Lady Leticia is a duke's daughter known as the belle poupée—beautiful doll—for her ethereally delicate looks. Her waifish face leads many to believe her meek and docile. But with the use of a magical ring, she regularly transforms into a handsome and gallant young man! This dashing alter ego, famed for "his" heroic exploits, has captivated the hearts of women and men across the land.

As the belle poupée, however, she finds she can't melt the heart of her new betrothed, Prince Gilbert, the brooding—and some say cursed—second-born prince of the royal family. But when Leticia reveals her other persona in front of him and his reaction is to blush and swoon, she finds herself unexpectedly charmed. Who could have predicted that the cursed prince would love it when a woman takes charge and swoops in to save him? It's time for this doll to give her man a taste of true husband material!

The Princess Groom has a story by Asaki Asagiri and art by selen. English translation is done by minami and lettering by Lys Blakeslee. Published by Square Enix (August 4, 2026). Rated T.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

I have to hand it to selen and Asaki Asagiri: they are just tickled to be able to publish their “kink” manga. Before you get too excited (or think about selen's previously published work in English, Before You Discard Me, I Shall Have My Way With You, part of Seven Seas' Steamship line), the kink in question isn't explicitly sexual. Basically, it's a dominant woman/submissive man story – Leticia really enjoys dominating her fiancé/husband and playing the role of protector, while Prince Gilbert is thrilled that someone wants to care for him in a couple of senses of the word. I'm not sure how it works if you're into that dynamic, but if your kink is female competency, Leticia is absolutely your girl.

A lot of the premise, at least in the first, long chapter, relies on the fact that Leticia's parents (or at least her mother) are embarrassed by their daughter's unladylike pursuits, which her mother thinks are particularly at odds with her doll-like appearance. As a compromise, Leticia uses a family heirloom to disguise her acts of derring-do and otherwise presents as la belle poupée - the lovely doll. It's a win-win situation for the family: Leticia gets to go out and kick ass, and her mother gets to have a visually perfect daughter. Her dad, one assumes, is just happy to have peace in the household.

Equally important is Prince Gilbert's personal issue: his red eyes are considered part of a curse on the royal family. As Leticia tartly observes, this is obviously just an excuse to mistreat him, and Gilbert has developed a similar coping mechanism to hers in order to hide in plain sight – he puts on a ladies' man act to appear untouchable when really he just wants to be loved and cared for. Luckily for him, that's precisely what Leticia wants to do, and that gives this volume its true romantic plotline: these are two people who need each other and find each other. Both of them can just be themselves together in a way they aren't otherwise allowed to. A scene with both parents and children shows that their fathers really do care about them, which further implies that society is the problem with people who don't conform to social ideas of gendered behavior.

It's a great message, but from the creators' notes I get the impression that that's sort of accidental. They're both just really excited to put their kink (their word) out into the world, and I love that. Everyone should be this thrilled to write and illustrate their manga, and their enthusiasm is contagious.

Erica Friedman
Rating:

This story begins with what seems to be a bit of overbearing dialogue. Leticia is extremely well-behaved and beautiful, but her parents are exhorting her to behave in a way that simply doesn't make sense. Until we learn of the rumors of the Frost Dragon King, a stunningly handsome, powerful hero who appears to save the day, then disappears once again. It won't take us as long as the characters to connect the dots.

Equally, as we learn of Prince Gilbert's “curse,” which explains why he is so unpleasant, we can see that these two might be able to take one another on. But, no! We are surprised to learn that this is not a gender-bending BL, but that Leticia is simply stepping into the role of seme she was born to be, even as a woman. Gilbert immediately accepts the role of uke, and what follows is a saccharine-sweet but somehow adorable romance.

Gilbert at last has found someone to treasure him; Leticia has someone to protect, since Gilbert's life is always at risk. Gallant, strong, and seductive, Leticia is a beautiful, feminine prince bride to her traumatized and needy princess groom.

The faux-noble-speak is occasionally bad, but the story is so silly and satisfying that one can forgive its faults.

With Prince Gilbert a popular target for assassination, Leticia will have plenty of time to protect her “sweet boy,” and he, in turn, will be able to make cookies to thank her. In the middle of all this frippery, there is a solid story about flipping gender roles, as well as some potential BL down the line. I genuinely enjoyed this and hope you will too.