History Literature / AnObservationLogOfMyFianceeWhoCallsHerselfAVillainess

** During Bertia's first matchmaking effort to pair up the rival love interests with the non-Cecil capture targets, she loudly tells Anne not to go through with her engagement to Charles's brother because Charles has feelings for her. Charles then runs to Cecil and begs him to do something, while tearfully confessing that Bertia was telling the truth. It's an emotional moment, immediately spoiled by Cecil thinking to himself that Charles was talking so much that he couldn't get a word in to warn him that Bertia and Anne followed him and are standing right behind him, overhearing the whole confession.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: On their first meeting, Courtgain explains to Cecil that the lord he works for is actually deeply concerned for the well-being of his subordinates, but he mainly expresses it by yelling harshly at them, leading to his widespread unpopularity.

* MoodWhiplash: In chapter 23, [[spoiler:Cecil escapes the dreamworld created by Heronia's light spirit and gives it a stern speech about how its irresponsible behavior made things worse for Heronia instead of better. The spirit knows it sacrificed too much energy to maintain its form any longer and asks Cecil to pass one final message to Heronia, then fades away. Cecil wakes up (after being slapped and almost splashed by water) by being told that Bertia is about to shave her own head.]]

Unlike other main characters of the [[RebornAsVillainessStory same genre]], however, Bertia purposely drives her life to doom. Leading an otherwise boring life himself, Cecil finds amusement in his fiancée's antics, but in time he goes looking for clues as to what's leading her to become a "villainess", the bad influences some unscrupulous people exert on her, and dutifully correcting or eliminating those who would bring harm to his precious fiancé. It's up to Cecil to determine whether he'll allow Bertia to become the "villainess" she wants to be, as she's the main aspect that brings color into his life.

* HoldingBackThePhlebotinum: Magic exists in Cecil's world, but it's used exclusively by the high nobility. It's such a hidden secret that not even the otome game that world's based on gives its players that knowledge, as neither Bertia nor Heronia, players themselves on their previous lives, are aware of it (in the absence of other evidence Bertia assumes the heroine's "charm magic" that makes the reverse harem ending possible is a mere figure of speech).

* HoldingBackThePhlebotinum: Magic exists in Cecil's world, but it's used exclusively by the high nobility. It's such a hidden secret that not even the otome game that world's based on gives its players that knowledge, as neither Bertia nor Heronia, players themselves on their previous lives, are aware of it.

* AllLovingHero: Bertia's attempts at becoming a villainess fail because she's a kind person who wishes for her friends' happiness, and doesn't want to actually hurt anyone. Cecil notes that the absolutely worst thing she's guilty of trying to be a villainess is being a little mean, hardly a crime.

''An Observation Log of My Fiancee Who Calls Herself a Villainess'' (''Jishou Akuyaku Reijou na Konyakusha no Kansatsu Kiroku''[[note]]''自称悪役令嬢な婚約者の観察記録。 lit. "An Observation Record of my Fiancée - A Self-Proclaimed Villainess"[[/note]]) is a period / romantic comedy / {{Main/Isekai}} light novel/manga series about a young woman who gets reincarnated into Bertia Ilbi Noches, the villainess role in her favorite [[Main/RomanceGame otome game]] written from the perspective of her fiancé, Prince Cecil.

Unlike other main characters of the [[RebornAsVillainessStory same genre]], however, Bertia purposely drives her life to doom. Leading an otherwise boring life himself, Cecil finds amusement in his fiancée's antics, but in time he goes looking for clues as to what's leading her to become a "villainess", the bad influences some unscrupulous people exert on her, and dutifully correcting those.

It's up to Cecil to determine whether he'll allow Bertia to become the "villainess" she wants to be, as she's the main aspect that brings color into his life.

* AllLovingHero: Bertia's attempts to become a villainess failed, because she is a kind person who wishes for her friends' happiness and doesn't want to actually hurt anyone. Cecil notes that the absolutely worst thing she's guilty of trying to be a villainess is being a little mean, hardly a crime.
* ArrangedMarriage: Most of the characters are nobility so they're all quite limited in terms of who they're allowed to marry. Prior to the story, Cecil and Joana were initially engaged but they broke it off, later becoming engaged respectively to Bertia and Shaun. During the story, Anne was engaged to Charles' brother and she and Charles were both miserable because of it. That changed once he convinced her to break it off and become engaged with him, therefore completing the circle of engaged couples who are actually happy with their arrangements.

* BloodOath: The process of contracting with a familiar has two parts: letting it consume some of your blood and giving it a name. Bertia managed to accidentally fulfill these conditions and form a contract with a darkness spirit shapeshifted as a fox when she gave it a nickname after it licked her wounds from tripping and falling during a walk home from the woods.
* BookcasePassage: There's a small room hidden behind a bookshelf with a combination lock in the castle library.

** Although she never stops pushing Cecil towards Heronia, Bertia realizes that he is his own person with his own feelings. This ultimately makes her contrast Heronia, who believes Cecil can only be happy with her.
** Cecil initially considers Bertia interesting (and corrects himself if he thinks she's cute) and eventually he begins to truly cherish her and becomes upset if she is hurt or negligent of his feelings and wants.

* {{Crossover}}: [[spoiler: One between two fictional media. In the sequel, Bertia discovers she and Cecil have walked into the events of a novel she read in her previous life, which is apparently completely unrelated to the otome game story she reincarnated into - that is, the two stories are unrelated as fictional stories on Earth, but as real life events, they take place in two different countries in the same world]].
* DarkIsNotEvil: When Bertia is informed that she has contracted with a dark spirit, she initially remarks that it sounds quite befitting for a villainess. However, Cecil explains that dark spirits aren't evil, but rather specialize in defensive magic, which dampens her enthusiasm. Kuro and Zeno are two such dark spirits.
* DarkSecret: [[spoiler:Cecil's status as a BrokenAce was not a fluke, but a genetic curse. The kingdom's founder, Tolgin, was actually TheCaligula due to his status as a BrokenAce, seeking war as a means to quell his boredom, and only stopping and creating a peaceful kingdom thanks to "the fated maiden" aka Queen Alnay. Every few decades, his bloodline would give birth to people like him; [[BrokenAce perfect, yet emotionless and uninterested in anything]] unless they did find something, and would become focused on that no matter what. If they couldn't, they became DeathSeekers and even [[DrivenToSuicide kill themselves]] or just disappear, hence how he would become so different in the other routes if he didn't have Heronia. Cecil notes that by how his father put it, very few of those individuals turned out well. He opts not to tell Bertia of this, because he knows she would feel compelled to always stay with him out of pity, but he'd prefer her to choose to be with him because of her own feelings.]]

* FeeFiFauxPas: Heronia does this often. From directly addressing her social superiors without introducing herself first to spending time alone with unrelated and often engaged men. The worst is hiding documents under her skirt and pulling them out in front of a ballroom full of nobles. This is so incredibly vulgar that every other lady in attendance recoils in disgust and the pragmatic, coldblooded Prince Cecil is grossed out enough to be reluctant to inspect said documents.

* HiddenDepths: Bertia. She initially presents to Cecil as a possibly insane girl who seems to want to march head on to her doom and push Cecil to fall in love with someone he's never met. But later chapters hint at there being a reason for this and eventually it is revealed that [[spoiler:Cecil ending up with Heronia was the only route in the game that allowed Cecil to be happy and prevented a war with the neighboring kingdom. As Bertia wasn't aware of the effects of her own influence or that she could take Heronia's role in helping the capture targets, she seemed to be trying to push for the option she knew had the safest outcome for everyone else, no matter how much she would have to suffer to make it happen.]]

* HoldingBackThePhlebotinum: Magic exists in Cecil's world, but it's used exclusively by the high nobility. As a matter of fact, it's such a hidden secret that not even the otome game based on said world gives its players that knowledge, as neither Bertia nor Heronia, players themselves on their previous lives, are aware of it.
* HourglassPlot: In the original otome game Bertia was the villainess and Heronia the heroine. However the alternate Bertia is a kind-hearted individual who makes friends, plays matchmaker, and tries to prevent a BadFuture. Despite claiming otherwise, she is the real heroine. In contrast, alternate Heronia effectively brainwashes people, spreads rumors and gossip, and expects the [[ItsAllAboutMe world to revolve around her]]. By the end, it's clear ''Heronia'' is the villainess.
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Sir Charles has a crush on his older brother's fiancée, but held off on confessing his feelings because he felt that she would be better off with his brother's prestige and higher standing. This trope also seems to be the reason Bertia is so adamant about pairing her fiancé Prince Cecil off with Heronia.
* InstantFanClub: Bertia has one, and in order to play up her attempted "villainess" persona, she tries to introduce them as rivals and her followers, but she obviously views them as actual friends and Cecil quickly realizes the group acts as guardians protecting Bertia from any problems that could stem from her own odd behavior. She was also unaware that they actually billed themselves as her fan club until that introduction, shocked at her apparent popularity.
* ItAmusedMe: Prince Cecil initially goes along with Bertia's stories about being isekai'd simply because it's one of the few things he's ever found interesting due to her resulting behavior being impossible to predict.

* {{Tsundere}}: Princess Lisolna in the sequel series. In chapter 10 Bertia shuts down her rant in front of her and June in the opening page by stating that it was AngerBornOfWorry more than anything else.

* Tsundere: Princess Lisolna in the sequel series. In chapter 10 Bertia shuts down her rant in front of her and June in the opening page by stating that it was AngerBornOfWorry more than anything else.

* TheStationsOfTheCanon: Bertia certainly tries to invoke this trope and have her and Cecil's lives follow the plot of the game. However, her warning Cecil about the more disastrous events, him falling in love with her as they grow up, and Bertia being too kind and good-natured to even be convincingly mean (much less the cruel villainess she aspires to be), results in all the events either not happening at all (an epidemic that would have killed or debilitated several side characters) or having completely different outcomes (Cecil just completely ignores the heroine during every "event").

In 2021, Shiki began a sequel web novel, ''Jishou Akuyaku Reijou na Tsuma no Kansatsu Kiroku''[[note]]自称悪役令嬢な妻の観察記録。 lit. "An Observation Record of my Wife - A Self-Proclaimed Villainess"[[/note]], serialized in Alphapolis Novels, which picks up [[TimeSkip six months]] after the main story of the previous series. In 2022, Shiki and Hasumi Natsume began a manga adaptation, again serialized in Alphapolis Web Manga.

Unlike other main characters of the [[RebornAsVillainessStory same genre]], however, Bertia purposely drives her life to doom. Leading an otherwise boring life himself, Cecil finds amusement on his fiancée's antics, but he increasingly starts finding truthful cues as to what's leading her to become a "villainess" and the bad influences some unscrupulous people exert on her, and dutifully correcting those.