By Sarasa Nagase and Mai Murasaki. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Reijo Nanode Rasubosu o Katte Mimashita” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Taylor Engel.

Despite the fact that there are still three volumes to go after this, according to the author, this is the end of the main series. And it’s a real corker of an ending, giving us one last crisis for the road, where Aileen is not under threat of execution (it’s hard to do that now that she’s the Empress), but the world is still in danger, and more importantly, her family is in danger. This is when Aileen “rampages”, as Claude puts it, and she certainly does so here, kicking people in the face, doing all sorts of Holy Sword tricks, and otherwise being the badassest badass to ever badass. What’s more, the series continues to hammer on its themes: fate is something to rebel against, no one is irredeemable, and your love can indeed save the world. Indeed, it had better. Aileen literally says at the climax that saving Claude is her only goal. If she saves the world too, that’s just a bonus.

Covers always spoil, huh? So yes, everything is peachy keen with our heroes, although Aileen is worried about whether she’ll be able to bear children for Claude. Suddenly a mysterious but incredibly powerful teenage boy arrives, who looks like Claude. With an eyepatch and an emo streak a mile wide. He immediately puts the entire nation (almost) to sleep, puts a barrier over it, and heads over to Ashmael, where Roxane is about to give birth. He’s not the only mysterious stranger to arrive, however, as a young woman follows, who seems to know who this mysterious teen is… and also looks an awful lot like Baal. If you guessed this was a “kids from the future” plot, you get no prize, as it’s obvious. But the kids aren’t the threat.

Most of the secondary cast play a smaller role in this volume, but there’s one big exception to that, and of course it’s Lilia. We had to somehow do something with her before the end of the series, as she’s the only one who is deliberately trying not to grow and change. That finally ends here, however. Yes, there are not one but *two* new otome games that came out in Japan that this book is based on (Aileen died right after the 5th came out), but Aileen has broken the plot of the previous games so much that they don’t mesh anymore. I think that, more than her fiance Cedric, might be what causes Lilia to stop being a “player” and become a true heroine. I mean, don’t get me wrong, she’s still a massive asshole to everyone around her, but at least she’s no longer wishing for chaos to descend. Hell, she even hints in the final chapter that she, by “removing the all ages rating” (i.e., consummating with Cedric), allows Aileen to get pregnant. Aileen is the badass, but Lilia is still my favorite.

So we’re done! Good end! That said, as I noted, there’s more books coming. The next one is an after story, apparently. As always, in the top 5 villainess series out there.

By Sarasa Nagase and Mai Murasaki. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Reijo Nanode Rasubosu o Katte Mimashita” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Taylor Engel.

This is a short story volume, but it contains the basic theme for the entire series, which is that when Aileen is doomed, or on the verge of execution, or otherwise has to work really hard to achieve anything, she’s fantastic, amazing, stupendous. When she’s surrounded by her loving husband, loyal allies and BFFs, she has a tendency to… well, there’s no getting around it, she’s a sub. The end of the book discusses Aileen and Claude’s first time, which we briefly heard about at the end of Book 6, and it’s immediately apparent that Aileen is in terrible denial about the fact that, in bed, Claude can not only wrap her around his… not-so-little “finger”, but she also just gives in to him, which embarrasses and humiliates her. And also turns her on, we’re meant to understand. If this is a surprise to you at all, this must be your first volume. That said, there’s more to this volume than that.

The short stories in this book are in chronological order, with the earliest happening after Book 1 and the latest ones taking place at the end of Book 6. Most of them are short, and it wouldn’t surprise me to hear that they were extras with a store exclusive or DVD release. There are bulkier ones, though. One goes into much greater detail about how Walt and Kyle went from the Church’s honed weapons who are there to kill the Demon Lord to his most trusted bodyguards. (If your response is “because the Church is evil, congrats, you read Japanese light novels.) Because this is an otome game world, Valentine’s Day exists, and we get to see the ladies of the book (minus Lilia, who is notably absent from most of this volume) dole out candies and chocolates to all. And, as I mentioned above, Aileen and Claude have had their first time. He’s very, very happy. She’s a wreck.

I mentioned the lack of Lilia. She does show up at the very beginning, in a scene taking place before the start of Book 1. It mostly just shows off her perfect heroine vibes that she’s deliberately cultivating. More interesting is the end, where we see all the main couples do something. Aileen and Claude consummate, Isaac and Rachel decide to elope (their parents are against it) and buy a house. Auguste proposes to Serena, who reacts in exactly the way you’d expect a furious tsundere to react. Roxanne gets reassurance that she’s not just “the top of the harem” but the only wife. And Sahra… um, exists, I guess. They can’t all be gems. But Lilia is determined to avoid her fate. She declares she’s staying “All Ages”, despite being married to Cedric. What’s more, the thing that gets her over the moon more than anything this volume is not Cedric doing anything, but Aileen re-enacting, just for her, one of the villain CGs from the game. Lilia is far more like Maria Campbell than we’d expected, adn Cedric is still coming in second to the villainess in her heart.

So that was not essential, but it was pretty fun! Claude fans will love seeing him 100% in charge here. Presumably back to more “if Aileen doesn’t fix this immediately she’ll be executed” next time.

By Sarasa Nagase and Mai Murasaki. Released in Japan as “Akuyaku Reijo Nanode Rasubosu o Katte Mimashita” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Taylor Engel.

So I have very good news for fans of this series: not once in this volume is Aileen threatened with execution as a result of something happening out of her control. Which makes a nice change from the first five books. Indeed, there’s a very “final volume” to this, despite the fact there are at least five more books coming. All the major subplots are tied up, most of the romantic couples are now together… well, mostly (try harder, Serena), Claude is no longer being forcibly possessed and turned into a dragon, and everyone gets something to do. Indeed, that may be my biggest complaint of the volume: this cast is too big, and I hate having to go back to the cast list at the start of the volume to remember who is who. Oh yes, and perhaps the most important part of all this: Aileen and Claude are finally allowed to consummate their marriage! Offscreen, of course. This isn’t Loner Life in Another World.

We pick up right where we left off, with everything having gone wrong and Amelia having won. That said, Aileen doesn’t know the meaning of the word quit: indeed, to everyone’s shock, she notes that if she can’t rescue Claude she’s going to have to kill him. In order to save the day everyone will have to do their best, despite the fact that one heroine is in a coma, one heroine is being a tsundere, and one heroine is still convinced that this is a game and that she doesn’t have to care about anyone as a person at all – though you get the sense she’s lying through her teeth. As for Aileen and her faction, well, she handles things like she always does, with brute force and blunt objects. Indeed, looking back to the past of Amelia and her sister, we meet Grace Dark, Claude’s mother, who turns out to be a lot like his current wife.

As with the previous few volumes, I’m fascinated with Lilia, possibly the best “heroine” in a villainess book not named Maria Campbell. Out loud, she’s the same as always, talking about backstories and routes opening up (Aileen does this as well, and the two are frankly far more alike than Aileen would like). Deep down, her feelings for Cedric are wavering, not enough that she’ll confess to him or anything (honestly, you get the sense she’d rather be in a bisexual relationship with Aileen and Claude), but because she’s going off to be brutally murdered by Amelia, and knows that saying “I’ll marry you when I return” is the biggest death flag there is. Unfortunately for Lilia, she’s surrounded by much better people than her, who can also work miracles, so rumors of her death become the reality of her wedding. Which, honestly, she’s a bit bitter about.

So, the end! Aileen is married and has now consummated her marriage! What could be next? Oh, short story volume? Right. Short story volume.