By Navi Published on 6 September 2025

The Despicable Duke Settles His Affairs - LN 1 [end]

The Despicable Duke Settles His Affairs by Miori Kayamoto, Illustrated by Karatsuyu. Translated by Faye Duxovni, Edited by C.D. Leeson. Published by J-Novel Knight (J-Novel Club).

Before I get into this particular release, I'd like to discuss the context that this book is releasing in. Right now, there are 3 major publishers in the light novel space in the U.S: Yen Press, J-Novel Club, and Seven Seas Entertainment. There are also smaller publishers like Cross Infinite World and Hanashi Media, as well as companies who specialize in other media like Kodansha and Viz Media that have also some light novels and other Japanese novels as part of their repertoire. Yen Press and J-Novel Club are currently owned by the same parent company, Kadokawa, which is a big Japanese media conglomerate that has at least majority stake in both companies. They are giant machine that churns out popular hits.

When it comes to LGBTQ manga, there has been great success in licensing and selling popular series. However, that wasn't the case with novels. Light novels in general have had a rougher start in the U.S. market, and you could argue that the dearth of BL (Boys Love) and GL (Girls Love) series is related to that. But we are already past the time period where big, well known light novel franchises were licensed. Right now, every company is looking for untapped potential and a way to expand their existing sales.

In the midst of all this, Seven Seas Entertainment (which is independent as of now) found that new market in 2022 with Chinese Danmei (BL) novels. Series like Heaven's Official Blessing and Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation topped the New York Times Best Seller charts, making them proper mainstream hits, in a way that no light novel series has ever achieved. Seven Seas continues to license and release Korean and Chinese Danmei novels, and of course Kadokawa has recognized that this was a direction that they could expand in the U.S. market.

Although it took a while, both Yen Press and J-Novel Club are now making efforts to license more BL and GL series. For example, Yen Press released "The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter" (which I've covered here) as well as other series. J-Novel Club's effort is a new BL-specific imprint called "J-Novel Knight".

The Despicable Duke Settles His Affairs is one of the first licenses for the new J-Novel Knight imprint, so quite a bit is riding on this.

Official Synopsis

After careful consideration and meticulous planning, Kashimiya Tsukasa ends his life to save his family. However, instead of reaching the afterlife, his eyes snap open to scenes of torture, mutilation, and so much pain…all inflicted by his own hands. When his head clears, he realizes that he’s been reincarnated into the world of his favorite novel—not as a hero, but as the sadistic Duke Heinreid von Rodvelia. Haunted by the memories of the duke’s vile deeds, he vows to atone by giving himself the permanent ending he deserves. But soon, his shift in personality arouses the suspicions of Craig Bauer, Heinreid’s personal knight and the one who finally kills him in the original novel. Craig’s attention slips into obsession, and as his fate intertwines with Heinreid’s doomed destiny, the story of the novel begins to warp around them. Will Heinreid end up skewered down to the hilt of Craig’s sword? Or can even the most despicable duke find a reason to keep living beyond the final page?

So with all that prologue out of the way, how is the actual book? I think J-Novel Club picked an interesting one. It's a oneshot with a dark premise: what if you reincarnated into the body of an abject villain?

In most reincarnation stories like this, the main character who gets reincarnated as a villain or villainess does it at a point of the story where they haven't committed any evil deeds. They avert their fate due to "becoming" a good person. Interestingly, this series takes the opposite approach.

Even though "Tsukasa" wasn't in control at the time, Heinreid really is evil, and is as despicable as they come. He's murdered and tortured people, and he clearly deserves death. Tsukasa plans his own suicide, believing that it's only right. Of course, since this is a BL novel, there is a handsome male lead to "save the day", Craig Bauer. But Craig hates Heinreid, and betrays him in the original novel, hence the tension between the two.

Overall, the premise is awesome and makes for an interesting read, but it's hard to say that it was executed well. At the end of the day, this is still a spicy BL novel with numerous "spicy" scenes, and plenty of the book is dedicated to that.

I feel like this oneshot would have benefited from being expanded into at least a 2-book series to give the author more time to develop the romance between Craig and Heinreid. The ramp-up of the character's feelings was pretty abrupt, and could have been done more smoothly.

However, I do appreciate the ample "epilogue" of this novel. It doesn't simply end when the "main story" is over, it goes in-depth into how Heinreid and Craig navigate their new precarious relationship. I also appreciated how it explored themes of suicide and mental illness, and how love isn't a magic fix for people who are truly suffering.

I'm really happy to see J-Novel branching out since BL and GL is fairly underrepresented in Light Novels, and I'm certainly interested to see what they end up licensing. They announced a new series that looks fairly interesting, but unfortunately the first book won't release until February of 2026.