so frustrated by her actions, but at the same time, felt sad for her when she was executed. It was one of those period stories where everyone was either killed or forgotten in the end unless they were on the side of the male and female lead.
Just by thinking about it, Lia felt her frustration and anger rising again. How could she let herself be fooled by that?! Don't just believe any guy who tells you that you were beautiful! He must be lying! They would cast you aside once they see someone prettier.
Still, that was not important right now. Lia chewed on her inner cheek and squeezed her eyes shut. The stillness of the area made her sleepy. Too quiet. Too peaceful.
But it was a misplaced peacefulness. Lia slowly sat up and cast her gaze around again. An unfamiliar place. She massaged her temples, trying hard to think back on what happened. Her last memories were definitely not here. There were no forests near where she lived. Their house was in the middle of the city, surrounded by buildings and buildings. And more buildings. They were even far from the nearest park.
She couldn't have run that fast that she fainted and that far that she reached outside the city?
Except… she faintly remembered a car and then, noises sounding far away. She barely had the time to grasp what happened before everything went black. Then, there was silence.
When she opened her eyes, she was here, in the woods, in the middle of nowhere. The place that seemed to come out of a novel, like how she imagined the novel Lia would have played at before she experienced all of the love dramas and palace politics. Lia chuckled at the thought.
But her smile faltered as she snapped her eyes open.
She couldn't have transmigrated…right?