Literature / The Villainess Lives Again

"You have to live for the sake of your brother. The success of your brother will bring happiness to our family." That is what Artezia Rosan was told by her mother her whole life. Using her power as a marchioness, Artezia helped her brother succeed the throne of the Kratez Empire from the shadows through countless evil schemes. Under his tyrannical rule the empire fell into ruin and misery. However, when Laurence no longer needed Artezia, he exposed all of her crimes to imprison and silence her by cutting off her tongue and limbs.

Rotting in her cell full of regrets, Artezia is freed by a former rival of Laurence's, Grand Duke Cedric Ebron. After rescuing Artezia, Cedric begs her to help the rebellion he is leading and come up with a plan to overthrow Laurence and put an end to his tyranny. While Artezia had no plan to stop Laurence, she knew a way to help Cedric. Using herself as a sacrifice, Artezia uses blood magic to turn back time, but for some reason she returns to the time when she just became 18 with all of her Past-Life Memories.

To atone for her sins, she plans to use all her skills and knowledge to sabotage Laurence and instead make Cedric the emperor. Thus, she suggests a marriage with her to Cedric and when she has secured the throne to him, they will amicably separate (so that he may find happiness with Artezia's only friend from her past life). But as they work closely together, so do their feelings for each other grow.

The Villainess Lives Again (악녀는 두 번 산다, Agnyeoneun du beon sanda; also known as The Villainess Lives Twice) is a Web Serial Novel from 2018 written by Mint Han and published by Golem Factory.

In 2020, it received a manhwa adaptation drawn by Peachberry. The manhwa's English translation is provided by TappyToon.

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This series provides examples of:

• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: In the original timeline, Cedric risked a lot to free Artezia. He then fell on his knees and begged her to help him, despite her being a major contributor for destroying the empire.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: The literal saint ended up in love with a vicious narcissist with an overwhelming inferiority complex and stuck with him without complaint until her eventual death. Meanwhile, the heroic and gracious Cedric falls for a clinical sociopath, though it turns out better for him since Tia is more amoral and pragmatic than outright malicious: Tia will kill you if it serves some greater purpose, but Laurence will kill you because he's in a bad mood, feels slighted or because he hates that he used to need you.
• Always Chaotic Evil: What the Karam, a monstrous humanoid race in the North, is assumed to be by the Temple and the population. The Ebron duchy exists to protect the empire from them but are secretly the most positive group towards them in the empire: They have enough interactions with Karam to realize they're just people, even if they're strange and aggressive.
• An Arm and a Leg: Laurence's punishment for Artezia at the beginning of the story is to cut off her tongue and all of her limbs. He wanted to ensure his sister could not leave any written records behind that could challenge his rule or use her intellect to communicate with others.
• Arranged Marriage:
  • Artezia manipulated Saintess Lisia into accepting a marriage between her and Artezia's brother, Laurence, to give his rule the legitimacy he lacked. Played with in that while she may have forced Lisia, Lisia herself is the one who willingly accepted the match as she hoped to change Laurence. Ironically, while Artezia came to regret the decision due to befriending Lisia, it's clear that Lisia ended up falling for Laurence for real and genuinely tried to make the relationship work, but rather than being the good influence she hoped to be to him, he instead grew obsessed. Laurence's own obsession with her in the new timeline proves to be his undoing as he tries to fully own her, but instead gets him caught and killed by Lisia herself.
  • Lisia was engaged to Cedric before Artezia intervened. Artezia thinks the two were in love with each other, but it's heavily implied Cedric arranged the engagement to protect Lisia, his Childhood Friend with a low barony background, which is supported by their interactions being more akin to siblings. Cedric eventually confirms this after regaining his memories and revealing himself to Artezia.
• Batman Gambit: A lot of Artezia's schemes work out exactly because the pieces in her plan are moving exactly as she expects them to.
  • In the original timeline, Artezia sent Cedric into exile by appealing to his Chronic Hero Syndrome. She deliberately created scenarios that harmed the general populace close to him, expecting him to save them. However, since Cedric frequently ignored Emperor Gregor's orders to do so, he was eventually stripped of his authority and banished. Even in the second timeline, she always expects Cedric to do what he deems morally right, like when she urged him to find Saintess Olga's Heart, a precious diamond, which led to him dismantling a human trafficking ring. The only difference is that this time, she encourages it to help establish his reputation as a hero to the common people of the empire.
  • In the second timeline, it's incredibly easy for Artezia to manipulate Millaira, because she is not the smartest person and her outbursts are predictable. Artezia abuses this to cut off ties with her mother and remove her influence on Laurence, thus making him lose favor with Emperor Gregor.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted. Whenever Artezia is beaten, her clothes are torn and she has visible bruises that other characters comment on.
• Beta Couple: Played with in regards to Laurence and Lisia, who provide an effective foil to Cedric and Artezia's romance. While on the surface the latter seems like a case of Opposites Attract, the two aren't really all that different at their core. They both have a fierce desire to protect those they care about thanks to tragic and lonely childhoods, and are strongly interested in improving and maintaining the well-being of the empire and the people that live within it. They just have different ways of doing it, which allows them to cover for each other's weaknesses and work together as a team. By contrast, Laurence and Lisia are a case of Opposites Attract, with Laurence being a narcissistic psychopath with almost no redeeming qualities whatsoever and Lisia being a literal saint without an "ounce of evil" in her. Unlike Cedric and Artezia, their romance is a complete disaster that ultimately ends with one killing the other in both timelines.
• Big Bad Ensemble: While preventing Laurence from ascending the throne is one of Artezia's primary goals, he's not the only threat, especially since he was only able to become Emperor with Artezia's help. Roygar, Cedric and Laurence's uncle, is another contender for the throne and an equally disastrous prospect because of his greed. Then there is Emperor Gregor, who is Laurence's primary benefactor and the one who killed Cedric's parents; he is arguably the greatest threat, because he has near total control over the empire already, no intention of losing any power until his dying breath and isn't a completely self destructive psychopath.
• Bitch Alert: In Millaira's Establishing Character Moment, the very first scene she appears in, she emotionally abuses her daughter by calling her ugly and instructs the maid to give Tia an unfashionable and unflattering hairstyle.
• Blood Magic: Magic requires life force (in the form of blood), so a Human Sacrifice is necessary for most spells, which is one of the reasons why the temple has forbidden the usage of it. In Artezia's time, almost no one is capable of using magic with her being a notable exception.
• But I Can't Be Pregnant!: This is initially Artezia's reaction when she is told that she's carrying Cedric's child.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: After being shown evidence that Roygar has committed treason by claiming the emperor's authority in negotiations, Gregor is furious. However, it's not that serious, so he instead plans to cut down his power for a few years and then bring him back since Roygar actually dying would undermine his usual MO of letting his heirs plot against each other instead of him. But he misjudged Roygar. He understands that Roygar is greedy, but doesn't know why, so be instead plans to execute Roygar's wife Garner and his eldest child. Garnet turns herself in unprompted after this order. When Roygar hears of this, he considers himself a complete failure for failing to protect his wife and commits suicide. This is bad for literally everyone since not only is this much more drastic than Gregor wanted, it also drives the eastern nobles towards revolt and even threatens Tia and Cedric's positions.
• The Chosen Many: It's implied that not only did Artezia regress instead of Cedric as she intended due to outside divine intervention, but that whatever entity was responsible also picked numerous individuals to regain their memories so that they would help build a more peaceful future and a more stable empire. The first is Cadriol, but later a number of major and minor characters also show memories of the past, from Cedric himself to characters who exist as little more than names.
• Cruel Mercy
  • Laurence claims he lets Artezia live because she is his sister. However, he orders her tongue and limbs to be removed and then throws her in a dark dungeon. Killing her would have been more merciful. Ironically, doing this gives Artezia the reason and ability to use the spell she needed to go back in time to prevent Laurence's rise to the throne.
  • After being blatantly caught involved in human trafficking, Millaira is exiled to the countryside. It's a comfortable enough exile, but it destroys all of her personal power and completely alienates her from her family, particularly after seemingly realizing how much she actually valued Tia all along, but Tia is almost completely indifferent to her now and only ever visits her once. Despite surviving the story, you get the feeling that she wouldn't care much if she had died because she no longer has anything to live for.
  • At the climax of the story, Gregor's attempt to launch a preemptive counter coup against Cedric spurs him to start a real one and seize control over the palace and armed forces. At this point his health has deteriorated to the point that he's barely alive at all thanks to his doctor poisoning him, so the throne is abdicated on his behalf and he's left to die in reasonable comfort stripped of absolutely all power.
• Dating Catwoman: It's strongly implied that Tia has loved Cedric for a long time, even when they were enemies. For his part it's a good deal more ambiguous, but there is a brief side story that quietly suggests things could have ended much cleaner and quicker if he had asked her to dance at their first meeting.
• Decadent Court: The Imperial Court is portrayed as this, and it's stated repeatedly that if you have any sort of claim to the throne, you're going to be dragged into the fight no matter how much you wished otherwise. Even Cedric, who genuinely has no personal interest in becoming Emperor, inevitably ended up throwing his hat in the ring anyway in the first timeline once it became clear that the other contenders were never going to leave him alone as long as he was alive and presented himself as a potential threat. In the second timeline, Artezia goes out of her way to tell him this early so he can be convinced to join her in her plan.
• Destructive Romance: Laurence and Lisia. Loving Laurence and trying to change him to be a better person causes Lisia no end of misery, be it in this timeline or the next one. Ultimately, once she finally accepts that he's never going to change, no matter how much they love each other, she ends up killing him.
• Didn't See That Coming:
  • Anyone who actually thinks Artezia and Cedric would support them or could be swayed to their side, be it Laurence/Gregor or Marchioness Camellia/Grand Duke Roygar, is in for a rude awakening, as Artezia actually wants Cedric on the throne. By the time they realize that Artezia is pushing for Cedric, it will be too late to retaliate.
  • After Artezia sets Millaira up, she wishes to get her mother exiled by peacefully negotiating with the temple. She expects this to go smoothly, as she used to cooperate with Bishop Akim in the first timeline and she has given the temple plenty of bribes. What she doesn't see coming is Akim's hostility towards her. By the time she meets Akim, he already has conspired with Marchioness Camellia. Artezia accidentally already became Akim's enemy, because she has started to work with Brother Colton, a former bishop who completely opposes Akim, on the western grain business. Feeling threatened, Akim decides to attack Colton's benefactor with the ultimate goal to remove Artezia from power and thus weaken Colton as well.
• Didn't Think This Through: Emperor Gregor keeps his support for his favorite child, Laurence, ambiguous. He doesn't hide that Laurence has his favor and is a serious contender for crown prince, yet he doesn't commit to Laurence fully, so that Laurence's and Roygar's factions focus on each other instead of trying to usurp him from his throne. However, he belatedly realizes that he set a dangerous precedent with this. Giving an illegitimate child of his a chance to become emperor means that all of Gregor's other illegitimate offspring are in danger too. If Roygar wins and becomes heir, he will not only kill Laurence, Millaira and Artezia, he will also mercilessly kill Countesses Eunice and Josiah and their children. This realization, along with Laurence disqualifying himself with his actions, pushes Gregor to seriously consider Cedric as his heir, as Cedric would not want to purge Gregor's other relatives.
• Divine Right of Kings:
  • This is (partly) how Artezia got Laurence the legitimacy he needed to become emperor. She faked a prophecy from an oracle that proclaimed Saintess Lisia as the next Empress. Of the three possible heirs to the throne, only Cedric and Laurence were unattached while Roygar was long married, meaning that the former two were, in the common people's eyes, the only legitimate contenders to be emperor. Artezia then framed Roygar for treason to get him executed and had Cedric (who had engaged himself to Lisia to protect her from unwanted suitors) exiled, leaving Laurence as the only possible suitor. The two got married and Laurence was finally proclaimed Crown Prince the following day.
  • The circumstances of Leticia's birth brings the issue up again. Having been born the day of the Harvest Festival, in the middle of a major religious ceremony, after her mother had her life saved by what was clearly a holy blessing, makes her a literal miracle baby. Multiple factions note that it's more than likely the common people will want a child with royal blood born under such circumstances to succeed the throne, making her an object of interest and a target as a result. The situation is bad enough that Tia briefly considers the possibility of publicly revealing her status as a Saintess just to shield her daughter from the all scrutiny she'll be under.
• The Dog Was the Mastermind: One plot point that comes up briefly, is discussed briefly and then forgotten is Gregor's head servant passing some information to the protagonists. They try to find out why he would do that and for who but no progress is made before they have to drop the matter. He wasn't taking orders from anyone at all but rather working under his own initiative while secretly poisoning Gregor for years, meaning following that line of thought was never going to lead anywhere due to flawed premises.
• Et Tu, Brute?: When Artezia and Cedric come to Ebron, Artezia notices that a lot of things that are usually kept secret are openly known to all Ebron servants. Cedric justifies this with the fact that their threat comes from outside and that he has full faith in his people. However, Artezia warns him that betrayal can sometimes come without provocation and for unexpected reasons. While Cedric assures her that he will pay more attention, he largely laughs off her concerns. When Aubrey, the youngest daughter of his castellans' family, betrays Artezia and Ebron due to her jealousy towards Artezia to Cardriol, Cedric is outraged. Blaming himself for not protecting Tia better and not listening to her warning, he sentences Aubrey to death and strips House Jordin of their noble titles and positions.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones
  • As bad as Gregor is, he's still a human being and wants to feel like he has a family that loves him, which is why he at least superficially cherishes Laurence and Millaira. Tia deliberately goes about breaking this illusion for him in order to reduce Laurence's influence and to destabilize the man himself.
  • Roygar is only greedy to protect his family. When they're at risk of execution, he straight up commits suicide to force Cedric to shelter them.
  • Deconstructed with Laurence. He might've genuinely loved Lisia in the previous timeline, but it still wasn't enough to change him in the end, and he ultimately ended up ruining her.
• Everyone Has Standards: As a late story twist, it turns out Gregor's health was declining because his chief servant has been poisoning him slowly for a few years. Gregor trusted this man more than his closest friends because he knows for certain the man would die for him. Unfortunately, he fails to realize that the servant's deepest loyalty is to the well-being of the empire, specifically in terms of having a ruler who is not pointlessly violent or cruel. The man has memories of the original timeline, so he knows that Gregor trying so hard to have Laurence succeed him will end poorly for the empire's future.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Gregor assumes that Roygar is just greedy and selfish, so when Roygar is implicated in treason he "offers" a deal: He'll execute his wife and child, but spare Roygar himself. Roygar can then just make another heir. To Gregor, this makes sense given that he murdered his own legitimate children to strengthen his position. To Roygar, this represents the absolute worst case scenario since Roygar was doing everything for his family. Roygar promptly commits suicide while Roygar's family survives.
• Family Extermination:
  • Millaira poisoned every member of the direct Rosan line to make her daughter, the last remaining descendant, heir apparent.
  • It's implied that this is what Emperor Gregor effectively did with Empress Katrine. He killed her parents and possibly even his own children with her to take over the Riagan Duchy.
• Fantastic Racism: The Karam are considered mere monsters by most and even unholy by the temple. However, while they do fight brutally, they are not stupid or evil and some have even formed families with humans in the most northern regions. As such, Ebron doesn't consider them a force of evil but simply another invader at the border and one that it may be possible to negotiate with, setting aside the difficulties of the two learning their languages. Indeed, one Karam individual leads a small attack with new siege weapons and seemingly leaves himself deliberately open to being sniped by Cedric, who chooses to gamble on a peaceful new relationship rather than returning to the status quo, after which the general retreats.
• Fictional Age of Majority: The age to inherit titles and become fully independent is 20. There is an exception though. Nobles are allowed to inherit earlier if they marry with the consent of their guardian. This is why Artezia asks Cedric to marry her, since her mother, Millaira, would otherwise have control of the Rosan Marquessate for another two years, which would give Laurence enough time to use the Rosans' entire fortune to strengthen his own position.
• Flaw Exploitation: Artezia is a master in doing this. Since she can read people very well, she knows exactly what angers them and how she can gain favor.
  • Cedric has a Chronic Hero Syndrome. If there is a crisis, he will prioritize the safety of the populace.
  • Emperor Gregor demands filial piety and wants an idyllic family life whenever it suits him. Artezia thus tasks Countess Eunice to play the obedient daughter to appease Gregor, butters up Gregor herself, and sows seeds of discord in her own family.
  • Laurence wants more than anything "legitimacy", as he has a complex about the fact that he is an illegitimate son. She suggests to him to cut ties with his mother and try to get adopted by the empress instead, as this is the only way to gain the legitimacy he is lacking (which is not true, since Artezia in the original timeline gave him said legitimacy in a different way in the future).
  • Roygar is greedy and opportunistic. If there is an opportunity that allows him to increase profits and/or accomplish a major goal, he will throw caution in the wind and do anything to take advantage of it and reap the benefits, regardless of any potential risks.
• Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: The reason why Cedric waits so long to reveal he has his Past-Life Memories to Artezia is because he couldn't forgive her for destroying Ebron in the first timeline, in spite of the fact that he's fallen in love with her over the course of the second. Eventually, he reconciles with the idea by acknowledging that he was the one to ask for help in restoring the empire in the first place, which makes him responsible for her actions, which allows him to finally forgive her and embrace his love for her.
• For Want Of A Nail: Implied in one after story. While the main story has a reasonably happy conclusion, it takes a lot of sacrifice to get there throughout the years. However, during the after story we see Cedric's memory of the first time he ever saw Artezia, back when she was desperate for affection but hadn't done any of her trademark plotting for Laurence yet. A friend half jokingly urges him to ask her to a dance, but despite considering it, he leaves the party without asking. The side story ends there, seemingly suggesting that if he had just asked her for a dance, things could have maybe been so much happier for both them and everyone around them.
• Frame-Up: After Millaira poisoned almost every Rosan, she accused the entirely loyal Hansen servant family of the poisoning. Since the distant Rosan members were aiming for the inheritance and Millaira had Emperor Gregor's backing, the Hansens had no other choice but to flee to avoid punishment. Artezia eventually approaches them in forgiveness, clears their name and reinstates them, earning her their loyalty.
• Framing the Guilty Party: Laurence mixes false accusations with things that Artezia really did (for him) to absolve himself of any crimes and use his sister as a convenient scapegoat, which also ensures that she cannot be a threat to him anymore.
• Future Imperfect: In the afterstories, careful review of ancient languages and records indicates there were once formal relations between Karam and humans and, while they may have no written language now, their language does seem to be descended from ancient languages that did have one. There are even implications that the two races are actually related in some way, hinting at a common ancestor.
• Generation Xerox:
  • Laurence might physically resemble Millaria more, but his personality is more akin to his father Gregor, just without any impulse control. They're both paranoid Control Freaks who crave and covet power above all else, to the point of willing to kill family to claim it.
  • As if to reinforce these parallels, Laurence's younger half-sister Artezia ends up marrying Cedric, the Grand Duke of Ebron and the person Laurence resents the most, much like how Gregor's own younger half-sister Floella married Gregor's chief rival Leofric. The implication being that if Laurence does manage to claim the throne in the second timeline, then Artezia and Cedric will face the same deadly fate Cedric's parents did.
• God Is Good: God has no direct presence in the story, no lines and his only explicit action is picking saints and implicitly hijacking Tia's spell at the start and giving people past life memories. However, it all comes together in the end to remove one tyrant, to stop an even worse one from rising to power, foster peace and diplomacy between Karam, Kratez and its neighbors and bring reform policies to increase stability.
• Good Is Not Nice: That being said, God's help is a little, well, lacking in some respects and he seems to value efficiency over morality: Tia may be very good at getting things done, but kindness and empathy are not her strong suit.
• Heir Club for Men: Averted. Leticia is generally considered more of a worthy heir to the throne than Cedric himself and after her little brother is born she keeps the position of crown princess. Her little brother being sickly like Artezia doesn't hurt though.
• He Knows Too Much:
  • At first, this seems to be why Laurence silenced Artezia. She was involved in lots of evil and cruel schemes that all benefited Laurence. In truth, his pride couldn't tolerate her.
  • In the new timeline, Artezia orders Bill's assassination, both to harm her mother and because Bill copied books about ancient magic for her.
  • In the original timeline, the pirate king that facilitated Roygar's end acted on Artezia's behalf. She had him and his crew caught and executed after he no longer was any use to her.
• Hidden Agenda Hero: Someone has the head servant of Gregor's palace pass along information that is very helpful, but the protagonists are never sure why they would do so or who managed to move this seemingly incorruptible man. There is no Man Behind the Man: The servant's loyalty to Gregor is second only to his need to make sure the empire never has a pointless tyrant at the helm, meaning he steps up completely under his own initiative to sabotage the emperor and Laurence after regaining memories of the previous timeline. It's never clear if Tia or Cedric ever become aware of him.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Beneath all her arrogance and hysteria, Millaira is a Broken Bird who is bitterly aware that all the power she wields comes from others and that she has no real power of her own. The reason she is so obsessed with keeping Laurence and Artezia loyal to her is because she knows that they can ruin her and leave her absolutely powerless once they become adults — a point that was proven true when Laurence killed her in the first timeline after she nagged on him one too many times. In addition, while she might sincerely love Gregor, she also knows he could easily discard her once her looks fade, and that she can't rely on him and his favor forever.
  • Roygar is only greedy and cruel in order to protect his family. Gregor misjudges this trait, so after Roygar commits a mild act of treason his way of cutting down Roygar's power is to pardon him but execute his wife Garnet and their eldest son, assuming that Roygar won't really care. He's wrong: Roygar commits suicide almost immediately once alone, sparking succession issues and possible rebellions from the east.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Gregor is tricked into believing that Cedric intends to start a coup against him and attempts to preempt him. Unfortunately, the orders were top secret and only a few men directly received them. Cedric is able to use the extreme trust he has gained over the years to take control of the army supposedly in order to protect Gregor, then deposes him.
• Human Traffickers: Baron Yeats and Count Eison were involved in a human trafficker ring that kidnapped children and sold them as Sex Slaves and for hunting sport. Artezia dismantles the ring while making Cedric look like a hero and weaken Laurence's reputation.
• I Can't Dance: Subverted. At Count Endar's ball, Cedric asks Artezia for a dance. She apologizes in advance that she may step on his feet because she is not very good. Cedric also says that he can't dance well. Both of them can actually dance very well.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Artezia's greatest regret in her first life is not protecting Lisia from Laurence. In fact, she forged a false oracle message that forced Lisia into her marriage with Laurence in the first place, yet Lisia forgave Artezia anyway.
• Imaginary Love Triangle: For a good portion of the story, Artezia operates under the belief that Cedric, despite his feelings for her, will eventually fall in love with Lisia since they were engaged in the previous timeline. In reality, Cedric and Lisia have no such feelings for each other and it's implied and eventually confirmed the two only got engaged so Cedric had pretext to use Ebron's might to protect Lisia after she was publicly revealed to be a Saintess and her life was endangered, since he viewed her as a surrogate sister. Then, even after it becomes clear to her that Cedric really isn't going to fall in love with Lisia, Artezia starts feeling guilty because she believes she "stole" Cedric from her best friend. It takes Cedric finally revealing he has all his memories of the previous timeline for these misconceptions to clear up.
• Improperly Paranoid: Laurence will never be a good emperor for two major reasons (and likely many minor ones). First, he secretly has a fragile ego and can't stand the thought of being looked down on. Second, he needs to feel like he's in complete control and will thoroughly crush even completely harmless targets if he feels they could pose the slightest threat to him. Remember, when the story calls him far too paranoid to be emperor, it's doing so in comparison to Gregor, a man who killed all of his own legitimate children because they could pose a threat to him.
• In Mysterious Ways: Though Tia refuses to think about it much, she IS a saintess, as is Lisia. There are also frequent implications late in the story that numerous individuals have been chosen for some unfathomable reason to enact a future the story doesn't elaborate on. Even Gregor was one such divinely favored individual once while in the present people begin remembering just enough of the past timeline to fulfill some purpose. The people chosen are all seemingly random individuals and some may not even have been mentioned, yet in the end The Chosen Many all play their roles in stabilizing the empire and guiding it in a beneficial direction.
• In the Blood: After finding out she's pregnant, Artezia immediately tries to get an abortion, fearing that the child will turn out like her or — worse — like Millaira and Laurence. While Cedric and Alice convince her not to, the former does acknowledge that this is a legitimate concern^note as it would be in Real Life, since mental illnesses have a genetic factor to them, and tells Artezia that they'll cross that bridge if it comes to it.
• Kingmaker Scenario: Subverted. Grand Duke Cedric is in a neutral position, as he has no interest in politics. However, as a hero with military power, he could back either his uncle, Grand Duke Roygar, or his cousin, Laurence, which would decide who would become the next emperor, except Artezia plans to eliminate both factions and have Cedric become emperor instead because he also has a right to the throne as the emperor's nephew.
• Lady and Knight: Cedric, a Knight in Shining Armor, will do whatever he can to protect his lady, Artezia.
• La Résistance: Cedric leads a group of rebels and dissidents to overthrow Laurence in the original timeline.
• Late Pregnancy Realization: After sleeping with Cedric for the first time, missing a few periods didn't set off any alarm bells for her because thanks to her poor eating habits and health she would often miss her period anyway. It's not until after she's taken a light sedative in order to frame a political opponent that a doctor examines her and reveals the situation.
• Law of Inverse Fertility: Artezia not only actively doesn't want children, she doesn't even have a regular menstrual cycle and is in rather poor health overall. Despite this, she gets pregnant from a single sexual encounter and has to be gently talked out of getting an abortion when she realizes the truth. Later, after she realizes she's just a bit incompetent as a mother at worst rather than actively harmful like her own mother was, she gets pregnant again despite assurances this would never happen. This time she has to talk Cedric into letting her keep it despite the severe health risks.
• Love at First Sight: Sort of. The moment Cedric sets eyes on Tia in the second timeline, he is instantly drawn to her after a brief blip in his memory to the last time he saw her in the first timeline: Weeping, limbless and in despair over the turmoil she caused.
• Love Cannot Overcome: Laurence and Lisia genuinely love each other, but one of them is an unrepentant psychopath and the other a literal saint. Not only did his abuse end up killing her in the original timeline, in the second one it just makes him into a worse person: While Lisia was fully willing to abandon everything to run away with him, he instead grew murderously obsessed with her because he is not a fixable person. She gives up after this offer and eventually kills him herself seemingly without an ounce of regret.
• Love Triangle: Cardriol and Skyla had some ship tease, but she ended up marrying a member of the original Camellia bloodline in order to secure her legitimacy and succeed the house. You'd think it would end here, but the epilogue indicates that there are rumors of Skyla and Cadriol having an affair. Though to be fair, neither she nor the man she married ever pretended they loved each other, so saying it's a love triangle is a bit misleading.
• Marriage Before Romance: Cedric proposes to Artezia before they really romance each other, and he knows their relationship is fake and temporary, but both already have feelings for each other before they get married. He does not actually want their marriage to be temporary, while Artezia only wants to divorce Cedric because she thinks he will fall in love with Lisia eventually.
• Marriage of Convenience:
  • The marriage arranged by Artezia between Laurence and Lisia happens because Laurence being married to the saintess of the empire gives him the legitimacy he lacks. At their wedding reception, he is named the empire's crown prince, just as Artezia planned.
  • The marriage proposed by Artezia between her and Cedric would both be convenient for them. Emperor Gregor would grow less suspicious of Cedric, since this would strengthen Laurence's position, while Artezia would get to inherit the Marquessate of Rosan earlier and cleanly cut ties with her mother. Artezia could then also directly assist Cedric without causing suspicion.
  • After regaining all his memories, Cedric assures Artezia that the reason he was engaged to Lisia in the first timeline is this. She would have been under the temple's thumb and Cedric couldn’t just give Ebron's support to her outright. Therefore, a engagement was planned which would also protect her from unwanted suitors.
  • Right before Roygar is sent to the Riagan Duchy to solve the conflict with the Kingdom of Amel, Skyla approaches her cousin Ian and suggests a marriage of convenience. Ian would be able to reclaim his birthright without further issue, while Skyla would free House Camellia and she and her line would be fully acknowledged as its successor. Both need to remove House Ruden, which is why their interests align.
• Marry for Love: Invoked. Artezia suggests that Cedric presents their impromptu courtship and marriage as a love match, so people won't immediately assume he's siding with Laurence in the ongoing Succession Crisis. It works, in part because it's not as much of an act as either of them would like it to be: It's strongly implied that Tia secretly loved Cedric even in the previous timeline and Cedric's vague memory of the past life's tormented Tia draws him to her.
• Matricide: Artezia learns from Cedric after he rescued her in the original timeline that Laurence had his mother killed after she kept annoying him.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: It's strongly implied that Artezia's spell was hijacked by God to prevent the Bad Future rather than the spell actually working as intended. Not only that, it's also hinted that numerous other individuals were chosen to receive past life memories in order to build a stronger future, some of them including Cardriol and Gregor's trusted head servant, whose actions play a role in Cedric's ascension to the throne. Even Laurence regaining his memories ultimately serves as a distraction because with his memory of having been emperor once, he starts obsessing over goals he didn't manage to achieve in the previous timeline. This makes his behavior even more self destructive and makes him even easier to beat.
• My Greatest Second Chance: The one thing Artezia regrets more than anything is that she couldn't protect her Only Friend, Lisia, despite promising Cedric to do so. She is determined to not let Laurence get his hands on Lisia again and plans to have Cedric and Lisia marry once her marriage with Cedric is over.
• Nepotism: Notable aversion. Emperor Gregor clearly favors Laurence as heir, but he cannot make Laurence crown prince without just cause, because Laurence is an illegitimate child and has no notable backing, on top of him lacking any traits or talents that would make him an effective ruler.
• Omniscient Morality License: God is implied to intervene in the affairs of the empire either directly through saints or indirectly through the likes of Tia though she's also confirmed a saintess later. However, the way He does so could be considered questionable at best if He weren't omniscient: One of the people He likely "sponsored" at one point was Gregor because at least Gregor had the ability to keep the empire together.
• Past-Life Memories: Artezia has kept all of her memories from her first life. Some people like Cedric or Laurence also remember parts of the first timeline in their dreams while Cadriol, the prince of Eimel, also retained all his memories from the past.
  • Cedric eventually remembers everything.
• Peggy Sue: A rare canon example, where the premise of the original work is the main character reliving her life.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Gregor is an utter bastard and completely selfish, but he runs an efficient and prosperous empire because that makes things better for him. He even wants to leave a good legacy behind, so he has several prepared successors lined up to hand the throne to when he finally dies rather than destroy every single possible threat. This is the difference between him and his illegitimate son: All Laurence cares about is being in control and supporting his own ego, so he has no restraints on his behavior and things very quickly fall apart once Artezia is not longer around to restrain him.
• Protectorate: Cedric has made it his goal to become the empire's shield and protect its people. He also is very protective of Lisia and Artezia.
• The Purge: Emperor Gregor (falsely) accused the grand ducal family of Ebron of treason, so he did not just kill the grand ducal couple but also their entire household and vassals in the capital. The families of the executed people were hidden in the village of Thold in Ebron, Lisia being one of these people that were hidden. While these people have been cleared of the charges, the village is one of Cedric's biggest kept secrets.
• Real Men Eat Meat: Justified. Artezia gains some favor from Cedric's soldiers when she distributes lunch boxes with a lot of meat to them during their stay at the temple. The temple priests do not eat meat and the soldiers need more nutritious food that the temple cannot provide.
• The Resenter: In the previous timeline Venia, Lisia's maid, blamed Artezia for her death and the destruction of Ebron. She wasn't entirely wrong but she still unfairly held Artezia solely responsible for the former since Lisia's death was mainly caused by Laurence's actions. Her grudge was so deep that when they cross paths again in the new timeline, her past memories are intact and she tries to murder her despite Artezia trying to help her.
• Romantic Fake–Real Turn: Cedric and Artezia are in a Fake Relationship, except Cedric quickly falls for Artezia and Artezia already had feelings for him in the original timeline. When the empress asks Cedric whether the rumors are true that he has fallen for Artezia, he affirms this and she realizes that he is serious. This makes Artezia deeply uncomfortable because she feels she doesn't deserve it. Cedric eventually admits he remembers everything she did, but since this includes her grief at the trouble she caused he can overlook it since he fell in love with her before he fully remembered.
• Ruling Family Massacre:
  • The reason why Artezia is told to support Laurence is that if Laurence loses the inheritance fight, as a potential heir he and his entire family, that includes Artezia and Millaira, will be executed as well.
  • After his ascendance to the throne, Emperor Gregor killed most of the imperial family who could threaten his rule. The only people that survived this purge were his nephew, Cedric, and his 12-year-old little brother, Roygar.
• Selective Obliviousness: Tia and Cedric's basic working dynamic runs on this. Tia schemes and manipulates in the background while Cedric pretty much naturally cultivates a heroic image and garners popularity. She pretty bluntly informs him at several points that he probably shouldn't pry too close into what she's doing because it would upset him and he typically avoids a lot of the hints he does get to what she's doing. She does, however, also make it clear that if his morals are truly against what she has planned out, she will stop immediately and defer to him because she knows she's a bit of a high functioning sociopath and doesn't like this about herself.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Artezia travels back in time to prevent her brother from claiming the throne.
• Sins of Our Fathers: Averted. The Hansen family does not hold a grudge against Artezia, despite her mother poisoning every other Rosan in the main family and then blaming the Hansens for the deed. This may have to do with the fact that Artezia was an innocent child, bears Strong Family Resemblance to the Rosans, and came to ask for forgiveness in the name of the Rosan family. She then clears the Hansens' name, which earns her the services and Undying Loyalty of them. Tia, for her part, thinks he's actually just latching on this as an excuse because he's poor, needs to provide for his family and the story she sells appeals to his pride and sense of duty.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Gregor's trusted head servant has been spending the past few years slowly poisoning the man so his health will decline in a bid to stop Laurance from becoming the next ruler because his true loyalty is the empire's well-being. This action on top of Cedric turning Gregor's attempt to accuse him of starting a coup against him contributes to Cedric being able to secure the throne.
• Stupid Evil: Laurence in the first timeline. He abuses Lisia, who is his main source of legitimacy, until she drops dead, sabotages Cedric's campaign to keep the Karam out of the North and eliminates Artezia, who won him his throne. Even if the timeline had not been reversed, the empire was on the verge of collapse, so his reign would have been short lived.
• Succession Crisis:
  • Emperor Gregor is the illegitimate child of the previous emperor. The previous emperor had no issue with the empress, so Gregor was adopted by the empress and named crown prince. When the empress passed away, Gregor's father remarried and had two children, Cedric's mother Floella and Roygar, but by that time Gregor amassed so much power and influence already that him being the heir apparent was set in stone. Even so, his lack of legitimacy caused some stability problems, so when he ascended the throne he had most of the other members of the imperial family murdered so they couldn't contest his rule. The only survivors of the slaughter were the twelve-year old Roygar, and their newborn nephew Cedric, ostensibly because, as children, they couldn't be considered threats yet.
  • All of Emperor Gregor's legitimate children are dead, so he has to choose a crown prince among other people but deliberately stalls so as to make his potential heirs plot against each other and not him. Roygar and Laurence try to eliminate each other, while Cedric is viewed as a potential kingmaker but uninterested in taking the throne and thus viewed as an asset and not a threat. At first, that is, until people suddenly realize that Cedric is suddenly the strongest contender thanks to his popularity with the common people of the empire.
• Sympathy for the Devil: In the original timeline, seeing Artezia in her sorry state after Laurence had her tortured, maimed and starved, makes Cedric still feel bad for her, despite everything she has done. He knows that as bad as she was, she was never cruel for no reason and never would have wanted the empire to become what it has.
• Take a Third Option: Most nobles assume that the battle for the throne only involves Grand Duke Roygar, the emperor's little brother, or Laurence, the emperor's illegitimate son. However, Artezia knows both are Inadequate Inheritors because Roygar is mainly driven by greed, while Laurence is an utterly cruel man. Both would ruin the empire, so Artezia plans to play these two off against each other and then make Cedric (who also has royal blood) the emperor.
• Take Me Instead: After Aubrey is charged with high treason and sentenced to be executed by a furious Cedric for betraying Ebron and facilitating Artezia's kidnapping by Cadriol, her mother Margaret begs to be allowed to die in her stead. Knowing Cedric would never accept that, her other daughters Hailey and Fiona hold her back while her eldest Mel personally kills Aubrey to redeem the family's honor.
• Thanatos Gambit: Roygar commits suicide in order to twist what was once a threat from Cedric into a guarantee to protect his family. Cedric had given him a pistol as a threat that he would challenge him to a duel and kill him, but Roygar uses this same pistol to shoot himself. Cedric feels honorbound to fulfill this wish.
• Their First Time: Cedric and Artezia share their first time after the former rescues her from Cardriol.
• Undying Loyalty: Gregor trusts his chief servant more than any other living person because the two have known each other for decades and the man owes him a life debt. Further, he also knows the servant truly believes he is a ruler worth supporting: Gregor may be a brutal tyrant, but he protects his own people and works for the long term security of the nation, even if only so that he'll be remembered well. But Gregor fails to take into account that the servant is more loyal to the rule of law than Gregor personally and has been slowly poisoning him so that Laurence will not become the next emperor, with no involvement from Artezia as he also has memories of the past timeline and acted on his own will.
• Unknown Character: God is a character in the story... maybe. Hard to say for sure how much He's truly responsible for, though, with even the most relatively well informed characters only having vague suspicions of divine intervention.
• Villain Takes an Interest: Leticia immediately becomes the object of interest for several factions, particularly Gregor, after she's born as a literal miracle baby. Both Cedric and Artezia suspect that Gregor might try to make her his new heir in hopes of bypassing having to declare the former his heir, particularly since Leticia is too young to plot against him.
• Wham Episode:
  • Artezia is not the only regressor. The Pirate King she used as a pawn in the first timeline remembers as well and tries to kidnap her. Also one of the Karam leaders likely remembers, causing Tia to realize there may be more challenges than she expected.
  • Cedric also remembers the previous timeline, as seen in Chapter 146.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: If there is one topic that will rile up the people, it's children being harmed.
  Artezia: Gambling is acceptable, as are drugs, bribery, and violence. The public will ignore those things and brush them off as typical of nobles. However, if children were to be harmed, that would cause public outrage.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Caught in a bit of a tricky situation by a corrupt bishop, Artezia attempts to take a very light sedative to cause herself to pass out and frame him for mistreating her. It works, especially since she happened to be pregnant at the time, which both makes the public outcry harsher and makes it seem less likely that she did it to herself. After all, what pregnant woman would risk a miscarriage like that? ...One who didn't know, and didn't take learning well. Since the child is Cedric's, it also becomes an attempted murder on a member of the imperial family, escalating things further.
• You Are Fat: One of the ways Millaira abuses her daughter is to fat-shame her constantly. Artezia developed eating disorders due to this. She's much too thin, can barely make herself eat and has poor health as a result. It even caused her to miss her periods sometimes, meaning she fails to recognize she's pregnant for months.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
  • Laurence has his sister punished after she becomes a liability to him, since as his former Number Two She Knows Too Much. Artezia can't even blame him, she always knew he would do this, but secretly hoped he would spare her if she just kept quiet.
  • Artezia was also notorious for doing this. In the original timeline, she used a pirate king and his crew to attack merchants and increase grain prices to create a scenario where she could have the emperor execute Grand Duke Roygar for treason. Once this was taken care of, she captured the pirates and had them executed as well. The greatest mercy she could offer was to arrange the execution to be quick and painless rather than the brutal and slow affair it was meant to be.

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