The Life of the Cannon-fodder
The novel Lia was supposedly a scholar too. After she was brought in by the protagonist to the harem, the members were aggrieved. They did not like that he brought another mistress and it did not help that he doted on her a lot after she saved his life from the bandits. Because of that, she was constantly bullied in the harem. Yet she persevered. She studied day and night until she passed the exam with flying colors and was appointed in the medicine department. Despite not having a formal lecture, what Tamara taught her during the early years was a big help.

Her achievements invited a lot of unwanted attention though most especially from the Queen. She tried to get Lia to be on her side but Lia refused, believing that all she needed in her life was the protagonist and he only needed her in return.

Everything went downhill when the protagonist came back from his mission, bringing back the lovely female lead with him. All of a sudden, Lia was cast aside, a thing of the past. All of her achievements meant nothing. She was just another girl.

Lia started her path to revenge, starting with joining hands with the Queen. But instead of ruining the protagonist, she was the one ruined in the process. When their trick to injure the female lead came to light, the Queen pushed all the blame to her and the protagonist was the one who requested her punishment.

The Lia now could only sigh. What a foolish girl. At the same time, she could not truly blame her namesake when all she ever wanted was a happy ending. Only, her dream was always destroyed by reality.

What she could not understand was why was the Queen hell-bent on getting her namesake to the Queen’s side. Lia got the impression that what the Queen really wanted was for Eldric’s name and reputation to be ruined and Lia, someone from the harem and his favorite, was just a tool. But why? He may have been an adopted son of the King but he was not in the way of the Prince’s ascension to the throne. So why?

Lia pressed a hand on her temple, trying to remember what was written in the novel. She had stopped reading when she got to the part where her namesake was killed, thinking that she would pick it up again once her feelings settled down. But she died before she could continue reading again. She would have known some spoilers about the novel that might be helpful to her now.

After a while, she heard a knock on the door and a voice from the other side telling her that it was already dinner time. As she ate her food, she checked her mental list and noted the things that she needed to do and things that she should avoid.

Number one on her list to do was to find a job followed by finding Jeremiah. She thought she should start around the palace for the second point. For the things to avoid, she needed to avoid calling attention to herself. That also meant not doing too well on the exams like her namesake. If she avoided that, then she avoided the Queen’s attention too.

As for the harem, she already avoided them when she refused Eldric’s offer. Lia felt like she had done a job well done at that and felt smug, giving an imaginary pat on the back.

The last person to avoid was the female lead. Lia was not worried too much about her. If she arrived, Lia would quietly go away, living the cannon-fodder life she was supposed to have.