악녀는 모래시계를 되돌린다

AGNYEONEUN MOLAESIGYELEUL DOEDOLLINDA

MANGA

STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
Not Available
RELEASE
November 4, 2022
CHAPTERS
125

DESCRIPTION

Aria Roscent mercilessly bullied her stepsister Mielle and paid the ultimate price for her misdeeds—but not before Mielle revealed that she’d manipulated Aria into harassing Mielle in the first place! Instead of dying, Aria is sent back in time and gifted a strange hourglass with mysterious powers. Now, Aria’s just got one goal: to embrace her role of villainess and utterly destroy Mielle’s life!

(Source: Yen Press)

CAST

Aria Roscent
Asterope Franz
Mielle Roscente
Lohan Croa

CHAPTERS

REVIEWS

Mockbone
70/100
a wicked girl dressed like a daydream

/this contains some spoilers/ read till ch.30

There are a ton of stories out there like this one - where a villain is given a second chance to go back to the past and relive their earlier days before the downfall.

They tend to all be kind of common/ generic - they know of future events, they strive to undo their wrongdoings, they earn their bread and make unexpected allies.

I wasn't expecting much when I started reading this one honestly, but the art was pretty and I'm a sucker for this trope (damn, you Bakarina) so I gave it a shot. And I was pleasantly surprised.

I like this story more than others of its kind, because the main character, Aria, doesn't change into this out of character goody-two-shoes after her death. She is the same kind of person as she was in her previous life, just more cunning and manipulative.
With her future foresight in play, she can construct a somewhat idealistic future for herself or at least try to.

She is out for revenge.

In her previous life, due to various events, Aria was seen as a wicked woman that was extravagant, would cause chaos, harass her gentle stepsister Mielle, and was thought of as a joke because of her upbringing and her behaviour in high society. Because of this, when Aria is about to be executed she is utterly shocked by Mielle's confession that she tricked Aria into building the bad reputation that eventually brought her to her end. So when by chance in her death she finds a magical hourglass that takes her back to the past she is determined to use Mielles own tactics against her as a true villainess.

I can feel her hate and her fear that drives her to take action even against someone that technically(after time-travel) is a child.

The world and side characters have life in them, their private greed and motives, that are depicted and seen through Aria's cynical, logical eyes.

It's fun to follow how she spots people's desires and wants, and how she manipulates them to her benefit:

be that thought her knowledge of future trends in the world that can benefit her stepfather's business or by befriending people that will eventually become influential in hight society, to press on their yet unknown gifts and desires, make them love her, or simply by watching a young maid want to be a part of noble trends and giving people opportunities they otherwise wouldn't get. These desires feel real and because of them so do the people. I've read way too many stories were the side characters feel more like the background wallpaper so this was nice.

Aria, having gone through a lot, has matured. She has some nice scenes of self-reflection on her actions in her previous life and how others must have seen her and how she has seen them in return.

Child antagonist - Mielle: this is probably the weak part of the story, it can sometimes be a disappointment because Aria is going up against a child, granted it's a child with a lot of adult backing from her family and outside it. The comebacks Mielle gives Aria are weak as hell, maybe that's because she isn't yet the woman she will grow up to be, but it makes you wonder how dumb was the past Aria to fall for these traps.
There will probably be another antagonist added to the story, there already has been some glimpses of them and this one will be superior to Aria, and someone she has not interacted with in her previous life, I'm hoping this will be good.

So far (ch.30) whenever it feels like she will truly befriend someone or her personality would change because of another character's actions, it comes right back around to her one and true goal to take revenge and how will this benefit her in the long run.

There's a bit of magic here and there connected to her time-travelling, but so far it's pretty balanced, nothing world-breaking.

She can use the hourglass to turn back time for 5 minutes, but the drawback is she has to carry it and she will feel fatigued and sleep for hours after each use. There are also some romance aspects in the story, but so far they are mainly used for the advancement of her revenge. There is an obvious male lead that right now Aria is not interested in (for now), because he has no benefits in fulfilling her revenge, but it looks like that will soon change and will also open the gates for a new antagonist.

The story is still in its early stages and a lot can change, but so far it's been fun. Give it a read.

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coffeejellyion
50/100
predicable villainess revenge story yet enjoyable
the villianess turns the hourglass (악녀는 모래시계를 되돌린다) is a pretty generic villianess revenge and fall in love type story.

in her past life, aria was a known wicked villianness whose life ended following accusations of treason. before her execution, mielle, her step sister, reveals she was the one who plotted her downfall, pulling the strings for years. following her death, aria travels back in time before mielle started to plot her downfall, seemingly with the help of a strange hourglass. aria vows to use her second chance at life to enact revenge on those who have wronged her in her previous life and to do everything she can to prevent her death.

despite the fact that the character of aria is seemingly stressed about her potential upcoming death, the story never feels like this is an actual possibility.

aria is not in a bad position when she is reincarnated (the worst she has to face is some nasty rumors about her 12 year old self and a bad birthday party the previous year). while she may have slightly mistreated her maids in the past, she was never abusive and was easily able to win their favour again. her mother is still married to the count and is respected among the maids and butlers within the mansion, ordering them when the count is on vacation and when he falls into a coma. the count, while not being a great father, doesn't seem to abusive or terrible ( the worst may be telling others that aria's ideas were mielle).

as soon as aria was reincarnated, she worked hard to improve herself, academically and socially. very early on in the story, it becomes quite apparent that mielle is way behind aria in this way and can only support herself through her connections and her the favor from the count. mielle is not smart and very predictable. for the "big bad antagonist," mielle appears as a very non-threat.

additionally, once it is revealed that her so called "stalker" was the crown prince and aria had his favor, the small stakes that existed, completely diminished. the power of the crown prince along with his teleportation power, it seemed like aria's had completely saved from execution and with a little help from aster could enact her revenge. (HE IS THE CROWN PRINCE).

i also thought it was stupid that aria was so well versed in business and politics that she couldn't put 2 and 2 together and figure out aster was the crown prince. (maybe this was the point).

aria and the crown prince make such a cute couple. when aria's barcelt was broken and aster appeared without hesitation to save aria, revealing her magic to mielle in the process. aster never asked aria if mielle's version was the truth, meaning he did not care if aria pushed her father down the stairs or if mielle was lying. either way, he wanted to support her (aw). while i had second male leads, it think it could have been interesting. lohan never seemed like a plausible choice in my mind for a second.

there isn't a good place to mention this, but this manwha has great artwork. there are several multi-panel vertical artworks that are jaw dropping.

IN SUMMARY:
i liked this manwha, but i didn't love it. it definitely went on way too long. there was not enough stakes. the main couple is so good my heart wants to explode.
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