Beatrice Volume 1 Review

Chloe reincarnates in a fantasy world in the kingdom of Elpasa after dying in a car accident as a 35-year-old Korean woman. Her first life was full of regrets and dull moments, so she swears to make up for it in this new life as she maintains the memories of her previous life. She grows up blissfully for 23 years as a slave with a certain level of freedom as she learns how to read and write and further her knowledge of medicinal herbs. However, her peaceful and joyful life comes crashing down when the Elpasa king comes looking for her, as Chloe is his illegitimate daughter. Forced to become Princess Beatrice and marry a supposedly loyal man under her father, she spends years in a dreadful marriage before her husband betrays the kingdom and the forces of the Nosteros Empire led by Duke Alessandro attack and take over Elpasa.

Thanks to her illegitimate status and her dark hair, which don’t categorise her as being royalty, she’s able to survive as a slave, and becomes Chloe once again. In the Nosteros Empire, her knowledge and attitude make her encounter powerful figures who can’t help but start feeling some sort of non-romantic affection for her, even if she’s a war slave. Duke Alessandro as well takes an interest in her even if he doesn’t recognise Chloe as being the former princess of Elpasa.

While the storyline is a little bit cliché, the twist that readers can expect in this story is the heroine’s attitude. We’re used to protagonists with a strong character being ready to fight and raise hell, but Beatrice (or Chloe in this case) is the total opposite. She actually prefers her life as a slave as she has more freedom than she had as a princess and she’s able to show her knowledge of medicinal herbs to help save people and animals alike. She’s demure and kind-of accepts everything that’s thrown her way, even if it’s not her fault. If someone threatens her, she’s scared but then lowers her head to survive. At times it gets frustrating because I, as a reader, would have expected some show of  defiance against the situations she finds herself in, but Chloe takes it all in stride, no matter what’s going on.

Duke Alessandro also plays a big role in the first volume. He’s introduced as a duke but he’s the son of the emperor and the two have a strained relationship. Readers get glimpses of Alessandro’s past and also of the feelings of the emperor, but it’s too early to draw any conclusions. Alessandro is a ruthless man who doesn’t hesitate to kill whoever gets in his way or might create a complication, like Chloe, even if it’s not her fault. He’s intrigued by her, and he’s trying to find out the reason for his curiosity. Chloe should be terrified of him as he told her he’d kill her both as Beatrice and Chloe, but although she says she’s afraid, she doesn’t really look it.

The story mentions abuse, threats of sexual assault and killing for whatever reason, but it is not gory. The illustrations are fairytale-like with beautiful character designs against a medieval-style background with the addition of Victorian era clothes. The colour palette uses pastel shades which, in a sense, links to Chloe’s demure attitude. There is no romance in sight yet, but it’s kind of easy for the readers to draw their own conclusions about what will happen between the characters.

Beatrice is written by Macherie and started as a webnovel before being adapted into a manhwa released on Tapas with illustrations by Cierra. Yen Press is releasing the manhwa in volume format in the English language, and the first volume will be available in January 2026. There is no release date yet for Volume 2.

Our digital review copy was supplied by Edelweiss and Yen Press.