Haha, I love this. BTW, you've totally convinced me to read Bookworm. I love the anime anyway but you talking about it makes me want to get more Myne/Rosemyne.

She gets completely blindsided when someone who has all the reason in the world to hate her schemes against her and doesn’t seem to have a personal motivation for what she does other than to fulfill her daily evil quota

And THAT is why I nominated Vicius for #1 villain this year! Because before she WAS one dimensional and seemed evil just for the sake of being evil and to foil the MC. However in Book 11 a lot of her machinations and motivations are revealed. And yes, she's still awful self-obsessed evil garbage but now you can see how all her plotting meshed together for her goals (yes, she has actual goals!). Granted, it's maybe not the most mind-blowing reveal ever but it was still a big leap for her character development.

No, compare this with my, clearly far superior pick!

How you worded this... perfection.

he is the hero of the story if you only shift the POV by a fraction of a degree.

Okay, I admit I like that. I think you might have convinced me.

ps.: Fran & Teacher is a good pick

Right?!

Granted, not Clarissa & Hartmut levels of good, but respectable nonetheless.

PPPSSSSSHHHHFFFFFFTTTT.... look, I'll read it, okay. I promise. But you'll never convince me Fran & Teacher aren't #1 ;)