Spoiler Warning: This review contains major spoilers for the entire manhwa, including the ending and side stories.

When I started The Villainess Turns the Hourglass, I expected a satisfying revenge story. Aria had already lived one terrible life, been manipulated into becoming the villain everyone believed she was, and eventually died after Mielle revealed just how much she had been controlling things from behind the scenes. Then Aria received another chance through the mysterious hourglass and went back into the past.

At that point, the goal was simple: you 🍩 with me, now I am going to 🍩 with you ten times harder.

And for a huge part of the story, that is exactly what Aria does.

She does not suddenly become a pure-hearted saint after returning to the past. That was probably one of my favorite things about her. She is smarter, more patient, more calculating, and fully willing to manipulate the same people who destroyed her first life. Watching her slowly take control of society, money, relationships, and even Mielle’s own plans was incredibly satisfying.

But by the time I reached the ending, I realized this story had become much more than revenge for me.

It became a story about what happens after revenge, what kind of person Aria actually wants to become, and whether someone who spent so much of her life surrounded by manipulation can eventually accept genuine love.

Aria’s Revenge Was So Satisfying Because She Actually Learned From Her First Life

One of the strongest parts of The Villainess Turns the Hourglass is watching Aria turn information into power.

Her hourglass ability is useful, of course, but Aria’s real weapon is everything she remembers from her previous life. She knows which businesses will succeed, which people will become important, which relationships are valuable, and exactly how Mielle thinks.

There were so many moments where Aria basically treated her second life like she had loaded an old save file with every cheat code already unlocked.

The business and political parts were especially fun because Aria was not simply waiting for Asher to solve her problems. She built connections, invested money, helped people who would later become powerful, manipulated social situations, and slowly created a position where the Roscent family could no longer control her.

CEO Aria was honestly terrifying.

And watching Mielle repeatedly create plans only for Aria to turn them around on her was incredibly satisfying because we knew what happened to Aria in the first timeline. Every victory felt like another piece of that terrible future being dismantled.

At first, I wanted Aria to completely destroy Mielle.

Eventually, she did.

The problem was that when it finally happened…I did not feel nearly as happy as I thought I would.

Mielle Deserved Consequences, So Why Did Her Ending Hurt So Much?

Mielle absolutely deserved consequences for what she did.

I do not suddenly believe she was innocent just because her ending made me sad. She manipulated Aria in the first timeline, helped create the environment that pushed her into becoming the terrible person everyone expected her to be, and eventually watched Aria die.

When Aria returned to the past, Mielle continued making horrible decisions. She pushed her own father down the stairs, tried to frame Aria, worked with Isis, and repeatedly chose jealousy and hatred even when she had opportunities to stop.

So yes, Mielle deserved punishment.

But holy 🍩, Aria absolutely destroyed her.

By the final part of Mielle’s arc, Aria was no longer simply defeating her politically. She was psychologically breaking her down. Mielle lost her status, her family, her confidence, and eventually even her ability to understand where her own decisions ended and Aria’s manipulation began.

The most disturbing part was realizing that Aria had recreated something similar to what happened to her in her original life.

In the first timeline, Mielle and the people around her encouraged Aria’s worst behavior until she eventually destroyed herself.

In the second timeline, Aria slowly created an environment where Mielle made increasingly terrible choices until she destroyed herself.

It was revenge coming full circle.

And then the story gave us Mielle’s final imagined possibility.

What if, when they were children, Mielle had simply accepted Aria?

What if she had taken her hand?

What if they had actually grown up as sisters?

That little imaginary future hit me harder than almost anything else in the entire story. I could suddenly imagine Aria with Asher, Mielle with Oscar, both families growing together, and none of this tragedy ever happening.

For nearly the entire story I wanted Mielle gone.

Then, when she finally died, I felt empty.

That is probably the chapter that will stay with me the longest.

Mielle deserved punishment, but seeing that tiny glimpse of the life they could have had made her ending genuinely traumatic.

Sarah Started as Part of Aria’s Plan, but Became a Real Friend

Sarah was another character I really liked because her relationship with Aria shows how much Aria changed throughout the story.

At the beginning, Aria did not approach Sarah purely because she wanted a friend.

She remembered Sarah from her previous life and knew that she would eventually become an important woman in high society. Because of that future knowledge, Aria deliberately tried to build a good relationship with her early.

It was another investment.

That sounds cold, but honestly, that was how Aria operated during the beginning of her second life.

Almost every relationship had a purpose.

Who could help her?

Who would become influential?

Who could be useful against Mielle?

Sarah initially fit into that strategy perfectly.

But what I loved was that their relationship did not stay that way.

Sarah genuinely cared about Aria. She taught her, encouraged her, trusted her, and treated her with warmth. Over time, Aria also stopped seeing Sarah only as someone useful for the future and started treating her as a real teacher and friend.

That development felt very natural.

Sarah became one of the few people around Aria who was not constantly trying to manipulate her, use her status, or drag her into some political scheme.

She was simply good to her.

And I think that mattered more than Aria probably realized at first.

By the time Sarah’s wedding arrived, it did not feel like Aria attending the wedding of someone she had strategically invested in years earlier.

It felt like Aria watching someone she genuinely cared about reach an important moment in her life.

That difference says a lot about Aria’s growth.

At the beginning of the story, Aria looked at people almost like pieces on a chessboard because that was how she had learned to survive.

Sarah became proof that not every connection needed to remain a transaction.

Sometimes you approach someone for one reason and end up genuinely loving the person they become in your life.

Sarah may not have had the biggest political role in the story, but she was incredibly memorable to me because she represented something Aria desperately needed: a relationship that started with calculation but eventually became sincere.

She was Aria’s teacher, supporter, and eventually a real friend.

And in a story filled with manipulation and revenge, that kind of simple, genuine connection was surprisingly important. ❤️

Aria and Asher Gave the Story the Warmth It Needed

Thankfully, the entire story was not just Aria mentally destroying her enemies.

Asher slowly became one of my favorite parts of the manhwa.

At first he was simply the mysterious black-haired man who kept appearing around Aria. Then we discover that this random suspicious guy is actually Crown Prince Asterope, and suddenly Aria’s complicated life becomes even more ridiculous.

Their relationship was especially entertaining because neither of them felt completely normal.

Aria can rewind time.

Asher can manipulate space.

So naturally I started thinking of them as Time Girl × Space Boy.

Their powers also made their relationship strangely fitting. Both of them had abilities that separated them from ordinary people, and both had grown up surrounded by political danger and people trying to use them.

Asher could also be hilariously straightforward whenever Aria was involved. Political problems? Crown Prince mode. National affairs? Emperor material.

Aria says she is leaving for a while?

Suddenly this man forgets how government works.

But beneath the comedy, I liked that Asher represented something completely different from Aria’s relationship with Oscar.

Oscar repeatedly allowed his family, especially Isis, to control his decisions. I do not think Oscar was truly evil. If anything, he became more tragic as the story continued. He simply lacked the courage to stand against the people controlling him.

Asher was different.

When Asher wanted Aria, he chose Aria.

That difference mattered.

Carin Was One of Aria’s Strongest Allies From Beginning to End

I also have to talk about Aria’s mother, Carin, because I honestly think she was one of the strongest parts of Aria’s entire second life.

Carin was not a perfect mother, and their relationship was not written as some overly sweet fairytale bond. Both of them were practical people who had lived without the security that noble families took for granted. Because of that, they understood money very differently from characters like Mielle and Isis.

For them, a title was never automatically impressive.

Money meant security.

Money meant independence.

And most importantly, money meant having the freedom to leave when someone tried to control them.

That is one thing I loved about Aria and Carin. They could look at this enormous noble world full of Counts, Dukes, aristocratic factions, and political marriages and basically think, “Okay…but how much money do we have?”

Honestly, respect. 🤣

But underneath all that practicality, Carin repeatedly showed that Aria mattered more to her than the Roscent title ever did.

There were times when Aria could easily have become an inconvenience to Carin’s position. The Count could use Aria politically, her reputation could create problems, and siding with her daughter was not always the easiest path.

But when it truly mattered, Carin protected her.

She did not sacrifice Aria just to remain Countess Roscent.

She eventually walked away from that entire family.

And I loved that.

The Roscent name was supposed to represent status and security, but by the end it had become a collapsing house filled with resentment, manipulation, and death. Carin understood that staying attached to a noble title was worthless if it meant losing control of her own life or allowing her daughter to be used.

So she chose herself.

And she chose Aria.

That makes their relationship even better because Aria inherited a lot of that same attitude from her mother.

Neither of them was obsessed with nobility for the sake of nobility.

They wanted comfort. They wanted money. They wanted freedom.

And if becoming richer than the nobles who looked down on them happened along the way?

Even better. 🤭

There is something genuinely satisfying about watching two women who entered the Roscent household as outsiders eventually walk away with their independence while the family that considered itself superior completely destroys itself.

Carin was also important because Aria spent so much of the story surrounded by relationships that contained hidden motives. Mielle manipulated her. Oscar was controlled by his family. Nobles constantly judged people based on status and usefulness.

Carin could be practical and selfish at times, but when it came down to the most important question—

“Will you choose your daughter?”

—her answer was yes.

And for someone like Aria, who spent two lifetimes learning not to trust people easily, having even one person like that beside her mattered enormously.

Aria eventually found Asher, Chloe, her grandparents, Bliss, Lippe, and an entire new family.

But before all of them, she already had her mother.

And I think Carin deserves a lot more credit for that. ❤️

Aria Finally Learning What Unconditional Love Feels Like Was Beautiful

One of the quieter parts of the ending that I really loved was Aria discovering her biological family.

By that point, she had become incredibly good at understanding relationships as exchanges. If she helped someone, she usually knew what that connection might become later. If she invested money, she expected a return. If she entered a social situation, she usually had a reason.

That mindset made complete sense considering how she grew up.

Then she met people who simply loved her because she was family.

And Aria almost did not know what to do with it.

Lohan explaining that some families genuinely love each other without needing a reason felt almost absurdly simple, but for Aria it was something she had barely experienced.

That is what made the later happiness feel earned.

Aria did not just escape Mielle.

She escaped the entire way of living that the Roscent household had taught her.

I Thought the Story Was Finished…Then Bliss Arrived and Destroyed Me Again

Then the side stories happened.

I thought we were done.

Aria and Asher were married. Mielle was gone. The revenge story had reached its ending.

Then this adorable little girl named Bliss appeared.

And somehow The Villainess Turns the Hourglass became a 🍩 time-paradox family drama.

Bliss is Aria and Asher’s future daughter, and she inherits abilities connected to both of her parents: time and space. But the reason she comes into the past is heartbreaking.

In the future, Aria becomes extremely frail after giving birth, and Bliss believes that her own existence is the reason her mother suffered.

So this tiny child decides the best solution is to go back in time and stop her parents from ever having her.

That absolutely destroyed me.

Bliss does not hate Aria. She loves her so much that she is willing to erase herself if it means her mother can be healthy.

After everything Aria went through trying to survive, her own daughter was now trying to rewrite history just to save her.

Then Lippe appears, Bliss’s twin sister, because Bliss has been changing so many things that the future itself is beginning to change.

From there we get Ruby being replaced, Tiaran entering the picture, mysterious healing water, Aria casually meeting a divine being after drinking it, and an entire chain of events that feels like the universe itself is desperately trying to give this family a better ending.

At one point Aria basically gets the most appropriate message possible from God:

Live the life you want, and it will be granted.

That line felt perfect for her.

Aria’s first life was controlled by other people.

Her second life began with revenge.

But now, after everything was finally over, she was being told that she could simply choose the life she wanted.

No revenge.

No destiny.

No Mielle.

No political game she had to win.

Just her life.

And then Bliss and Lippe become the flower girls at their own parents’ wedding.

That was 🍩 adorable.

Bliss originally traveled back in time to stop Aria and Asher from having her.

Instead she ended up throwing flowers at their wedding.

Mission failed successfully.

The New Future Was Exactly What I Wanted

When Bliss and Lippe finally return to the future, we can immediately see that things are different.

Even their appearances and circumstances have changed because they are no longer returning to exactly the same timeline they originally left.

And that is what I wanted more than anything from the side stories.

I did not want the solution to be Bliss disappearing.

I did not want Aria to spend the rest of her life weak and unable to enjoy everything she fought so hard to obtain.

I wanted the third option.

Aria lives.

Asher lives with her.

Bliss exists.

Lippe exists.

And the family gets to grow old together.

The side stories gave me that emotional reassurance.

Even if Aria and Asher no longer remember every strange event from the altered timeline in the same way, that is almost better. They do not need to carry memories of that terrible future.

They simply get to live the better one.

Even Isis Getting Another Chance Made Me Smile

One of the final surprises was seeing what appears to be Isis receiving another life.

Original Isis absolutely did terrible things. She was deeply involved in the political conflict surrounding Aria and Asher, and she ultimately paid for those choices.

But seeing her apparently return as someone living a completely different life made me strangely happy.

Maybe that is because after Mielle’s ending, I had already started thinking about how different these people could have become under different circumstances.

Aria herself was given another chance.

Why should the idea of someone else receiving one feel impossible?

It does not erase what Isis did.

It simply gives her another opportunity to become someone different.

And with Lohan looking for a wife around the same time?

Hmmmmm. 🤭

I am not saying anything.

But King Lohan might want to start paying attention to the village.

Final Thoughts — Revenge Was Only the Beginning

When I first started The Villainess Turns the Hourglass, I thought I knew exactly what kind of story I was reading.

Aria gets betrayed.
Aria travels back in time.
Aria destroys everyone.
The end.

Instead I got business wars, political conspiracies, executions, romance, family drama, psychological revenge, mysterious powers, a Crown Prince who can manipulate space, future daughters who can break the timeline, magical healing water, and eventually even God showing up.

What the 🍩 was this journey?

And somehow, it worked.

Aria is definitely not a traditional heroic protagonist. She can be cruel, manipulative, obsessive, and sometimes genuinely frightening. But that is also what made her interesting.

She did not become a perfect person just because she received a second chance.

She became a person capable of choosing what she wanted to do with that chance.

At first, she chose revenge.

Eventually, she chose Asher.

She chose her new family.

She chose Bliss and Lippe.

And finally, she chose to simply live.

Mielle’s death is still probably the most emotionally difficult part of the entire story for me. She deserved consequences, but that final possibility of them becoming loving sisters is something I am not going to forget anytime soon.

That one moment changed the emotional meaning of the revenge for me.

But maybe that is why the happy ending felt so powerful afterward.

After watching one family completely destroy itself, we get to watch Aria build another family based on love instead.

There are also so many other characters I could talk about if this review were longer. Annie, Jessie, the maids, Lohan, Oscar, Chloe, Aria’s grandparents, and even some of the smaller characters all added something memorable to the story. I especially liked the maids because they were not just background decorations around Aria. Some of them became loyal supporters, friends, and part of the everyday life that made her second chance feel more real. Annie in particular was hilarious, ambitious, and surprisingly memorable, while Jessie’s loyalty gave Aria one of the more genuine relationships around her.

The girl who once died believing her entire life had been manipulated by someone else ends the story surrounded by people who genuinely want her to be happy.

That is a beautiful ending.

Final Rating: 9/10 ❤️

The Villainess Turns the Hourglass was an emotional roller coaster from beginning to end. The revenge was incredibly satisfying, Aria and Asher were adorable together, Mielle’s ending genuinely hurt me, and Bliss and Lippe somehow made an already emotional ending even better.

It is not a perfect story, but when I reached the final chapter, I felt like everything I went through with these characters had been worth it.

Aria finally got the life she wanted.

And after everything she went through, I cannot think of a better ending than that. ❤️