I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss is a romantic seinen anime of the Fall 2022 anime season that may remind fans of both My Next Life as a Villainess and Trapped in a Dating Sim. All three anime series focus more on the protagonist’s unique personal quest than true romance, subverting the very idea of living in an otome game. However, there are some heartfelt exceptions to this.
Like Katarina Claes before her, the protagonist Aileen d’Autriche is focused on her own survival and will rewrite the otome game story around her to make that happen. She got together with demon lord Claude mostly for practical reasons, but in recent episodes, Aileen couldn’t help but feel jealous. Selena Gilbert is also cozying up to Claude, and Aileen can’t stand it.
The Tricky Love Triangle Between Aileen, Claude and Selena Gilbert
Aileen is usually confident about her stable, warm relationship with her powerful kuudere fiance Claude, the half-demon king. Aileen even made her engagement to him official after Cedric and Lilia’s defeat in Episode 4, but Aileen can’t coast on that so easily. She got herself the perfect boyfriend, but perhaps Claude is too perfect after all. Engaged or not, he has become immensely popular and respected among the empire’s subjects, especially the ladies. He can’t help being a handsome, alluring man who draws attention everywhere he goes, and sure enough, girls are already chasing him at the Mirchetta academy, where worthwhile boyfriends are rare. Most of all, the former otome protagonist Selena Gilbert, an admirer of the Holy Sword Maiden, is smitten with Claude.
In recent episodes, Selena made a gutsy move and asked Claude to be her date to the upcoming school festival, with her being a prom queen in the making and asking Claude to be her king. On top of that, Claude must negotiate with the demon king Ashtarte soon, and Selena was chosen to be his aide, giving them even more time together. Aileen watched all this from cover behind some bushes, enraged at the sight of Selena not just cozying up to Claude but also linking his arm in hers. Selena is trying her best to steal Aileen’s man, to put it simply, and worst of all, Aileen can’t do much about it. A love triangle has already taken form, and Aileen stands to lose the most. Aileen has every right to feel not just jealous or angry but also threatened and defensive. After all, she has things on the line that Selena cannot even imagine.
Why Claude Must Defuse This Romantic Situation With Tact
On the one hand, Aileen is an empowering, inspiring heroine who dazzles anime fans with her smart, proactive strategies to get the job done. She helped Claude rebuild his demon lord kingdom and is now on a quest to save the kuudere James Charles from the Mirchetta Church and himself. However, this love triangle is a different sort of battle, and one that Aileen is not equipped to win. It may fall to Aileen’s fiancé, Claude himself, to break up this triangle and gently but firmly deal with the love-struck Selena Gilbert.
Aileen could confront Selena and tell her to back off, explaining her engagement to Claude, but that would do more harm than good. Aileen has a bad reputation for being a harsh and unlikable person, and revealing her true identity to Selena in this manner would just make things worse. Selena would likely fight back verbally, and Aileen’s reputation might suffer another blow if Selena revealed all this to her classmates. In addition, Aileen can’t easily afford to blow her cover, as she was never even supposed to attend this school. She must maintain her male disguise as Ailey Calois and make sure Claude thinks Aileen is back home. Aileen won’t get far with Selena if she confronts Selena in her Ailey Calois disguise, as Selena would see no reason why the “boy” Ailey should care so much about someone else’s love triangle.
This means it’s up to Claude to resolve this awkward situation. He’s the one Aileen and Selena are fighting over, so his words carry a great deal of weight. Selena probably wouldn’t listen to either Aileen d’Autriche or the imaginary Ailey Calois, but if her love interest Claude says no, Selena might take it seriously. The headstrong, confident Selena might try one more time to keep Claude to herself, but if Claude is gentle and firm with his words, Selena might back off. Claude can appeal to Selena with his inspiring commitment to his fiancée, saying he could never cheat on her or break a maiden’s heart like that. That would force Selena to either back off or become the monster who forced an innocent, likable man like Claude to break someone else’s heart with infidelity. Given Selana’s admiration of the Holy Sword Maiden and commitment to being an upstanding citizen, Selena is likely to choose the former, but it’s up to Claude to make that happen.