The crown prince, Cecil, excels in everything so his life is too easy. One day, when he gets engaged to the daughter of the marquis, Bertia, he’s told something peculiar all of a sudden: “Prince Cecil! I am a villainess!!” As she says, according to memories from her previous life, they are in a dating game’s world, and she is the villainess who breaks up a relationship between a heroine and Cecil. With her goal to become a great villainess and for her engagement to be broken off, Bertia start to cause one disturbance after another in Cecil’s boring days?!
It’s. So. Fucking. CUTE.
Unlike most otome romance, it takes place from the male lead’s perspective, and it gives a rather refreshing perspective on the usual villainess anime.
Our villainess is a straight-forward “flower of evil” with a kind heart and a strong sense of justice who is doing her best to work for everyone’s happiness in the end. Of course, this means trying to pair her fiance with the heroine… which only serves to increase his interest in her.
Me and Karen took to it like butterflies on milkweed. While it didn’t break too many tropes from the villainess’ perspective, the fact alone that it was from the ML’s perspective made it fun to watch. You find yourself thinking alongside him, “what will happen next?” instead of trying to predict the next moves. And hearing how he falls for Bertia is immensely satisfying.
Two complaints: The timeline as they grow up is not 100% clear. It moves rapidly into the future as they grow up, and we go from young children to high school graduation in a short period of time.
The other one… Bertia starts as fat to signal she is unappealing. She sheds the pounds to try to redirect fate, but it’s not… a good look, bro.
Aside from those two things, the saccharine sweetness of watching someone romance a wall of obliviousness is so very entertaining.
We love Cecil in this house. His “I love my wife” energy is off the charts. One of my favorite scenes is when the event for his getting locked in with the heroine gets set off and… he jumps out the window.
