Villains Are Destined to Die

Did You Know?

• The protagonist Siyeon Cha is a university student who falls asleep while trying to unlock a new ending of the reverse harem mobile game Daughter of the Duke’s Super Love Project.
• Penelope Eckhart's adoptive father does not acknowledge her often, and her brothers mistreat her.
• The game's hard mode always results in the villainess's death.

Media

Gwon Gyeoeul authored the web novel Villains Are Destined to Die, which first appeared on KakaoPage and Tapas. D&C Books later collected it into five volumes in September 2020. Yen Press secured the English novel rights for its Ize Press imprint, releasing the first volume in August 2025. SUOL created the webtoon adaptation, which ran on Tapas before being compiled into books. Yen Press announced the English webtoon license in July 2022 as part of Ize Press’s initial lineup. The manhwa concluded on 9 August 2026. An anime television adaptation was revealed on the same day.

Reception

The first manhwa volume ranked 16th in Circana BookScan's 2023 annual top 20 author graphic novels. It won the 2024 AnimaniA Award for Best Manga International: Shojo/Josei. Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network noted that despite the oversaturated villainess isekai genre, the novel's first volume is worth reading because it understands how otome games work. She considered the slave Eckles being Penelope's preferred love interest a major flaw, handling slavery in a facile way typical of lower-quality isekai, though she felt this seemed deliberate given Gwon's otherwise smarter writing. Silverman praised the manhwa as well-written, using actual game mechanics beneficially, with a heroine shaped by life experience rather than preconceptions. Noemi10 of Anime UK News rated the first three volumes 9/10 and the fourth and fifth volumes 8/10, stating the story draws the reader in and praising character personalities, but criticizing volume 2's ending for lacking engagement and noting issues with the English translation in volumes 4 and 5, uncertain whether due to a translator change or original Korean dialogue. Josh Piedra of The Outerhaven praised the story for having the character escape, rare in isekai, but felt the plot twist of the game glitching from Penelope's off-script behavior stuck out and raised questions about its possibility. Silverman and Noemi10 both praised the manhwa art; Silverman noted gorgeous art with detailed backgrounds, costumes, and visual indicators of Penelope's choices, while Noemi10 described the gothic and fantasy settings and pastel colors as fairy-tale-like with a darker twist, between Disney happy endings and original Grimm stories.