Therese, the daughter of an impoverished marquis, works hard day and night to save every penny she can just to scrape by. One day, she's offered a chance to change her status and situation--by competing to become the next royal consort. Therese hesitates, unsure that someone as poor as herself could ever be a consort, and decides to decline the opportunity. That is until she learns that just being a candidate could lead to a high-paying position as a lady-in-waiting! Determined to take the chance, she decides to go for it. But when she arrives at the castle, she realizes that this competition is way more cut-throat than she anticipated! Can Therese's down-to-earth attitude keep her safe and above the fray? Or will this contest cost her everything?

I'm Running for Crown Princess, but All I Want is a Steady Paycheck! has art by Makana Watari and story by Yuuri Seo. English translation is done by Elina Ishikawa and lettering by J. Piechowiak. Published by Seven Seas (September 2, 2025). Rated 13+.

Rebecca Silverman
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As someone who got out of graduate school just as the job market dried up and universities switched to hiring only adjuncts, I really feel for Therese. The daughter of an impoverished noble family in a kingdom with a rigid social hierarchy, all she really wants is to have enough money to support her parents, feed and clothe her siblings, and send her brother to school. She's already had to leave her own schooling to sew patchwork pieces to generate an income, which seems to have put her dream of working as a lady-in-waiting or an attendant (companion) at court. So when a knight named Jade shows up to tell her that she's been selected as one of the prince's fiancée candidates, it sounds too good to be true!

Now, don't get the wrong idea – Therese has zero desire to be the crown princess. She's looking for a backdoor into gainful employment, although she really takes Jade up on the offer because it comes with a hefty paycheck for a month's swanning around at the palace. If she can translate that into a high-paying job as well, she'll be in the clover, because our girl's smart enough not to assume that the one-time payout she gets as a candidate will cover the rest of her life. For me, that's the greatest appeal of this story – Therese is more Tiana than Cinderella. She's not looking for an easy payday or a way out of her life; she just wants to fulfill her ambitions and take care of the people she cares about. She's ambitious, and for the right reasons to boot.

She's also got zero interest in the unfair social caste system, which is another point in her favor. While she can use it to her advantage (she's not stupid), Therese is at her best when she's ignoring it all together. We see this the most clearly in both her interactions with Jade and when she befriends palace attendant Leina Berthier. Leina is so poisoned by the system that she thinks she's at fault for “making” Therese touch her (Therese stepped in to help her and freely offered her hand). Through kindness and the tact of a bulldozer, Therese works to disabuse Leina of this notion, and while it's certainly not a new move in the heroine's arsenal, it works remarkably well in the context of the rest of the story. Therese is the kind of heroine you want to cheer for, even if, in this case, it's for her not to become the crown princess.

With soft, adorable art and lots of fun comedic touches (Therese's inner thoughts taking the form of a chibi version of her, like the Council of Catarinas is a major one), this is just a delightful story. It may not be breaking any molds, but if you like your heroines strong and a little goofy, this is more than worth reading.

Erica Friedman
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In this version of “The Bachelor,” the fantasy manga, Therese stands out as a character with her feet on the ground, useful skills, and a positive outlook. It is 1000000% obvious that she'll eventually win the Prince, but that's not why we're reading. In I'm Running for Crown Princess But All I Want is a Steady Paycheck, it's the stops along the road, not the destination, that will be entertaining.

Therese is instantly likable. Sure, she wants money, but specifically to take care of her family and the people they are meant to protect. When Jade gives her an advance, Therese and her mother immediately give it to the people, towards her brother's education and their twin siblings' clothes. Sensible, likeable, solid. As we have previously established, competence is my preferred power fantasy. Apparently, “competent young woman does something absurd for loads of money” is my isekai now. I've read three of them for this manga guide and, yes, please just keep 'em coming! I can't get enough of this.

Therese heads to the palace, where she competently sizes up the highly competitive world into which she is plunging. She does well in the first contest, but comes across the winner, a commoner and palace official, being harassed by some of the nobles, and in rescuing her, refuses to allow the young official to be punished.

Therese's every experience is like this – she's enough of a lady to play on the same game board as the other women, but very down to earth, so she can protect those who are more vulnerable and make allies.

I will gladly take more fantasy where being a decent, competent human being is the superpower.

Kevin Cormack
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Like a toned-down version of Cinderella, but without any of the original story's drama or edge, I'm Running for Crown Princess is the epitome of “meh”. Adapted from a light novel of the same stupidly long title, very little actually happens in this first, unsatisfactory volume. Teenage female protagonist Therese is a bright girl, motivated to work hard on behalf of her poor family. (Although they live in an enormous mansion and employ servants, they apparently have no money.) She's called to live in the palace for a month to compete against other similarly-aged girls for the prince's hand in marriage. With a deeply internalized inferiority complex, she decides there's no way she can win over all of the rich noble girls, so instead sets her sights on securing a place as a lady-in-waiting to the eventual winner.

Presumably, things won't go the way she plans, but we don't find out in this initial volume, which mostly focuses on her settling into palace life, interacting with various other characters, trying not to stand out too much, and failing, while also running afoul of some stereotypical bully girls. None of it is particularly interesting or original. The prince has noticed some quality in her, while there's also something going on with her male advisor Jade, who I'm not sure if he will become a romantic option for her at some point or not.

There's a minimal backplot involving magic, and it seems the prince himself doesn't get a choice in who his eventual bride will be – it's made by a magic ring. There's no exploration of what a bizarre situation this is. Everyone accepts that a magic ring controls the royal bloodline like a farmer controls their breeding stock. I don't really want to think of the prince as a bull placed in a field of cows to do his business, but that's the impression I get. (It doesn't help that I spent much of my childhood on my grandad's farm, so such allusions come unbidden to my fevered mind.)

I have really no interest in following this dull story any further. The art is fine, with cute characters that do the job well enough, but there's little about this first volume that I find at all worthy of further attention.