#virtues of a villainess

[cherchersketch]

Virtues of the Villainess / Ginger and the Cursed Prince

Is this the best villainess manhwa I’ve read? No But was it super fun and hilarious? Yes!

Summary Our girl, Ginger, is a romance novel fiend (she just like me frfr) and comes across a book that describes her number one rival and her to a tee?!!?? Apparently the Crown Prince will soon be released from his prison, after the current King dies. Poor boy has been locked up since young because of his ~freaky~ mind-reading curse. At the ball, Ginger and her rival fall in love with the new King, Izana, at first sight. And Ginger ends up as the villainess who gets her heart broken ;x; Of course Ginger ain’t gonna let that shit stand :< She tries to use her rival’s advantage but due to some ~whacky shenanigans~, Izana ends up hearing her~*shamelessly simping*~ thoughts. Oh no! 

Tropes   - there’s a book plot involved but it’s not an isekai!??!!!?   - I will drastically change the plot the ML belongs with ME

FL - Ginger Torte

 - she doesn’t have magic but somehow everything she cooks tastes like ginger  - kind of weirdchamp at the beginning but she does get more sincere over time  - ~*SIMP*~  - tbh I love an FL who fearlessly curses  - could be 10 steps ahead of everyone (with her future predicting novel) but our girl kind of dumb. oh no  - of course the FL is beautiful (unfortunately she also knows this)

ML - Crown Prince King Izana

 - just throw the asshole dad away  - I love it when a guy do the blushublushu ///UwU///  - of course he had a ~depressing childhood~  - so cute when he smiles ;w;

Rating: I enjoyed my time reading this It’s a fun little read Status (as of 23 Feb 2023) 100% complete. With one extra side story at the end.

Same Same but Different   - Side Characters Deserve Love Too   - First Night with The Duke   - Flirting with the Villain’s Dad

full rec list

[mouseunnie]

Finally sat down and read Justice for the Villainess and honestly I’m with this guy:

The emperor needs to fucking die. Very slowly, after getting every single one of his joints bashed in and then freezing to death in a cold windowless room surrounded by rats eating him alive.

[imberlae]

[maydelmiro]

Virtues of the Villainess / Ginger and the Cursed Prince

Capítulo 18

[missreisi]

Virtues Of The Villainess

Rating : ★★★✩✩

Associated Names: 악역이 베푸는 미덕

Category: Manhwa

[maydelmiro]

Virtues of the Villainess / Ginger and the Cursed Prince / Las Virtudes del Villano / As Virtudes da Vilã

Capítulo 57

The way the same thing happened to me 😭😭😭

[hisui-dreamer]

Hi, congratulations on 1k followers! I love your writing a lot and I was hoping you could do Villainess AUs with Malleus? Like isekai manhwa style? Thank you!!

the gazelle's sweet briar

Pairing: Malleus Draconia x f!reader

Synopsis: your first objective was to avoid the main characters, but it's not easy when you only have the memories of your friend's ramblings to work off of

Tags: cliché isekai plot, reincarnation, fluff, arranged marriage, tw (mentioned): bad parenting, patriarchal society, death

Word count: 1.6k+

Notes: @coralinnii has an amazing series based on isekai villainesses, so i definitely recommend you check out her work too! im so in love with it (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)

Masterlist

Once upon a time, there lived a villainess of exceptional allure, her visage as enchanting as a moonlit night. However, this bewitching beauty concealed a heart blackened by a singular obsession with appearances.

From the earliest days of her upbringing, her mother, a woman who had managed to step into aristocracy by charming a noble, had instilled in her a cruel belief: that those who were not blessed with physical perfection were destined for lives of relentless mockery and eternal solitude. This twisted ideology consumed the villainess' every thought, blinding her to the virtues of education and morality. She became nothing more than a porcelain doll, admired solely for her aesthetic charm.

The King arranged a marriage between her and Duke Draconia, the enigmatic descendant of the dragons who ruled the northern lands, believing that such a striking bride would surely please the reclusive Duke.

However, the King remained oblivious to the swirling rumours that pervaded the courtly circles. Whispers spoke of the Duke as a hideous man who had never once revealed his face, perpetually concealed behind a forbidding black mask. When the rumours reached the villainess' ears, she threw tantrum after tantrum, vehemently refusing to wed a man whose appearance couldn't possibly match her own.

Yet, a royal decree could not be denied. Reluctantly, the villainess embarked on her journey to the northern realm in bitter acceptance. It had rained the moment she arrived, the castle dark and uninviting, with thorns crawling onto the obsidian walls. The Duke, an oblivious and shy man, did not greet her at the grand entrance. Instead, she was met by the Duke's advisor, a man with a curiously boyish features.

Humiliation welled up within the villainess' heart, for she felt as if she were being played the fool by the entire duchy. On the eve of her arrival, anxiety gnawed at her like a relentless spectre.

As night descended, the Duke, mustering his courage, attempted to approach the vexed lady.

But when the villainess beheld his masked face, terror seized her like a vice. "Stay back! You hideous beast!" she cried out, her voice trembling with fear, and she recoiled, her steps faltering as she retreated from him.

The Duke, wounded by her cruel words, attempted to console her, his outstretched hand beseeching understanding. Yet, her irrational dread overcame her, and she continued her backward retreat until, with a heart-stopping scream, she slipped from an open window.

That was how the villainess' life ended.

you hadn't actually read the book, but it wasn't difficult identifying who you got reincarnated as

especially with how your best friend obsessed over this villainess because, and i quote, "if pretty, why evil, huh???"

you woke up a week before the villainess would depart for the North, but that week alone was enough to make you understand the way she acted

every day, you were fed portions fitting of a child, had your skin rubbed raw as you were bathed, and not a moment of your mother's nitpicking about a sudden imperfection she found in you

in truth, you were more than glad to leave for the North, even if that's where your life would be on the line

the survival plan was simple: maintain an amicable relationship with the duchy until the night the heroine stumbles in to ask for a night of shelter, to which the heroine would heal the emotional wounds of the Duke, and share with him the beauty of love, bringing warmth into his heart

and so, you arrived at the estate, the castle tall and intimidating with the clouds dark and foreboding

still, you stepped out of your carriage (with wobbly legs) and met the advisor (your friend's favourite character, in fact)

the advisor, lilia, though seemed young, was actually the very man who raised the duke in the absence of his parents

he welcomed you as the lady of the duchy, and led you to your quarters

by nightfall, you were quite comfortable with living in the estate

everyone was polite, the food was delicious (and properly sized), and you had no doubt you'd settle nicely here

as a precaution to the death sequence, you decided to take a stroll in the rose garden after dinner

if you were already on the ground floor, you couldn't fall to your death, right?

but unexpectedly, you encountered a lone figure in the centre of the garden

he was incredibly tall, dressed simply, his emerald eyes fixated on the estate

upon closer inspection, you noticed he had long horns as well, perhaps he was a gazelle beastman?

either way, you were curious about what it was that held his attention so strongly that he couldn't notice your presence

"Excuse me, sir? May I ask what is so interesting about the building?" you timidly break the silence of the night.

The man turns to you, his eyes widening in surprise. "... Do you not know who I am?"

You blinked in confusion at his words. His words filled you with a sense of foreboding. You wondered if this person matched any of the characters your friend had so fervently described, but all you could recall was the beautiful villainess and the enigmatic advisor to the Duke.

"My apologies, I'm afraid I do not... May I know your name, sir?"

A faint smile tugged at the corners of his lips as he considered your question. "No... If that is the case, you may call me whatever you wish."

Perplexed by his response, you tried to come up with a suitable name. "Then... May I call you Mr. Gazelle?"

Upon hearing your words, he burst out in laughter. "Hahaha! What an interesting choice. Very well, I accept the name," he said. "In response to your first question, I was observing the gargoyles of the building."

on that night, not only did you learn more about the fascinating functions gargoyles serve, you also made your first friend in this life

strangely enough, you didn't meet the duke at all unlike the novel, which though strange, you greatly welcomed

if you didn't have any ties with him, then it'd be so much easier to just divorce him, get the money, and live a comfortable luxurious life far away from the main characters

though as you say that, you find yourself wanting to spend more and more time with "Mr Gazelle"

despite his intimidating appearance, he turned out to be a very generous person, frequently gifting you little trinkets he's made or bouquets he's arranged

he's started calling you "Briar", after the roses in the garden where he met you

you greatly appreciated the nickname, it felt better to be called that than the name of the villainess, that you could just be yourself and not play the role of a villainess avoiding ruin

you also find that whatever musings you've mentioned to him, they somehow manifest themselves

oh? you wish you could learn about embroidery? the next day there's a basket full of the highest quality threads and fabrics, with a gentle tutor to help you learn

(you still remember how cute "Mr Gazelle" looked when you gave him your first finished product, a handkerchief with an embroidered gargoyle)

what's this? you'd like to try more desserts from the capital you were never allowed to try? say no more! the next day the chef presents you with 10 different choices!

so you assumed he was an advisor of sorts to the Duke, because how else could your requests be granted so easily?

but one day, around two months after you started living in the duchy, "Mr Gazelle" asked you questions about the duke, whether you were afraid of him, would you prefer to meet him, curious questions like that

though surprised by the topic, you answered honestly, saying you don't really believe in the rumours (because you know from your friend he's an ethereal beauty) and yes, you would like to meet your husband

and what do you know? lilia informs you the duke wants to share dinner with you. what a coincidence!! :)

Nervousness held you in its grasp as you stepped into the room. Your gaze remained fixed on the carpet beneath your feet, and your knees bent gracefully as you executed the perfect curtsey.

"Your Grace."

You could hear sounds of shuffling, and then a pair of black boots entered your field of vision. Familiar hands found yours, guiding you to rise and stand upright. "Rise, my Briar," he murmured gently.

With hesitant anticipation, you finally looked up, taking in the obsidian mask that concealed his face. That voice, that nickname, and those enchanting eyes—it was all too familiar.

"Mr Gazelle..." you whispered in disbelief.

His eyes narrowed in mirth as he chuckled. "Although I hold great fondness for that name, I do wish you could call your husband by his name," he said as he began to remove his mask.

"Malleus..." you breathed.

A tender smile graced his lips, and his eyes sparkled with affection as he delicately brushed a stray lock of hair from your face—a gesture he had done countless times before. "My sweet Briar, I implore you to forgive me for deceiving you. I wished nothing more but to know you," he pleaded.

Oh, with how loud your heart was pounding in your chest, you realized that you were irrevocably and hopelessly ensnared in a love story that had deviated far from the original story.

But you didn't feel a single ounce of regret.

Masterlist

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[yellowocaballero]

what manhwa have you been reading? I've currently been on a very shitty romance isekai villainess kick lmao

I grasp your hands. Another pig in the trough of manwha. I'm not a huge villainess person, but obviously I have read a shitton of it. I read so much awful manwha, but the good is SO good. Everybody knows that SSS Class Suicide Hunter is perfection, but I feel like The Ember Knight is fucking incredible and not discussed as much! Everybody read The Ember Knight (if you like action)! It's incredible!

I just finished Concubine Walkthrough, which was AMAZING. So good! What a great usage of the premise! Chinese period piece concubine drama (a whole genre.) + 'player gets trapped in an MMORPG' flavor isekai + being ACTUALLY science fiction and extremely interested in the science fiction aspects of virtual reality. I refuse to read those gamer MMORPG manwhas because they're terrible, but Concubine Walkthrough is what you always wish those stories were like.

I also just read through My In-Laws Are Obsessed With Me, which sounds like it should be uninteresting but it is shockingly extremely good. Very good character work, extremely slow and realistic buildup of the importance of the FL in the family, great politics/character dynamics, and the slowburn romance is even really good. Just overall extremely good writing and it was an extremely good read.

I've also been reading Until The Tragic Male Lead Walks Again, which is incredibly fun and funny through virtue of himbo buff FL and sweet and sensitive ML. The ML is disabled as well, which is also always great to see, although it still has that strange character note that's identical to Touch My Brother and You're Dead and associates a man gaining a disability as losing masculinity and blah blah blah woke brain off. I also really enjoyed Perks of Being an S-Class Heroine, which does a difficult thing and makes the OP hero story actually very enjoyable. I also re-read/caught up on Lead Me Kidnap The Male Lead! which is VERY fun 100/10 recommend. Also like a lot of other stuff but those are the ones I would recommend.

Always taking manwha recs so if you got any I will definitely check them out :3.

[gawrkin]

I normally don't like Tennyson's narrative around the female characters due to his framing of them being the source of all the faults in Camelot.

But there's a part of this story that often catches my attention and its Guinevere's rejection of Arthur:

Like, I can't help but dig idea that Guinevere rejects Arthur because of his virtue. As if his holy character actively irritates her.

If I was writing, I would take it further and outright imply Guinevere is some kind of demonic being. If Tennyson can get away with turning Arthur into a mysterious, divine entity that Merlin found instead of being born of Uther's misdeeds, then I don't see why I can't apply that to Gwen.

Welsh Myth already provides the idea of Guinevere as a Fae/Giantess so I would just present her as a "Reverse Persephone" -

Guinevere is actually a mysterious girl who came up from the "Kingdom beneath the Earth", "a daughter of a Colossus of Old" and is reared as ward of one of Arthur's vassals. Arthur, being taken by her beauty, took her as his wife. "And so, the Worthiest and Most Righteous King on Earth married a she-devil, the fairest of all her race, and made her his Queen."

The reason she finds Arthur repulsive is because she's a "primal spirit" who was born deep underground and can't stand the presence of someone so "Heavenly", so divorced from "the touch of the Earth". Camelot falls into "sinfulness" because Guinevere is in fact a physical avatar of all Materialism and Worldly Values, both good and bad.

And instead of Guinevere repenting of her actions, I would just take a cue from E.A. Robinson and have Gwen reject Arthur to the very end:

And if Arthur and Guinevere ever meet again, Guinevere could go as far as threaten to eat Arthur - "as is the habit of my kind, says the Queen" - especially if Arthur starts posturing about his (Victorian) morals and being chaste for her.

If there was a way to present Guinevere as a proper Anti-heroine or compelling villainess without the usual sexism/misogyny, this is how I would do it.

She's not so much an actively evil force as she is simply incompatible with the "Blameless" Arthur and indeed, the marriage's eventual failure was inevitable.

But for a time, while the marriage endured, Camelot was the place where the Spiritual and Material meet as fellows and prosperity ensued.

[maydelmiro]

Virtues of the Villainess / Ginger and the Cursed Prince / Las Virtudes del Villano / As Virtudes da Vilã

Capítulo 47

Virtues of the Villainess (2019-2022) - :)

I think we've all had that friend who is unashamedly thirsty. Who will point out a hot person over and over again and somehow maintain the same level of lascivious admiration for their target's form or voice or actions. I very much appreciated that friend in high school who brought me endless hours of entertainment from their creative thought patterns and inevitable hijinks as they tried to garner some of their target's attention in increasingly bizarre ways. If you also had that friend, or perhaps were that friend then I think you'll find a kindred soul in the heroine of this manhwa.

Ginger Torte is a little bit in love with love. She wants someone to love her, but somehow she's always coming in second to her rival Larazie Atlanta. When she happens on a romance novel that seemingly predicts the future, with her cast as the villainess, Ginger seizes the opportunity to try to change her fate. Meanwhile, our sad male protagonist Izana is a newly minted king with emotional walls a mile high after years of isolation. However, armed with knowledge from this weirdly prescient romance novel, Ginger starts her bumbling campaign to win Izana's heart before Larazie can capture his attention. If Ginger were more competent, this story wouldn't be half so entertaining. Nearly all of her schemes fail, but she throws herself into them with such gusto that they don't get old. For every silly failure, I was right there with Izana feeling oddly charmed.

The jokes that hit the best for me were the recurring ones: Ginger's cooking, how she's always the more physically forward one in her relationship with Izana, and her bullishness in the face of truly half cocked schemes. Ginger as a person seems like she would be delightful and entertaining to be around, and I doubly appreciate that the author told the story they wanted to tell and then didn't try to drag things out. What diminished the story for me was the epilogue, which did in fact feel rushed and a bit half baked, but the sum of the whole was still a great light romance. I think more people could use a bit of Ginger Torte in their lives.

[wonder-vixen]

[artist-issues]

How many times do we have to say:

Create characters with strength of virtue, not strength of skills.

I just finished A Tale of Two Cities with the character Lucie Manette, who "does" nothing but love the people around her and extend compassion toward everyone within her sphere of influence. She makes no "choices" that contemporary audiences would award the stupid badge of "giving her agency" to. She doesn't make a speech that saves Charles Darnay's life. She doesn't lead the victims of the French Revolution into a counter-revolt. She doesn't fight off the soldiers that come to take her husband, or beat up Madame Defarge when she threatens her child, or even come up with the escape plan to flee Paris.

She makes none of those kinds of choices. (You know who does? Madame Defarge. But the compare-contrast between those two can wait till another day.)

But she makes these kinds of choices:

She'll give her honest testimony in a trial for a potential traitor to the crown, and demonstrate her compassion and grief for a near-stranger, wearing that vulnerability on her sleeve in front of a huge court of people clamoring for blood.

She'll be compassionate toward Sydney Carton, even though he's rude, careless, and brings a bad attitude into her happy home.

She'll spend the energy of her life making that home happy.

She'll stand for two hours in any weather on the bloody streets of the French Revolution so her husband might have a chance of glimpsing her and getting some comfort from the prison window.

She'll trust the older men in her life when they ask her to.

She'll allow an old woman to care for her and go everywhere she goes, and treat her like a child, as long as it makes the old woman in question happy.

And what, WHAT is the consequence of these kinds of decisions, choices, that some ignorant people call "passive?"

That old woman is allowed to love Lucie Manette so much that she defeats the villainess in the climax of the story, holding Madame Defarge back from getting revenge with sheer strength that comes directly from that love.

Her father is allowed to draw strength from the fact that Lucie believes she can depend on him--because she chooses to let her father take the lead and do the work of saving her husband, Dr. Manette is fully "recalled to life;" he doesn't have to identify as a traumatized, mentally unstable victim anymore, because Lucie is treating him like he can be the hero.

Her husband does see her in the street, and does draw strength from that--just that--instead of losing his mind the way her father, starved for a glimpse of his loved ones, did during his own imprisonment.

Lucie's home is so full of the love and kindness that she fills it with that not only does her father return to remembering who he is after his long imprisonment--but Mr. Lorry, a bachelor with no family, can feel at home with a full life, there. Miss Pross, whose family abandoned and bankrupt her, has a home with a full life, there. Charles Darnay, whose life of riches and pleasure as a Marquis was empty, has a home with a full life, there. In Lucie's home, because she spends her life making it the kind of home others can find rest in.

Sydney Carton, a man whose whole life has been characterized by a LACK of "care" for himself or anyone else, suddenly cares about Lucie. When he thought it was impossible to. And he doesn't care about her because she's pretty. Her beauty was just a source of bitterness for him--one more pleasure he could've had but can't. Until he "saw her with her father," and saw her strength of virtue, of pity, of compassion, of self-sacrificial love--then he felt that she "kindled me, a heap of ashes, into fire." He started caring about life again, where it was associated with her, because she brought to life every good thing. Just by being a woman of good virtue. And we know what that inspiration led him to.

Without Lucie's strength of virtue, and the decisions that naturally came from that, none of the "active" choices other characters made would have happened. Sydney would not have been redeemed. Darnay would not have been saved. Her father never would've been recalled to life. Miss Pross and Mr. Lorry would've had no light or love in their lives. Even Jerry would've had no occasion to learn from his mistakes and resolve to stop abusing his family.

A character like Dickens' Golden Thread, who does what a woman should do, inspires the choices other characters make. That makes her more powerful, in her own way, than the heroes and any decisions they make. Because she's the cause. She's the inspiration. She's the representation of everything good, right, precious, worth fighting for.

Lucie Manette's not the only character like this. Cinderella. The original Disney Jasmine. The original Disney Ariel. Lady Galadriel. Jane Eyre. Amy March.

"Behind every great man is a great woman," indeed! Absolutely! Bravo!

Hang on! Hang on to those kinds of characters. Those a real "strong female" characters. The muses, the inspirations, the reminders of The Greater Good. The people who make fighting the dragons worth it at all. Who cares about fighting the dragon? That's not so great, without her.

Don't forget those kinds of characters! Reading Dickens just makes me desperate for our generation to keep up the reminder: make characters that the next ten generations can learn from: strength of virtue is much more important than silly little strength of skill.

[fvriva]

i die, i isekai as the villainess in a story where the protagonist girl steals my man and i am killed by the second male lead. instead of succumbing to my date i make the situation my bitch. the protagonist, thwarted by her personality and odd drive to stay at the forefront of the narrative, becomes herself the villainess. she orchestrates her own tragedy, her own downfall. i get the happy ending. i grow old. i die. i wake up as the protagonist. forty years of steps undone. i play it safe, by the book, by the webnovel. i try not to antagonize the villainess (she wants what i want) (i was in her shoes once) (she needs this win to escape her father). i let go. i disappear. the narrative follows me. the male leads follow me. she follows me. the narrative follows me. i can't escape it. i just want to survive. i just want both of us to survive. they expect me to be virtuous and selfless. they expect virtue to triumph over all. they expect my virtue to allow me to survive this. she's no less virtuous than i am. she's no less deserving of survival. i let her kill me. i die. i wake up as the villainess. i realize i don't hate her. (there's so much pressure on the both of us) (we are both trapped in this cycle) (maybe i am in the cycle alone with myself) (i don't entertain that thought). the other characters no longer interest me. they don't change the way she does. i don't see myself in them the way i do in her. only she is a person. only i am a person. i run away with her. we fake our deaths. nobody comes after us. we both survive. we both are happy. she was nobody before she was somebody. nobody misses her. i was somebody nobody would miss. we get the happy ending. we grow old. we die.

[maydelmiro]

Virtues of the Villainess

Capítulo 12

Virtues of the Villainess

[maydelmiro]

Virtues of the Villainess

Capítulo 2

[tobiasdrake]

As much as young Xavier tries to proselytize about hope, it's actually the future crew that are really showing off its virtues.

Hank makes a bad argument that maybe all of this is pointless and, in fact, Trask's assassination and the creation of the Sentinels cannot be changed.

This is a really good opportunity for Charles to speak up and be the beacon of hope. Because Hank's possibility can't be disproven with facts or logic. Maybe he's right. We have no possible way to know one way or the other. All we can do is believe that a better outcome is possible.

As MCU Nick Fury once said, until such a time as the Earth ends, we must act as though it intends to spin on. To despair here would be a self-fulfilling paralytic. If we act as though history can change we may yet be proven right, but if we assume it cannot be and give up then we ensure that it will not be.

Unfortunately, Charles gets fixated on NOT MY RAVEN instead of addressing the actual point Hank's making. He just regurgitates something smart-sounding that his older self told him in a different context.

He's still too stuck on NOT MY RAVEN to actually engage with the idea Hank put forward.

This fixation of his would be a lot easier to swallow if the character in question didn't have three separate films of being a stone-cold villainess under her belt, and wasn't an adaptation of an even more stone-cold villainess from the source material. He is trying so hard to argue the intrinsic goodness of the X-brand's most stylish lady of wickedness.

Meanwhile, in the future, people are laying down their lives for hope.

Everybody here is going to die. The plan is to die here. Charles put forth the idea to unmake this future from having ever happened and convinced this crew to lay down their lives for a possibility of a better world.

They're all just buying time, gambling with their lives on the hope that the future will reshuffle and they'll wake up in a better world. It's fucking inspiring.