The Prince Is in the Villainess' Way!, Volume 1

The Prince Is in the Villainess' Way! #1

by Minami Shiina, Hiiro no Ame

Iris, the "Wise Princess Who Never Smiles," has just remembered her past life as Fiona, Warrior Princess from the neighboring kingdom. In this lifetime, however, the events that lead to Fiona's death have yet to happen, and Iris becomes determined to use the knowledge from her reincarnation to stop the person she suspects is behind her Fiona's cousin, Prince Alvin.

In disguise, Iris moves to the neighboring country and becomes the princess' educator. But when she meets Prince Al, he turns out to be a cool-headed flirt, who, most-shockingly of all, is actually very sweet with Fiona... Can Iris figure out the truth in time to save Fiona from her fate?

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels, Comics, Time Travel, Magic

176 pages, Paperback

First published February 6, 2024

Reviews

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this one. It’s different, in that she goes back in time to a different body/life, so someone else is who she was. She wants to save the life of the OG her, which is interesting. I can’t wait to see how the story unfolds!

4, definitely going to read the next volume, stars.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, the main character/heroine is not the villain, the prince is, so this manga's title makes no sense.

The plot is super convoluted. The heroine/princess meets a prince at a ball, and in that moment her body reacts with recognition. Why? Because...as I understand it?...in that instant when she met him, she became the reincarnation of another princess whom the prince will betray IN THE FUTURE, his younger cousin.

???????

It makes no sense. lol But the gist is that heroine ("villainess") decides to pretend to be a tutor to the younger princess (who is alive and well), to ensure the prince does not betray/kill her.

I love the heroine's personality. She is an incredible swordswoman, bodyguard, and mage. And she's sexy as hell, inadvertently seducing a maid with her damsel-rescuing skills. XD So there was a fun bit of sapphic content. But she has a darker side, a reincarnated princess who is attracted to a prince who happens to be her cousin and future murderer.

The prince character feels very rapey at this point in the story. He keeps doing that creepy thing predators do - standing SUPER close to the heroine so their chests practically touch and she has to look up to meet his eyes, but she's always pinned to a door or wall and can't get away. Omg, that grosses me out so much! I have a suspicion he'll turn into her love interest and turn out to be a good guy in the end, though that's hard to imagine right now.

A light novel series came first, and I wonder if the expanded story makes better sense...or if it really is just a heap of nonsense. But it was kinda fun when the predator prince wasn't on-page, and it's free on Hoopla in the USA right now, so why not.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

I spent most of the book feeling like I was missing something. I'm not sure if that's the fault of the source or the adaptation, but it made for a not great reading experience.

[Bookish Miranda · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title is misleading... Iris isn't a villainess at all.

[Mehsi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adorable, fun, but I am just not entirely sure I can ship Alvin and Iris? It is definitely setting up for the two to get romantic... but I mean, if she has the memories/part of Fiona in her and Alvin is Fiona's cousin, mmmm. I will have to read on to see if my feelings change. I did love the story and I love that Iris is so dedicated about helping out, even helping others along the way (like Clarissa and Rebecca). Plus, Clarissa (our cute maid) was just so adorable, it was just so cute how she got swooped by Iris and fell for her (oh, and made a fanclub). The art was pretty nice, I liked the expressions on the characters faces + their designs.

[☽｡⋆ Naidah ₊˚ෆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 ⭐️

It’s an interesting story cause it’s the past life of a princess who’s reincarnated into someone in the same universe as her past self, which is somewhat confusing, but at least it’s not someone who has gone from our world into the world of a game/dating sim/etc.

The issue I have tho, is that it’s confusing in the beginning of the story. Like in her past life she’s the cousin of the prince she meets in her new life, but the way she looks at him in some panels is like she’s in love with him. So like is she feeling the things she feels because of the emotions she felt before?

Another thing to add is that the title says villainess but there was no hint that she is a villain. It has the same plot like one of those stories but nothing was mentioned. All the MC did was use her knowledge of her other self and then rizz the heck out of the prince’s maid 🤣

[Cassandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm shipping Iris and Clarissa for sure. Loved that but mostly just okay. Everything seems to be happening really easily right now. There seems to be very little consequence or fear of outcome.
I like the art and the heroine is pretty strong, I like her.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too rushed and the artwork is uneven. Proportionately the characters are off and the design is not attractive nor drawn well. The story itself feels disjointed because she just…does things that seem inexplicable. Like hiring Rebecca’s children as she straight up outs her as a mole without seeming to consider the potential consequences. I know saving the kids sounds noble but what if he says no? Or tortures/executes Rebecca? There’s no plan, and she seems shocked that he didn’t agree immediately.

It’s just not well written. She’s a great swordsman now because she remembers her past skills…without consideration that her body needs training to have speed and strength to fight. I assume that she’ll find out Al wasn’t a traitor to Fiona in her last life, there’s some misunderstanding that gave that impression.

[Azbaqiyah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plot - 3⭐
Character - 3⭐
Writing Style - 3⭐
World Building - 3⭐
Art - 3 ⭐
Cover - 3⭐

Overall - 3 ⭐

The pacing was kinda rushed.

[DonutKnow · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is a bit older than I was expecting…

[ky · Rating 2 out of 5]

i was drawn to this manga based on the artwork, but i had trouble following the story line. some plot points seemed to happen randomly, and the story felt rushed. the ending also left off on a very interesting note.. it didn’t make me want to read more. i really wanted to enjoy it, but it wasn’t my favorite :(

[Kelli · Rating 2 out of 5]

These isekai-adjacent stories tend to have some peculiar premises—but this is odd, even for the genre.

Our main character in this story—Iris, the Wise Princess Who Never Smiles—was, in a past life, Fiona—the Warrior Princess of a neighboring kingdom who was seemingly murdered by her cousin, Prince Alvin.

Unnecessarily complicated already.

But, it gets even more bizarre because Iris (who is Fiona reincarnated) has gone back in time, presumably to stop the events that lead to Fiona’s demise.

So, a young Fiona and a reincarnated Fiona both exist in this timeline—which, I always understood would cause a paradox of sorts. (Maybe that’s only in “Doctor Who”?)

Anyway.

If that’s not enough of a logical clustf*ck, there’s also the incestuous-esque romance between Prince Alvin and Iris—the latter of whom is, I’ll remind you, Prince Alvin’s reincarnated little cousin who he maybe murdered.

Wild.

Would love to be in the writer’s room for this story or any of the other similarly perplexing stories in this genre.

How do you even pitch a story like this?

Anyway, anyway.

I read all kinds of trash—so you don’t have to. So, I’ll be keeping my eye on this one. But, it’s already bananas~

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75/5

It was alright, not as good as I was hoping from the cover art. Most of the this first volume was story set up but without any actual explanations.

I don’t understand a lot of the core parts of this story:
(1) how is someone from the present interacting with someone she thinks she was in a past life
(2) how is it a past life if you’re already in this life?!
(3) what makes Iris a “villainess” except that she wants to stop a man (Prince Alvin) who she thinks is going to kill the girl (Fiona) who she, supposedly, thinks she was (somehow)?

Isn’t she just doing a solid to Fiona then?

For most of the manga she’s saying people she “remembers” from her “past life” from being killed.

Doesn’t seem very villainous to me.

I liked the art, the costumes and building of tensions between Iris and Prince Alvin. (But it’s a little weird when you remember that she’s, somehow, his little cousin from another life… his little cousin who he supposedly murders at some point… and who the much seems to be into him. 🤷🏻‍♀️)

I need a lot more explanations for this to make sense… I don’t know that I’ll look into any future volumes because this didn’t do enough to make the story clear to me, but the art and seeds of a romance are definitely keeping me intrigued.

[Natalia HW · Rating 5 out of 5]

As often the case with manga, the title has nothing to do with the story, but it indicates that it's probably an isekai ... which it is. The main character realizes that she was the warrior princess Fiona, reincarnated as the wise princess Iris prior to the event leading to Fiona's death. She suspects the crown prince Alvin to be responsible for the warrior's princess death. The story is a mix of a lot of tropes, and is a bit messy in it's execution. But in essence, the prince is obviously the love interest, the princesses are both sweet, empathetic, brave, smart and strong, the main character has knowledge of the future thanks to her time-loop reincarnation, she also has abilities from her previous life, giving her extra abilities. While some plot points are messy, over-the-top and don't make a lot of sense, I still enjoyed this manga a lot.

[R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is slightly different when it comes to reincarnation and isekai stories, as Wise Princess Iris regains memories of her previous life as Warrior Princess Fiona, but that same princess is currently alive while they live in a current time prior to her first death. This leads to not only some unusual inside knowledge, but also additional abilities and skills that Iris is able to remember from her first life, though some seems to only become clear as circumstances arise to help make those memories clearer. This Prince Alvin seems to be difficult to read given his current actions and Iris' memories of her previous life as the two don't always align very well. At least it seems she's managed to catch their interest and the current Princess Fiona's approval so she has a chance to rewrite her previous fate.

[Lissa Hawley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice art. Interesting reincarnation spin. A little confused about Iris being labeled a villainess? Plus the logistics of the whole thing are rather odd, so just trying to ignore that for now, hoping it gets explained further along.

[Cassie Renais · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am the exact target audience for this comic, but it really didn't do it for me. The tropes are mismatched and don't make sense together, the art style is a little too overdone to emphasise all the wrong things, and characters just aren't engaging. Sadly, it's extremely forgettable.

[Vanna Lester · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF’d at 80% just didn’t like the story or how the main girl was all the tropes almost. past life the important person in the neighboring country, brought back to life and time rewind is now also this country’s the important person

[Felix The Pirate Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ein überraschend interessanter Manga, der mich echt gefesselt hat. Iris ist eine tolle Protagonistin und ich bin gespannt, ob und wie die ganzen Verwicklungen, die bisher nur teilweise angedeutet wurden, offengelegt werden.

Freue mich schon sehr auf die Fortsetzung!

[Miss Pippi the Librarian]

Two countries and two protectors ... or is it one protector who is reliving a current and former life ?
Who is the villain? Who is the protector?

Mystery, royalty, family, deception, a hint of romance

[Darcy Roar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Antagonists to (I assume) romance but with a fun time travel murder twist! I like our main lead, but they're doing some weird stuff with the time travel bits (specifically with Fiona & Iris), it's still fun and catty though & I'm enjoying the mess overall!

[Emma Brackett]

If we have to dissect theories of the true self, reincarnation, and time travel to get to the bottom of "But aren't they cousins?" Then I think we have a fucking problem.

You know how we solve that problem? Give the prince one page of screen time and hook up with the cute maid.

[J-Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two volumes and nothing has truly happened. Not worth the time or money in my opinion.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's kind of a 2.5 for me. It's okay, and feels like it has potential but it's still... flat? I'll give the second volume a try.

[Sierra Burrous · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a fun reincarnation isekai and honestly fun so far. A little weird sometimes sure, but the characters are interesting and so is the story so far. It definitely is keeping me guessing.

[Mindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75/5

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cute book!

[Aurora · Rating 4 out of 5]

The isekai situation in this one is certainly unique, and tbh she hardly counts as a villainess. 😅 But it was enjoyable, so I’m excited to see where this goes.

[Mk · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is bad and I hate the male lead. The concept is interesting enough. It feels weirdly like those one shot trash romance manga on amazon for like 6$

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5