Leite Hungaria, the sixteen-year-old daughter of a frontier margrave, believes with all her heart that she is a villainous noble. She sends orphans to run errands for her bread, paying them with humiliatingly generous tips. She employs widows as maids, working them hard but paying them so well they cannot refuse. She gathers unemployed men into a private army to crush potential rebels, which only makes her territory safer. Every act she thinks is evil actually improves life in her domain, and her people adore her for it. Leite herself remains completely oblivious to this gap between intention and result.

One day, a slave trader arrives at her estate with a group of badly burned and injured men. Leite, wanting bodyguards who will be utterly dependent on her, buys them all. She spends rare and expensive healing items on their wounds, telling herself it is a cruel trick to earn their loyalty. Among the slaves is the first prince of the kingdom, Weiss Strain, who was thought to have been killed in a coup led by the second prince. Weiss, known as the Ice Prince for his cool demeanor, is convinced that Leite knew his identity all along and saved him out of cunning strategy. He pledges his loyalty and asks for her help in reclaiming the throne.

Leite reluctantly agrees, reasoning that if the kingdom falls, she cannot continue her wicked life of luxury. She frames her cooperation as selfish necessity, but her actions continue to betray her self-image. She uses her Gift, the Queen's Mirror Eye, which lets her see people's weaknesses and vulnerabilities. She sees this as a tool for blackmail, but it actually allows her to identify who needs help and how to provide it. She feeds the hungry, gives jobs to the jobless, and organizes festivals to control the populace, all while muttering about how cruel she is being.

The story unfolds as Leite's territory becomes a refuge for the prince and a target for the usurper's forces. Weiss's loyalty deepens as he witnesses her bizarre leadership style, which somehow produces prosperity and gratitude. Other characters include a mysterious butler with hidden power, a band of loyal knight-like former soldiers who were also bought as slaves, and various nobles and enemies who fail to understand why this self-proclaimed villain is so beloved. The central comedy derives from Leite's complete inability to see that she is a benevolent ruler, and from everyone around her admiring her supposed genius while she believes she is hated. Major narrative arcs involve stabilizing the border territory, repelling monster attacks, incorporating the deposed prince into local life, and preparing for the inevitable confrontation with the revolutionary forces that hold the capital.