| Quick facts | |
|---|
| Format | Webtoon, 43 chapters |
| Run | 2021–present · on hiatus |
| Community score | AniList 8.0 · MAL 8.1 · MangaUpdates 8.4 |
| Content | Violence, murder, and abuse |
Overview
Roxana is a dark villainess fantasy with a poison-soaked premise. The heroine is reborn into the body of Roxana Agriche, a daughter of the Agriche family — a notorious clan of assassins where children are raised as killers and siblings murder one another to win their father's favor. It's a household where survival means cunning, and Roxana, armed with knowledge of the story she's been dropped into, sets out to outlast a family that would happily see her dead. Her path tangles with Cassis Pedetti, a captive nobleman the Agriches are exploiting, and a fraught romance grows in the shadow of all that violence. It's a Korean webtoon adapting a popular web novel, with art by JunilJus.
What it does well
The art is the headline, and it's stunning. JunilJus's work is lush, detailed, and atmospheric — all elegant gowns, candlelit menace, and striking character designs — and it gives the grim story a gorgeous, gothic beauty that's a big part of why it built such a devoted following. It's one of the better-looking villainess webtoons around.
The premise has real teeth, too. The Agriche family is genuinely frightening — this isn't a fluffy reincarnation romance but a dark survival story where the stakes are constant and lethal, and Roxana is a compelling lead precisely because she has to be ruthless and clever to live. The poison, the scheming, the toxic family politics give it a darker, sharper edge than most of its genre.
And the central romance works as a flicker of warmth in the gloom — the bond between Roxana and Cassis carries real tension because tenderness is so dangerous in her world.
Where it falls short
The unavoidable problem is that it's unfinished — and not in the usual ongoing-webtoon way. Roxana went on indefinite hiatus in 2022, tied to the artist's health and working conditions, and there's no confirmed return. So you'd be starting a story that stops partway, with no resolution and no certainty it will ever continue. That's a real thing to know going in.
Access is also a problem now. It was removed from its English platform in 2025, so reading it officially in English is difficult. And tonally, this is dark, often grim material — the family violence and cruelty are relentless — so it won't suit readers looking for a comforting romance.
Verdict
Roxana is a gorgeous, genuinely dark villainess fantasy with stunning art and a premise that bites — easily one of the most striking in its genre. But it comes with hard caveats: it's unfinished and on indefinite hiatus, it's hard to read officially in English now, and it's bleak by design. If you can accept a beautiful story without an ending, it's worth experiencing for the art and atmosphere alone. If you need closure, you may want to read the original novel instead, or wait.
