Name: Accomplishments of the Duke's Daughter
ISBN: 9781626928664

Reia

It’s hard to get a happy ending when you’re stuck in an otome game--as the antagonist! After a young woman gets hit by a car, she wakes up in her favorite dating sim as “Iris,” the villain of the game. Iris decides that rather than chase after the prince, she’ll go down a different route: revolutionize society and save her father’s failing fiefdom! Now it’s not only Iris’s happy ending at stake, but the whole country’s...

Accomplishments of the Duke's Daughter

Kairou Watoshimi

This is one of the first "MC reincarnates into the world of an otome game" novel (and manga) that I've read. And while its most basic plot is not unique (and I do mean its most basic plot), this novel has taken such a different spin on it that I cannot help but praise the author.

First of all, let's talk about Iris. I love her. I love her so so much. She's realistic. More often than not, I like to read about female leads that are overly powerful. Don't ask me why but I like to read tongue-in-cheek novels that don't take themselves seriously. I don't particularly like Mary Sues or self-inserts unless these novels understand and play off their own ridiculousness. So yeah, I'm used to the main characters of these novels being Mary Sues but done in a lol kind of way. Does that make sense? Probably not.

Anyway, my point is, Iris is not like this. Yeah, she is very powerful (like all main characters of these kinds of storylines) but she's also crazily realistic. This novel has taken a typical story plot with a typical villainous-turned-main character into a realistic, well-thought-out novel. First, Iris is Iris. She is not someone who all of sudden got reincarnated into someone else's body. She was Iris who suddenly gained memories of her past life but that has never changed who she is; she is still Iris the "villainous." Her personality does not suddenly change just because she gained her past life's memories. The trauma of her being abandoned by her fiance and brother continues to haunt her throughout the novel. 

This novel concentrates heavily on Iris' journey as an "Acting Lord;" which means politics and policies; and it doesn't shy away from it either. I admit, sometimes, I skim or grow bored about Iris explaining and implementing policies but this novel is such a breath of fresh air that I cannot help but continue to read.

Iris' unrealistic intelligence does not change her realistic characterization and I think that is what I truly love about the novel. She falls in love like a normal girl and has the same insecurities and doubts of one, especially one that has had her previous engagement broken the way hers did. Not to mention, despite being a girl in love, she still has to think as an acting fief lord and a daughter of a duke. 

Which brings me to my next point. Both Iris and Dean have responsibilities because of their positions. So despite their feelings for one another, they both understand that they need to put duties over personal feelings and this—this—causes all kinds of feels. Dean knows he loves her but at the same time, he knows that if they were to marry, he would only trap her and force her away from what she loves doing. Reading about their internal conflict with it comes to duty versus feeling? Beautiful.

Mythos

You love the manga, now try the original light novels about one woman's search for a happy ending when she's trapped in an otome romance game--as the antagonist! Iris Almeria, the daughter of a powerful duke, is arrested and forced to her knees in front of her fiancée. Her betrothed, Prince Edward, is rejecting her for another woman! As Iris's life flashes before her eyes, she suddenly realizes she knows exactly what is coming next-because she has been reincarnated into her favorite otome game as its villainess. Quick thinking saves her from exile, but Iris can't rest yet. If she wants to survive this world that sees her as wicked, she'll have to change the world itself.

Accomplishments of the Duke's Daughter

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