Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court (Manga) Series

ON THIN ICE

The Maiden Court is keeping off winter’s chill with one fiery competition! It’s time for the Rite of Reverence, and tradition demands the Maidens face each other in trials that could very well cement their rank as future consorts. Keigetsu grits her teeth once more through Reirin’s benevolent training regimen with so much at stake. But something more than nerves simmers underneath, threatening to boil over once they stand as rivals in the competition marquee. Are all blossoming bonds doomed to wither against the cold realities ahead?

REAP WHAT YOU SOW

Thanks to Gyoumei’s and Keigetsu’s timely intervention, Reirin is back from the brink and ready to dish out seismic fury! At the same time, Unran pulls through after the magistrate’s betrayal. With the team reunited and recuperated, it’s time to close out the Harvest Festival, and the Untouchable Village is set to be the center stage. But this festival is not just about having a good time; it’s also about justice. Time for Reirin and Keigetsu to drag the shadowy villains behind all this trouble into the light!

SPILLING THE TEA

Keigetsu knows she must act when rumors threaten to make her already bad position at court even worse. To find the source of the rumors, she hosts a tea party with the other Maidens. But finding out who is behind the slander will take careful tact. Can Keigetsu convincingly act like the genteel Kou maiden and keep her true fiery nature under wraps? Meanwhile, dysentery grips the Untouchable Village, sending Unran on a desperate gamble to bring back medicine for his people. Reirin has always kept up a happy outlook even at the worst of times, but with so many innocent lives at stake, will she be pushed over the edge?

EVERY STORM CLOUD HAS A SILVER LINING

Taken hostage, Reirin (in Keigetsu’s body) and Keikou must face the Untouchable Village’s retribution by…toiling in the rice paddies? Why, it’s just the type of challenge the earth-loving Kou siblings delight in! Their bamboozled captors are left in the dust whilst the dynamic duo launch a top-to-bottom agricultural revamp. But their bucolic days are cut short when a familiar face joins the captives. As hidden truths and machinations are tossed into sharp relief, everything Unran has scraped together for his people teeters on the brink. So far from home, how will Reirin face the Village’s unprecedented malaise?

THE HARVEST LOOMS

The Maiden Court’s blazing summer of plots and curses wanes into cooler autumn days. Keigetsu buckles down to restore the Palace of Vermillion Stallion in the turbulent wake left by the ex-Noble Shu, along with Reirin’s bolstering support. That fateful Double Sevens night almost seems like a different lifetime, but the seasonal change also marks a big event—the Harvest Festival, a chance for the Maidens to trade the palace for the southern region, in none other than…Shu!

TAKES A CURSE TO BREAK A CURSE

No longer separated by social duties or even magicked candlelight, Keigetsu and Reirin at last come face-to-face on the grounds of the ornate Kou Palace. The two Maidens have been unwitting puppets, and the Noble Shu’s long-planned plot is rapidly unfolding. The inept duo go forward to tackle Shu together, their clasped hands poised to rend the powerful curse asunder. Will their efforts save the declining Empress? What awaits after challenging the curse’s crafty maker?

THE EVIL CONCEALED WITHIN.

The infamously frigid and unshakable Tousetsu has been brought to her knees. Prostrating before the real Reirin in the dilapidated storehouse, Tousetsu anguishes over what her beloved maiden endured. Still bound by the body swap magic, Reirin struggles to reveal the truth, but it’s nothing that can’t be solved by putting in a little backbone! Across palace grounds, Keigetsu has survived a hellish night, only to uncover sinister strings manipulating her every move. The Bow of Warding saved her, not from a malady, but a curse! And the true menace lurks close by…

DANCE LIKE A BUTTERFLY, FIGHT LIKE…A RAT!

After a rocky start, Reirin and Leelee have no time to lose before they must compose themselves for the Ghost Festival at the Maiden Court. There, Reirin must tread a tight line between the villainess role she’s been cast and employing a diplomatic tit-for-tat of her own: confronting Kin Maiden Seika and her menacing court lady Gayou’s plots. Keigetsu, meanwhile, is pushed to wits’ end by her new body’s precarious health–the risk of her plot’s discovery rises!

Prepare for swirling court intrigue in this magical “trading places” tale of maidens competing for the crown! Award-winning original light novels also from Seven Seas—and don’t miss the anime!

As the crown prince’s favored maiden at court, Kou Reirin’s future as the next empress is all but assured. That is, until her rival Shu Keigetsu, the court’s “sewer rat,” pushes her over a balcony! Reirin survives, but wakes up in Keigetsu’s body! Turns out, Keigetsu has used magic to swap bodies with Reirin in order to steal her position at court. After being sickly her whole life, Reirin is determined to use this new body to turn things around. She won’t let anything stop her, not even her impending execution!