Afterword
SO CONCLUDES Act 2 of I’m in Love with the Villainess. I’m the author, Inori. Thank you for reading until the end.
This is the second time I’ve done an afterword for the conclusion of the series, the first being after Volume 2. There were a lot of loose plot threads back then, but the story ended on a high note, so I figured it’d be okay to stop there. To my happy surprise, however, there was a lot of demand for a continuation, so I began writing Act 2 and was able to tie together all those loose ends. I sincerely hope you enjoyed it.
Things have been eventful since I began writing. I got my start posting on the website Let’s Be Novelists. I didn’t receive much attention then, occasionally ranking on the daily section but never that high. But I continued to write and eventually took the first three chapters of the story to the publishers GL Bunko, got published, and from there, it was a blur. The series was translated into Korean, English, and Portuguese, then many more languages; a manga adaptation began in Comic Yuri Hime; and we even got fifth place in Anime Japan’s Manga I Want to See Animated contest. I haven’t heard any news of the series receiving an anime as of writing this afterword, but thanks to everyone’s support, it’s definitely no longer a pipe dream. I’m in Love with the Villainess was made possible by readers like you. I cannot thank you all enough.
Now then, a number of you have probably finished this book and are thinking, “Hey, Act 2 had less yuri than Act 1!”—and I’d have to admit you’re right. I’m in Love with the Villainess is first and foremost a yuri work, so I made sure to add lots of romance elements in Act 1. In contrast, for Act 2 I mainly wrote what I wanted to write, which ended up as a story that had more fantasy and adventure elements than romance. Looking back on it now, I can see the story isn’t so overtly a romance as it once was.
That being said, I’m in Love with the Villainess has been and always will be a love story focused on Rae and Claire. Having read the book, you readers probably already know, but every event that occurs stems from Rae and Claire’s original meeting, so in a sense, everything is part of one big love story that transcends time and space.
Of course, our protagonist Rae can’t exactly be called the same person as Rei Ohashi, the one who really began it all, but that doesn’t change the fact that this story belongs to them.
Back to talking about writing, there was another thing on my mind as I wrote Act 2: What are the possibilities of yuri as a genre? I won’t deny that romance is an important aspect of yuri, but surely it’s a broader genre than just that. Wouldn’t it be nice to have more yuri stories where the fate of one’s country or the world hangs in the balance? With that thought in mind, I tried to write a yuri story where the relationship of two women dictated the fate of their countries and later the world. As for whether I succeeded, you can decide for yourself.
This volume brings the story of I’m in Love with the Villainess to a temporary close. I’m about empty of ideas, so no continuations are in the works…for now. I do have some ideas for spin-offs though. Maybe a square-one retelling from Claire’s perspective, or a down-to-earth romance story focused on May and Aleah with no world-ending stakes.
By the time this book is published, I should actually have already started work on that first side story. If you’d like to see it published as a novel, please do say so on social media together with your thoughts on this book. All the input really gets these books out there; that’s how Act 2 came to be, after all. As always, thank you for your support.
I’d like to make some acknowledgments.
To Nakamura of the GL Novel editing department: Thank you for working on this book, despite your busy schedule. Without your help, this whole series wouldn’t have been possible. I cannot thank you enough for picking up my series, introducing me to Hanagata and the Yuri Hime editorial department, and much, much more.
To Hanagata: Thank you for breathing life into the series through your art. Your beautiful covers and wondrous illustrations gave Rae and Claire soul. Thank you so much.
To Aki, my partner: Without you, this series would never have been made. Thank you for patiently supporting me despite my tendency to procrastinate. I’m moved beyond words that I was able to finish Act 2, even if it means our days of brainstorming will be on pause for a while. When the release date rolls around, let’s go out to celebrate this book with some nonalcoholic cassis oranges again.
Lastly, as always, I offer my deepest gratitude to you, the reader who bought this book. Thank you very much.
I’ll be praying we meet again somewhere. Until then, take care.
—INORI, APRIL 20, 2021
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