The Villainess Who Came to Marry into the Frontier Noble’s Household Is an Exceptionally Capable Wife, Isn’t She? Volume 1 Review

The Villainess Who Came to Marry Into the Frontier Noble’s Household Is an Exceptionally Capable Wife, Isn’t She? is a new isekai manga released by One Peace Books in September. The story is self-explanatory thanks to its (long) title, but does it stand out from other series in the same genre? Let’s find out!

Ragna Brave is a 15-year-old frontier noble, who needs to take care of his family’s estate after his parents and siblings died during war. However, he has some memories of his past life living as a Japanese man and then being reborn in the otome game he was playing. He is living his life as best as he can, and he doesn’t expect to be the guy whom the villainess kills in her revenge attempts against the protagonists: the crown prince and the saintess.

When Ragna finds out he’s about to marry Alicia Oldwood, the daughter of a duke and the villainess, he expects Alicia to be a villainess through and through based on what he remembers of the game, but Alicia surprises him. She has been exiled to Ragna’s territory due to some misdeed she committed in the empire’s capital, but she seems sweet and ready to help everybody in the estate. She doesn’t cling to her rank, not that she believes any task is beneath her as the daughter of a duke. The two form a sort of partnership that will come in handy when they are forced to attend the academy in the capital. In fact, the two of them are considered ‘damaged goods’ due to Ragna’s low nobility rank and from being from the empire’s frontier and for the scar on Alicia’s face.

I’ve read dozens of isekai manga, but as it’s one of my favourite genres, I had to pick this one up as well, and I’m so glad it didn’t disappoint! This volume doesn’t introduce anything new or peculiar to  readers of the genre, but it could be a good starting point for someone just starting to get into isekai stories.

Both Ragna and Alicia are introduced as characters moulded as the frontier noble and the villainess, but the more you read, the more you recognise that they have multiple layers. Ragna is the third son and although he wished to have a peaceful life without too much responsibility, he has been forced into the role of count once his immediate family died. However, he picks up this role and does everything he can to make sure people in his territory can live comfortably—although it’s mostly adventurers trying to subjugate monsters. Alicia used to have the social class and behaviour befitting a duke’s daughter, but after she mistreated the protagonist, a commoner whom the crown prince fancied, she was banished—at least that’s what Ragna remembers from the otome game. But I have an inkling there is something more to Alicia’s backstory, as people have been sent to get rid of her… Ragna and Alicia have both been scarred, physically and emotionally, and the perceptions they have of each other seem to change in this volume, although with 168 pages of story, it might be too short to say with certainty.

The Villainess Who Came to Marry Into the Frontier Noble’s Household Is an Exceptionally Capable Wife, Isn’t She? started as a light novel written by tera that was adapted into a manga with illustrations by Hayate Asakura and character art by Tetta. The manga art is pretty detailed, both in terms of characters and background  and it enhances the storyline allowing the author to forgo text at times, which cannot be always expected in manga. The mangaka states that the manga won’t cover everything that happens in the novel, and as this series piqued my interest, I can only hope that One Peace Books will also bring the light novel to the West with an English translation. There is currently no release date for the second volume.

Our e-digital copy was supplied by One Peace Books.