Tearmoon Empire: Volume 1

At first I thought this was isekai, but it's not. It's a fantasy time reset story taking place in the titular Tearmoon Empire, featuring the infamous spoiled Princess Mia. She got guillotined after three years of imprisonment, and now that she's twelve again, she would do anything to avoid the guillotine.

The thing is, Mia isn't exactly a smart and savvy main character. In the first timeline, she was notorious for being selfish, dumb, and also lazy. After the time reset, she's... pretty much the same. The only difference is that she knows acting like a spoiled brat would lead her straight back to the guillotine, so her compassionate side really shows in the current timeline. She's a chicken who's petty and cheap, but due to her knowledge from the other timeline, people mistake her for a wise and intelligent saint through a series of hilarious misunderstandings. The narrative can be super sarcastic when it comes to her actual personality, making it an absolute delight to read.

In this volume, Mia starts out collecting some loyal allies in the capital before she eventually sets out for school. Unfortunately, the world-building suffers a little from this which is a common case for any stories involving school life. At the beginning we get to see a bit of the capital and the slums, but the moment Mia moves to Saint-Noel Academy, that becomes the main setting of the book and the rest of the world is only mentioned briefly. It doesn't really bother me though, since this can be expanded upon in later volumes. Seems like Mia is going home for summer vacation in the second book, so hopefully we'll get to see more of the empire.

The side characters are great and well-developed too. Mia remembers clearly who remained loyal to her until the day she got guillotined. She also knows who would be valuable allies and who she should avoid, so she acts accordingly around them. In the first timeline, Sion and Tiona are the two people who directly caused her execution. She thinks of them as her archnemeses and actively tries to avoid them, but unfortunately for her, even these two fall for what they think are her charms and they end up joining the ever-growing group of rabid Mia fans. She even gets a new love interest in this timeline!

Anyway, this was a fun read. The art is really pretty too, both in color and black and white. Can't wait to start the second book.