Westalia, daughter of an aristocrat, has been brought up and educated with the expectation that she will become the future queen of her kingdom. However, when she is betrayed by a close friend and framed for an attempted murder, she is sentenced to death by poisoning. Luckily, Westalia, a master of poisons, manages to sneak an antidote, fake her own death, and escape with her life.

Now on the run, Westalia must put her royal education to use as she steals her way across national borders, commits some crimes, and endures the gruelling selection process to try and become empress of a neighboring empire and regain everything she's lost. All the while, an irritating man who seems awfully familiar seems to follow her at every turn.

Still, with her loyal lady knight by her side, Westalia will do all that she can to make her dreams come true!

The Villainess Is Dead! Long Live the Empress! Redoing the Story After a Poisonous End is written by Tsuta Sonehara, with illustration by Yukio Qumoya, and English translation by Mac B. Gill. Published by J-Novel Club (May 5, 2025).

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

If there's one thing this book does well, it's subvert one major expectation. Based on the title, it would be reasonable to assume that the plot of The Villainess is Dead revolves around the usual reincarnation plotline – that Westalia, the heroine, will be killed as the villainess and her time reset so that she can avoid the mistakes of her past. But surprise! That's not actually what happens. Instead, Westalia fakes her death with the help of someone highly placed who knows she was framed and escapes to the neighboring kingdom. Once there, she enters the national competition to become the crown prince's bride. She's reinvented without ever needing to actually die.

At this point in light novel history, that's practically a revelation. It's also rather more clever than the usual fare – the real villain, the prince's half-sister, is only able to fool people who don't know her, while Prince Felix and Westalia are perfectly aware of what's actually happening. They need to enact a plan that allows Westalia to escape and later point the finger squarely at the real malefactor. Equally important is allowing Westalia to escape the stifling life she's been forced to live in isolation as the presumptive crown princess. She and Felix both know it's terrible, and they want her to have more opportunities. They use the fact that no one has actually seen Westalia as a way to further their plan, with the result that while both are clearly sheltered, neither are actually stupid.

The execution is a bit less good than the plot. Westalia can be annoying at times, and her relationship with her eventual love interest feels much more pat than anything else in the book. There's also the problem that, after saving a runaway slave, she immediately decides to buy a slave of her own. Paige is never treated like Westalia owns her, and the two girls actually become good friends, but the use of slavery as a plot device is woefully obnoxious and undercuts the better parts of the novel.

Still, with its particularly pretty illustrations and more interesting storyline than the increasingly saturated genre typically has, this is a decent book. While far from perfect, it's still good enough to merit reading, especially if you're a fan of villainess stories but want to see something new done with the usual plot.