Is The Villainess Lives Again Worth Reading? Review & Where to Read
Quick Answer
If you like villainess/regression romance with a genuinely wronged lead and real family stakes, yes — this is a well-executed entry. It's ongoing, so you're reading along with the weekly releases rather than a finished story.
Quick Verdict
“Artezia's arc from loyal schemer to someone deciding for herself who deserves her is the best reason to read this; the pacing occasionally slows to let the politics breathe, which won't bother everyone but will test some readers' patience.”
Best for: Readers who want a wronged noblewoman using foreknowledge to rebuild her life on her own terms, with a genuine family betrayal at the center.
Not for: Readers who want their villainess leads to already be plotting revenge from chapter one, or who prefer fast pacing over politically dense court maneuvering.
- Type
- Manhwa
- Genres
- Villainess, Regression
- Status
- Ongoing
- This review
- Minor Spoilers
- Author
- Mint
- Artist
- PEACHBERRY (Storywebtoon)
- Publisher
- Storywebtoon
- Platform
- WEBTOON
| Quick facts | |
|---|---|
| Format | Manhwa, 230 chapters |
| Run | 2020–2025 · ongoing |
| Community score | AniList 7.2 · MangaUpdates 8.0 |
| Content | Domestic abuse, imprisonment |
| Where to read | WEBTOON — official |
Overview
Artezia Rosan spent her whole life making sure her brother would sit on the throne. She was good at it — a genuine schemer, someone who understood the empire's politics well enough to move pieces most people never saw. Then he had her imprisoned for the very crimes she'd committed on his behalf. Rescued by Grand Duke Cedric Ebron, she agrees to help him take down the new emperor, and in the process of casting a forbidden spell, wakes up years in the past instead. The Villainess Lives Again is what happens when someone gets a second chance not to win, but to figure out who actually deserved her in the first place.
What it does well
The specificity of Artezia's original devotion is what makes this work. She's not a generic schemer who happened to pick the wrong side — she built her entire identity around getting her brother to power, so his betrayal isn't just a plot twist, it's the collapse of the one thing she organized her life around. That gives the second-chance premise actual weight: this isn't a revenge story so much as a story about a woman re-examining every relationship she thought she understood.
Cedric helps a lot here too. He's not simply the reward waiting at the end of Artezia's journey — he has his own reasons for wanting the new emperor gone, which means their alliance (and the romance that grows out of it) is built on shared stakes rather than convenience. It makes their scenes together feel like two people working toward something, not a checklist romance subplot bolted onto a political plot.
The series also doesn't flinch from its heavier material. The imprisonment and family betrayal at the center of the story get handled with real weight — present in the art and the pacing without being either sanitized or turned into spectacle.
Where it falls short
The court politics take time, and this is a genuinely slower read than some of its genre peers. If you want a heroine plotting immediate payback, Artezia's more deliberate, reconsidering approach may test your patience in stretches.
Being an ongoing weekly series is also worth flagging plainly: there's no ending yet to judge the story against, just a strong opening arc. And Artezia's brother, despite being the emotional center of her original betrayal, hasn't been given much depth beyond that betrayal so far — whether the story gives him more complexity later, or leaves him mostly as a catalyst, isn't clear yet.
Verdict
The Villainess Lives Again earns its premise instead of coasting on it — Artezia's devotion-turned-betrayal gives the second-chance hook real emotional stakes, and Cedric's own investment in the plot keeps the romance from feeling tacked on. It asks a little more patience than some faster-paced villainess manhwa, but if you want a political court drama with a genuinely wronged lead doing the work of figuring out who to trust, it's a strong ongoing read.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- Artezia's motivation is grounded and specific — she didn't scheme for power for its own sake, she did it to make her brother emperor, which makes his betrayal land as a real gut-punch rather than a generic plot device.
- The second-chance premise is used for something other than instant revenge: Artezia spends real time reconsidering who in her life actually deserves her loyalty, rather than just plotting payback.
- Cedric is set up as more than a romantic prize — he has his own stake in overthrowing the new emperor, so the central relationship grows out of shared goals instead of just proximity.
- The art handles the story's heavier material (imprisonment, family betrayal) without either softening it into nothing or leaning into it for shock value.
Weaknesses
- The court politics take real time to unpack, and readers looking for a faster-moving plot may find some stretches slower than they'd like.
- As an ongoing weekly series, the story is still building toward its confrontation with the new emperor — there's no ending to judge yet, just a strong start.
- Artezia's brother, while central to the setup, hasn't been given much complexity beyond his betrayal so far; whether he gets more nuance later remains to be seen.
Similar Titles
Same wronged-noblewoman-gets-a-second-chance engine, with a family-first focus rather than romance-first.
Another political court drama built around a woman rebuilding her position on her own terms.
Lighter in tone, but the same core hook of a heroine using foreknowledge to change who she trusts.
Where to Read Officially
| Platform | Format | Pricing | Region notes | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WEBTOON | Digital episodes (webtoon) | Free | Region availability varies | Open |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is The Villainess Lives Again finished?
No, it's an ongoing series releasing new episodes weekly on Mondays, so you're reading it as it comes out rather than as a completed story.
Is this the same as the novel The Villainess Lives Twice?
The webtoon is based on the same source novel; some fan translations and listings use slightly different English titles for the original novel versus the webtoon adaptation.
Does the story deal with heavy content?
Yes — it includes themes of domestic abuse and imprisonment, so go in aware of that if those are difficult topics for you.
