When Bihyun sneaks into the Dragon Palace to rescue her friend, she doesn't expect to get caught—or to end up the dragon king's hostage. Captivity is strangely comfortable. What's far less comfortable is the scandalous prophetic dream she can't shake, starring the man who's keeping her prisoner.

Spring in the Dragon's Lair has a story by mul mill and art by Dudu, based on a work by Kkangdam. English localization by Manta Comics. Published by Manta (June 1, 2026). Rated M.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

In most East Asian mythology, the dragon god lives in a palace beneath the sea. Manga readers are probably most familiar with the concept from the tale of Urashima Taro, but undersea palaces pop up across multiple cultures' folktales, often alongside the idea of sacrificing young women as the dragon god's “brides.” While my favorite of this subgenre is Wann's Give to the Heart, Spring in the Dragon's Lair is looking to be another good one, albeit very different from Wann's take on the concept.

Set in what looks like the Joseon period (although admittedly I'm much less good at identifying period-specific hanbok than kimono), the story follows Bihyun, a human woman with the gift of prophetic dreams. Whether or not that's the reason why she lives in a village mostly populated by supernatural folk, including a ghost, a moon rabbit, and a dokaebi we don't know, but she's definitely very comfortable with the spirit realm…even if the first chapter of the series involves her waking up from a very wet dream that kind of mortifies her. She doesn't recognize the man in question, but it's not a surprise to us when she makes her way to the dragon king's palace looking for her gumiho friend Dalgi and bumps into the man himself, fresh off of assassinating his brother and about to take the throne as the new dragon king. Also unsurprisingly, he promptly takes her captive.

As far as romance subgenres go, this is very firmly in the enemies-to-lovers camp simply by virtue of the fact that he's holding her hostage. More importantly, Bihyun may do foolish things, but she's not an idiot, and the dragon king recognizes that. He's not sure why she's acting like an idiot by coming to find a gumiho who has already robbed the place blind, but he's also intrigued enough to want to know more. Obviously he's also attracted to her on a physical level, and her ill-fitting clothes absolutely help facilitate that.

Spring in the Dragon's Lair isn't all that innovative, but it's fun. I like the characters and the world, and the use of Korean folklore (with appropriate footnotes) is well done. The art is also lovely, and if you're wondering, the sex scenes barely censored – it practically feels like it belongs on Lezhin rather than Manta with the level of explicitness. (There is an all-ages version available as well.) So if you're tired of pseudo-European manhwa romantasies, this is a safe bet. It's good brainless fun.

Erica Friedman
Rating:

We begin with a provocative scene as Bihyun, a woman who has visions in her dreams, dream of sex with an unknown man. So thrown off from her normal prophetic dreams, she can't even bear to write it all down.

Upon hearing catastrophic news, Bihyun takes herself to the palace where she is caught and captured…and seduced (or taken forcefully by a sensitive lover, however you want to look at it.

This is a classic kidnapped by the hot enemy dude romance story. The art is very pretty, both during adult scenes and not. The plot's a bit thin, but that's not and never is the point of a story like this. The point is for our adventurous female lead to fall for the dark bad boy.

As a kid I once read a romance novel like this. As the extremely handsome, muscled, strong yet kind male lead had kidnapped and was having his vaguely consensual way with the female protagonist, she realized that they were siblings. I laughed so hard I never really got over it. When I read romances like this, I'm always half waiting for them to be siblings. Or they promised to marry each other when they were four. Or some other plot device that makes it absolutely impossible for me to take the story seriously. But this story takes itself quite seriously. Calamity and intercourse are all very serious business.

If you're looking for depth of plot or character, you can skip this for something more fully realized. However, if you're a fan of fantasy historical romances and don't mind the historical being as much or even more fictitious than the romance, Spring in the Dragon's Lair will probably scratch your itch for an extremely handsome, muscled, unemotional, yet kind male lead who has imprisoned and was having his vaguely consensual way with the female protagonist, this is probably something you'll enjoy.