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The Condemned Villainess Goes Back in Time and Aims to Become the Ultimate Villain (Light Novel) #1
The Condemned Villainess Goes Back in Time and Aims to Become the Ultimate Villain, Vol. 1
Reborn to Be Bad
Claudia, daughter of a duke, is tricked by her wicked half-sister and sold off to a brothel. Unwilling to accept defeat, Claudia uses the tools at her disposal and becomes one of the most successful sex workers in her new home. That's when she dies--only to be thrust back in time to age fourteen! Gone is the gullible girl of her academy days now that she's got street savvy and hard-won seductive skills. It's Claudia's turn to play the evil villainess, and there's nothing she won't do to protect what's hers!
Claudia, daughter of a duke, is tricked by her wicked half-sister and sold off to a brothel. Unwilling to accept defeat, Claudia uses the tools at her disposal and becomes one of the most successful sex workers in her new home. That's when she dies--only to be thrust back in time to age fourteen! Gone is the gullible girl of her academy days now that she's got street savvy and hard-won seductive skills. It's Claudia's turn to play the evil villainess, and there's nothing she won't do to protect what's hers!
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Published July 19, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
March 16, 2024
Hmmm… that story arc is resolved and it seems like maybe a secondary love interest? But it’s clear the first guy is the winner already? Not sure where the second volume can even go from here. I’m interested to see it, but don’t have high hopes.
4, this could easily be a standalone, stars.
4, this could easily be a standalone, stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 24, 2024
In her first life, Claudia was a stereotypical foolish villainess who allowed herself to be manipulated by a deceptively sweet "heroine" into losing everything. She landed in a brothel, where she watched her best friend die from a sexually transmitted disease. On her friend's grave, she begged for a chance to redo everything so that she could save her.
That's how Claudia got her second chance, and in a welcome change, she's closer to Rishe from 7th Time Loop than the less intellectually gifted Katarina model of reincarnated villainess. This time she knows from the start that her half-sister Fermina is bad news (and boy, is she ever!) and she takes steps to not only save her friend Helen's life, but to make sure her own stays on track. And since she was a sex worker, she's totally devoid of that silly purity nonsense that turns sensible heroines into twittering ninnies around boys.
This volume really isn't screaming for a sequel, and I may stop reading here, because it really is a good book all on its own. And it helped me to figure out a major plot twist in a totally unrelated anime series (Yatagarasu), so maybe it made me smarter, too!*
*It did not. But it is a good book.
That's how Claudia got her second chance, and in a welcome change, she's closer to Rishe from 7th Time Loop than the less intellectually gifted Katarina model of reincarnated villainess. This time she knows from the start that her half-sister Fermina is bad news (and boy, is she ever!) and she takes steps to not only save her friend Helen's life, but to make sure her own stays on track. And since she was a sex worker, she's totally devoid of that silly purity nonsense that turns sensible heroines into twittering ninnies around boys.
This volume really isn't screaming for a sequel, and I may stop reading here, because it really is a good book all on its own. And it helped me to figure out a major plot twist in a totally unrelated anime series (Yatagarasu), so maybe it made me smarter, too!*
*It did not. But it is a good book.
July 28, 2024
I don’t know why but I just love these kinds of stories. I hope Claudia and the others can work out whatever challenge is going to face them next. Fermina was awful. I don’t want them to suffer more than they already have.
May 28, 2026
On the day that she assumes that the Crown Prince will be announcing their engagement Claudia Lyndsay is completely blindsided when her older brother Virgil announces that not only will she not become the Crown Princess she has been completely disowned by their father due to an investigation that has uncovered a campaign of brutal harassment against their younger half-sister, Fermina. She will instead be sent a nunnery to live out the rest of her days. On her way to the nunnery though her wagon is attacked by bandits and she is sold to a brothel. Which may just be a blessing in disguise, while climbing up the ranks of sex workers, Claudia comes to the realization that Fermina has played everyone like a fiddle, far from the victim in the situation, Fermina purposley set out to antagonize Claudia from the start and Claudia being a short tempered teenager fell for it hook, line and sinker allowing herself to become the Villainess. Not much she can do about it now though, or so she thinks because after passing away she is sent back in time and with her newfound knowledge she will become the Ultimate Villain.
When I started reading this I kind of figured it would be a pretty standard "the villainess just wants to make it out alive story." Which don't get me wrong that's a great story and one of my favorite niche genres, however, thanks to this being a time travel story this feels more like Claudia not just growing as a person but healing from a traumatic childhood. However, because Claudia now has the ability to step back and truly analyze the people around her as almost a third party, she allows those around her to do the same to both themselves and Claudia. At the end of the day this story isn't really about some girl getting sent back in time to exact her revenge it is really about a broken family healing itself or at least part of it. A big portion of that healing ends up being Claudia and to an extent all of the characters around her understanding that putting up walls never resolved anything, especially if those walls are to keep you from being hurt by the people you care about. Claudia lashes out in her first life because thanks to her parents and her brother to an extent she believes she isn't lovable and because of that she has no self-confidence. She fears Fermina because Fermina has as far as she can tell stolen everything from her that should be rightfully hers, and towards the end of the book Claudia in her second life realizes this. Thanks to her parents she simply was never able to trust herself when it came to people's emotions because they constantly disregarded her own. This allows Fermina to literally prey upon Claudia to the point where even first life Claudia is doing things that she probably wouldn't have done otherwise. Second life Claudia has to come to grips with this before she can "defeat" Fermina which isn't even really defeating Fermina it is Claudia defeating her own insecurities to the point that Fermina simply doesn't matter anymore. Which is why she will not appear in this review. Fermina isn't the problem, Claudia's view of herself is.
In terms of worldbuilding, this book is pretty self contained, at least for most of it. Towards the end we do have a character from a neighboring kingdom introduced but not enough for that kingdom to be expanded upon in this one. Pacing is excellent as well. I never got bored and I think keeping Fermina's tricks to a minimum really helps establish early on that she's just not that big of a deal. What I really, really loved though and I wish we saw this more often in this type of story is that every so often we got to hear from the side characters. The story is mostly told from Claudia's point of view but every so often one of the side characters would have a chapter where we got to hear their side of things. This was so very important to establish who Claudia was in her first life, how these people saw her then and now, and their own healing processes/character growth. Even some of the characters that I saw as not necessarily largely important to the overall story got their say and I truly loved that. Louise for example appears to play a very small role in the story overall but her opinion is important because of the role she does play. I would genuinely love to see this in more books period. It brought such a wonderful new dynamic to the story that allowed us to understand this story on a multifaceted level.
I'd say it's fairly obvious that I highly recommend this series. The ending is a perfect cliff hanger that I believe will allow us to understand adult First Life Claudia a little bit more so I cannot wait to read it!!
When I started reading this I kind of figured it would be a pretty standard "the villainess just wants to make it out alive story." Which don't get me wrong that's a great story and one of my favorite niche genres, however, thanks to this being a time travel story this feels more like Claudia not just growing as a person but healing from a traumatic childhood. However, because Claudia now has the ability to step back and truly analyze the people around her as almost a third party, she allows those around her to do the same to both themselves and Claudia. At the end of the day this story isn't really about some girl getting sent back in time to exact her revenge it is really about a broken family healing itself or at least part of it. A big portion of that healing ends up being Claudia and to an extent all of the characters around her understanding that putting up walls never resolved anything, especially if those walls are to keep you from being hurt by the people you care about. Claudia lashes out in her first life because thanks to her parents and her brother to an extent she believes she isn't lovable and because of that she has no self-confidence. She fears Fermina because Fermina has as far as she can tell stolen everything from her that should be rightfully hers, and towards the end of the book Claudia in her second life realizes this. Thanks to her parents she simply was never able to trust herself when it came to people's emotions because they constantly disregarded her own. This allows Fermina to literally prey upon Claudia to the point where even first life Claudia is doing things that she probably wouldn't have done otherwise. Second life Claudia has to come to grips with this before she can "defeat" Fermina which isn't even really defeating Fermina it is Claudia defeating her own insecurities to the point that Fermina simply doesn't matter anymore. Which is why she will not appear in this review. Fermina isn't the problem, Claudia's view of herself is.
In terms of worldbuilding, this book is pretty self contained, at least for most of it. Towards the end we do have a character from a neighboring kingdom introduced but not enough for that kingdom to be expanded upon in this one. Pacing is excellent as well. I never got bored and I think keeping Fermina's tricks to a minimum really helps establish early on that she's just not that big of a deal. What I really, really loved though and I wish we saw this more often in this type of story is that every so often we got to hear from the side characters. The story is mostly told from Claudia's point of view but every so often one of the side characters would have a chapter where we got to hear their side of things. This was so very important to establish who Claudia was in her first life, how these people saw her then and now, and their own healing processes/character growth. Even some of the characters that I saw as not necessarily largely important to the overall story got their say and I truly loved that. Louise for example appears to play a very small role in the story overall but her opinion is important because of the role she does play. I would genuinely love to see this in more books period. It brought such a wonderful new dynamic to the story that allowed us to understand this story on a multifaceted level.
I'd say it's fairly obvious that I highly recommend this series. The ending is a perfect cliff hanger that I believe will allow us to understand adult First Life Claudia a little bit more so I cannot wait to read it!!
April 20, 2024
Nice Villainess light novel. I loved the angle of her past life of working at a brothel. I love Helen's relationship with Claudia. I also love Claudia's relationship with the prince and Louis. I love Claudia being a bisexual queen. The prince realizing he has to worry about men and women hilarious.
April 16, 2024
Bi queeeeen!! I am wondering what will happen in the next light novel…. More steam pls, ha ha ha hah!
April 10, 2024
4 stars for the LN, 3 stars for the Manga
Manga (in English) was not listed yet at gr.
I thought both were worth reading.
Manga (in English) was not listed yet at gr.
I thought both were worth reading.
May 24, 2025
Oh my frikin god WOW ...I was curious:((
March 29, 2024
Well, I enjoyed that a lot more than I thought I would. Pretty great book.
November 30, 2025
I'm a bit of a sucker for "Villainess" light novels and animes and this one looked interesting enough for me to give a try to.
Was it groundbreaking? absolutely not. Was it enjoyable? yeah.
So this one has kind of a standard plot. villainess meets a horrible end, goes back in her own time and tries to stop her bad end from happening. The only real weird thing is that the title is kind of a lie "the Aims to become the ultimate villain" isn't even a thing. she doesn't really do any sort of villainy in the book. if anything, she's too overly nice. She claims it's to mask her true intentions but like....she never does anything evil at ALL.
The love interest, the prince, is one of those stock "i'm cool and collected and am clever but secretly need love and am squishy on the inside" types of characters. and the real villain, the sister is the "nice on the outside but evil on the inside" kind of characters.
As I said, this story is not really original in the slightest, but it's fun for what it is. If you like 1800's esc royalty romance stories with a BIT of supernatural, you'll like this one. it doesn't really offer anything new to the table as the main character is fine as are the side characters. One of the biggest draws into this story is that in her previous life she was sent to a brothel before she died and had lots of experience with men. This kind of goes out the window when she goes back in time and can't really handle herself well in front of the prince.
It feels like this story HAD an original concept, but the author abandoned it very quickly to go for a standard royalty romance. The other thing that confuses me is that his is a very self contained story. like, everything wraps up by the end, but apparently there's like... 5 more volumes in this series? not sure where they're going to go but i worry it will get dragged out. I will read the second volume at some point just to see where they go with it, but i worry it will get into dragged out territory. that being said, it was fine for what it was and i sill enjoyed it enough.
3.5 out of 5, rounded up to a 4.
Was it groundbreaking? absolutely not. Was it enjoyable? yeah.
So this one has kind of a standard plot. villainess meets a horrible end, goes back in her own time and tries to stop her bad end from happening. The only real weird thing is that the title is kind of a lie "the Aims to become the ultimate villain" isn't even a thing. she doesn't really do any sort of villainy in the book. if anything, she's too overly nice. She claims it's to mask her true intentions but like....she never does anything evil at ALL.
The love interest, the prince, is one of those stock "i'm cool and collected and am clever but secretly need love and am squishy on the inside" types of characters. and the real villain, the sister is the "nice on the outside but evil on the inside" kind of characters.
As I said, this story is not really original in the slightest, but it's fun for what it is. If you like 1800's esc royalty romance stories with a BIT of supernatural, you'll like this one. it doesn't really offer anything new to the table as the main character is fine as are the side characters. One of the biggest draws into this story is that in her previous life she was sent to a brothel before she died and had lots of experience with men. This kind of goes out the window when she goes back in time and can't really handle herself well in front of the prince.
It feels like this story HAD an original concept, but the author abandoned it very quickly to go for a standard royalty romance. The other thing that confuses me is that his is a very self contained story. like, everything wraps up by the end, but apparently there's like... 5 more volumes in this series? not sure where they're going to go but i worry it will get dragged out. I will read the second volume at some point just to see where they go with it, but i worry it will get into dragged out territory. that being said, it was fine for what it was and i sill enjoyed it enough.
3.5 out of 5, rounded up to a 4.
July 26, 2024
Today's post is on The Condemned Villainess Goes Back in Time and Aims to Become the Ultimate Villain (Light Novel) Vol. 1 by Bakufu Narayama and ebisushi (Illustrator). It is 400 pages long and is published by Airship. The cover is a very pretty illustration of the main cast. The intended reader is someone who likes fantasy romance stories with mild dark themes. There is mild foul language, discuss of sex and sex work, and mild violence in this novel. The story is told from third person mainly following Claudia.
From the back of the book- In this fantasy tale of time travel, revenge, and aristocratic intrigue, a doomed noblewoman sets out to turn the tables on those who wronged her in her past life! And don't miss the manga adaptation, also from Seven Seas!
Claudia, daughter of a duke, is tricked by her wicked half-sister and sold off to a brothel. Unwilling to accept defeat, Claudia uses the tools at her disposal and becomes one of the most successful sex workers in her new home. That’s when she dies–only to be thrust back in time to age fourteen! Gone is the gullible girl of her academy days now that she’s got street savvy and hard-won seductive skills. It’s Claudia’s turn to play the evil villainess, and there’s nothing she won’t do to protect what’s hers!
Review- An interesting story about a girl who get the chance to relive her life and make some huge changes. Claudia dies and then wakes up as her younger self. She remembers everything from her previous life and she is not going to live it again. So she begins to use what she remembers to change her standing in life from her family to the prince. It is a fun story,, nothing ground breaking but I enjoyed it. If you are looing for a starting place for the villainess type Korean novel, then is a good one to try out and see if you like the genre.
I give this novel a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this novel from my local library.
From the back of the book- In this fantasy tale of time travel, revenge, and aristocratic intrigue, a doomed noblewoman sets out to turn the tables on those who wronged her in her past life! And don't miss the manga adaptation, also from Seven Seas!
Claudia, daughter of a duke, is tricked by her wicked half-sister and sold off to a brothel. Unwilling to accept defeat, Claudia uses the tools at her disposal and becomes one of the most successful sex workers in her new home. That’s when she dies–only to be thrust back in time to age fourteen! Gone is the gullible girl of her academy days now that she’s got street savvy and hard-won seductive skills. It’s Claudia’s turn to play the evil villainess, and there’s nothing she won’t do to protect what’s hers!
Review- An interesting story about a girl who get the chance to relive her life and make some huge changes. Claudia dies and then wakes up as her younger self. She remembers everything from her previous life and she is not going to live it again. So she begins to use what she remembers to change her standing in life from her family to the prince. It is a fun story,, nothing ground breaking but I enjoyed it. If you are looing for a starting place for the villainess type Korean novel, then is a good one to try out and see if you like the genre.
I give this novel a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this novel from my local library.
July 2, 2026
First of all, the writing is nice and the story was finely paced. I do love me a good villainess story, yet this one was unfortunatly not my cup of tea. Lord have mercy.. so she was betrayed by her family, sent off, ended up in brothel, she matures there and after she dies she goes back in time. ( I was genuinely excited to that point ) I was ready for the scheming, plotting on how to get rid off doom flags and such but naaaah. Now that she "realised" how gullible and oblivious she was, thing will surely change... Things might but her not so much.... and for her embracing being "the villainess" if need be.. bullsh.. unfortunately I enjoy my villainesses more vibrant ig? She is too dull for everything she's been through, also she and the princeling were real quick. It's literally vol 1. out of idk, something is fishy here.
PS: I'm sleep deprived because I was mulling about if I should express my feelings on this. I might sound harsh and my grammar is most likely full of typos and mistakes. I unfortunately chosen to read something that was supposed to be my forte yet it didn't fully agree with me ( you might like it for the reasons I did not )
PS: I'm sleep deprived because I was mulling about if I should express my feelings on this. I might sound harsh and my grammar is most likely full of typos and mistakes. I unfortunately chosen to read something that was supposed to be my forte yet it didn't fully agree with me ( you might like it for the reasons I did not )
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 16, 2024
Good solid read!
I really enjoy the manga, and due to confusion but volume two of the light novels instead of volume two of the manga, which isn't out yet. So I had to get volume 1 and read it. What a happy accident! There's so much more in Volume 1 that was left out of the manga adaption that just makes the story richer. Don't get me wrong, the manga is fantastic, but the light novel definitely has merit to being read as well. Now if you're comparing to the manga, this one covers volume 1 and volume 2... But since the rest haven't come out yet I don't know if it goes past two.
I'm looking forward to reading my accidental purchase next!
I really enjoy the manga, and due to confusion but volume two of the light novels instead of volume two of the manga, which isn't out yet. So I had to get volume 1 and read it. What a happy accident! There's so much more in Volume 1 that was left out of the manga adaption that just makes the story richer. Don't get me wrong, the manga is fantastic, but the light novel definitely has merit to being read as well. Now if you're comparing to the manga, this one covers volume 1 and volume 2... But since the rest haven't come out yet I don't know if it goes past two.
I'm looking forward to reading my accidental purchase next!
November 27, 2024
She wants to be the ultimate villain but does absolutely nothing Villainous. She's completely passive... not even ONE scheme.
I wasn't really rooting for her and the prince at all - didn't care very much.
Also two things in this book made me super uncomfortable. 1) she's 16. Why do we keep talking about her "sensual body", breasts and libido every 5 paragraphs? 2) her relationship with her BROTHER? He said she ruined him for another woman? They're always admiring each other...? Let's not...
I wasn't really rooting for her and the prince at all - didn't care very much.
Also two things in this book made me super uncomfortable. 1) she's 16. Why do we keep talking about her "sensual body", breasts and libido every 5 paragraphs? 2) her relationship with her BROTHER? He said she ruined him for another woman? They're always admiring each other...? Let's not...
December 2, 2024
Honestly kind of a let down. The premise was interesting: betrayed noble lady lives a life as a prostitute and is given a second chance at life to use her experiences to seek revenge!
Except… her “revenge” was essentially just not being a brat then hiding behind others while allowing her sister to act as she pleases. Her revenge was just ‘not reacting while everyone spread rumors about her’ and the climax was… hmm.. what was the climax? I have no idea since the story never really took off.
Anyway. This story was lame and I want my money back.
Except… her “revenge” was essentially just not being a brat then hiding behind others while allowing her sister to act as she pleases. Her revenge was just ‘not reacting while everyone spread rumors about her’ and the climax was… hmm.. what was the climax? I have no idea since the story never really took off.
Anyway. This story was lame and I want my money back.
March 13, 2025
Misleading title in that her “evil” plan mostly consists of being a really proper lady so no one has fodder to use against her. Also, her first life she was careless/spoiled/etc rather than misunderstood and the real villain is unhinged rather than clever which leads to the vibe that the only way anyone wins in this is to put the idiot ball down. Plus, did a bad job setting up for the next volume as it tries to introduce a new loose end right at the end when you’re already pretty much done with her.
November 26, 2025
This book suffers the same issue as many other similar light novels in that the main love interest sucks so hard. The only thing he has going for him is his looks, but he's a total douche and creeper otherwise. I don't understand why these losers are so often set up to be the main love interest. He's not quite as terrible as the prince in My Next Life as a Villainess, but it's close. I was potentially willing to finish the novel until I started reading reviews and recaps of the other novels. If this guy is in every book, then it's absolutely not worth finishing.
January 6, 2026
A well done story and an amazing take on the regression story. Never seen a sex worker be sent back in time quite like this. The villain felt a little anticlimactic, but she did for our fml as well. That made it feel very intentional and well balanced. I do think the last few chapters felt very out of order. The intro for the next book should’ve been after all the fluffy stuff. That was already told a bit out of order, so I feel like jumping back would’ve been fine to introduce the next problem.
January 30, 2025
The second the villainess returns back time, she's already winning againts the heroine, everyone is on her side, everyone also knows that the heroine is evil and manipulative (in the stupidest kind of way) the whole story is pretty much like that, really wish the story tried to do more. Suppose I'm just too old and bitter and my brains too rotten to enjoy something that doesn't have intrigue and conflict
October 21, 2025
I adored this… in a sense. The premise is fantastic and there is nothing really wrong. Nothing problematic. However, I wanted *more* from this story. The main character is so fascinating as a noblewoman turned Sex worker. However, despite the author routinely saying she has skills of a sex worker, we never see it. She just kind of exists passively to the story and acts like all other main female characters. I have no complaints, only requests. Let her be an actual villain and a seductress.
November 15, 2025
goodreads understands me so well. this showed up in the 'readers also enjoyed' section of accomplishments of a duke's daughter and whaddaya know, as a certified villainess enjoyer i DID enjoy this. i'm already fond of the high competence genre of villainess wish fulfillment and pairing that with genuine character growth for our girl? yeah, i'm about it
also it was really funny watching her and the prince play libido chicken. god bless a sexually experienced villainess
4 stars
also it was really funny watching her and the prince play libido chicken. god bless a sexually experienced villainess
4 stars
Did Not Finish
June 4, 2026this poor girl. the fmc is underage, is manipulated by the heroine, gets trafficked into a brothel, is repeatedly r*ped (off-page, mentioned) and it's just glossed over, and then gets killed only to return to her 14y/o body. i thought this was gonna be about an adult who consented to working at a brothel and took what she learned in her next life after getting isekai'd. not whatever weird thing this is.
June 10, 2024
A thoroughly enjoyable Villainess Light Novel. Main plot is seemingly resolved in this first novel, so don't know what the second volume entails (but am interested in reading). The biggest delight in this is novel was Claudia and Helen's relationship and how they impact each other's lives. Give it a read if you enjoy other Villainess Light Novels.
August 20, 2024
While I enjoyed the plot, there is something very corporate and lifeless about the way this was written. Perhaps it’s just a case of a bad translation, but nothing about this book feels like it was written by an actual human. Rather, it has the cadence and general feel of something spit out by a computer. It’s *weird*.
September 25, 2024
It’s interesting how she made being a courtesan into a positive aspect about herself and didn’t wither away once she unwillingly became one. Also, she made her second chance her b*tch.
She kicked butt the second time around, so much so that it was embarrassing that she lost the first time! (*•̀ᴗ•́*)و ̑̑
She kicked butt the second time around, so much so that it was embarrassing that she lost the first time! (*•̀ᴗ•́*)و ̑̑
April 29, 2025
Good book, although I don't think it matches the title. She doesn't become a villain. In fact, she fixes all of the relationships and problems from her first try at life and just out wholesomes and wins more trust than the antagonist. The author liked to throw in every once in a while how she vowed to be cone the best villainess, and I was like, well, she's doing a pretty bad job of it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 13, 2024
Avendo letto i primi due volumi del manga mi aspettavo di più. È carino e si legge facilmente.
August 28, 2024
Muy bueno
August 29, 2024
enjoyed it but i don't think i'll be picking up the next book in the series anytime soon
September 30, 2024
Interesting idea but not sure if it’s writing or the way I didn’t get into Claudia’s character, that won’t have me picking up the next one
Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews