The Fall 2024 K-Comics Guide

It Was Just a Contractual Marriage

What's It About? 

I, the last princess, will use you to survive! As the last remaining member of the imperial family, Elise must do whatever she can to survive and someday reclaim her empire, even if that means marrying the archduke of an enemy nation and promising to bear his child! As a dragonborn, he needs an heir, and it's not as though he loves her... right?

It Was Just a Contractual Marriage has a story by Dalseul and art by Surreuk Comics. This volume was localized and published by Manta.

Is It Worth Reading?

If you're a romance reader, you've probably encountered this plot before: the princess of a ruined nation claims pregnancy by her captor to escape execution. It's so common that there's even an 18th-century name for the practice – “pleading [your] belly” – based on the number of female accused criminals who staved off death that way. Princess Elisabetta (who goes by Elise) isn't a criminal, nor is she pregnant. Still, she's willing to lie about the latter if it means fulfilling her promise to her late twin brother, the deposed (and likely dead) emperor that she will live.

It's a plan she hatches very early on in these chapters, although it doesn't come to fruition until they're almost over. She even feels a little bad about it, because it means she'll be using Lesset, her remarkably kind captor, in a way he hasn't consented to. Lesset himself is torn about Elise's plan, because as a “dragonborn,” he's 99.99% certain that bearing his child will mean death for the mother, and he likes Elise. But his royal brother has been on his case about having a child, and he does want Elise…badly. Because what's a romance novel without tortured yearning and a hero desperate for the heroine's body?

Despite the very pat nature of the plot, this is an easy story to get sucked into. Or maybe it's because of the familiar plot points; Dalseul, whose novel this is based on, is familiar with the tropes of romance fiction and uses them to good effect. It's easy to feel for both Lesset and Elise, and their concerns are both painted as valid. Lesset is convinced that he can't have his cake and eat it, too, while Elise is banking on something that's a mere possibility, that her descent from a race of dragonslayers will somehow make her able to bear the child of a dragonborn and live. The writing tries very hard to make sure that we doubt the potential of this story to end happily, and while that does make this a fairly angsty read, it also does a good job of drawing you in.

The art isn't particularly remarkable. It's easy to see that Elise and Lesset are meant to be beautiful, but it still feels like something we're being told more than shown; they're attractively drawn, but not breathtaking. The story itself isn't slow per se, but it also lingers on plot elements it doesn't need to, which does hold the pace back. Despite this, It Was Just a Contractual Marriage is still a solid choice for romance readers, and even though I have a good idea of where it's going, I'm interested in reading more.

Surprise surprise, the title is a lie. Even as both romantic leads continually tell themselves their marriage is a farce, we can see them catching feelings from a mile away. It's your not-so-classic pairing of the captured princess and the archduke with dragon's blood—in a last-ditch fight for her life, she fibs that she's pregnant with his child. And since dragonborn children are precious, this is enough to guarantee her survival… but at what cost? All teeth and claws, dragonborn children come at a dangerous risk to their mothers. In this serious-minded drama, jokes are few and far between, but you'll find plenty of trigger warnings for suicide and death during childbirth. Your enjoyment will depend on your appreciation of the primary couple and of Princess Elise's subtle strength, for what she lacks in physical stamina she possesses in a ruthless will to survive.

We meet Elise in the midst of committing murder. She's a princess on the run and her twin brother the emperor is dead (though I'll remain skeptical until I see a body). About to be killed for her crime of desperation, Archduke Lesset recognizes her and insists on escorting her to a for a formal execution in the capital. Along the way, Elise does everything she can to seduce the archduke, and when that doesn't work, she claims to be pregnant with his child anyway. Stating these facts plainly, it sounds like she isn't a good person until you hear why she's doing it: she wants to survive long enough to bury her brother properly, even if she has to surrender her dignity to do so. Elise has two advantages on her side. First, the magic circles her brother has placed all over her body that provide mysterious benefits (and serve as all purpose MacGuffins whenever she's in trouble). Second, she is descended from a line of dragon-defeating heroes, so she might just be able to bear a dragonborn child and live. Are Elise and Lesset in a marriage of convenience, or are they perhaps fated lovers? If you are familiar with this genre, you know the second is true before they do.

A gentle art style portrays Elise as deceptively fragile and frail for someone who is so desperate to cling to life. Twenty chapters in, she's secured her survival for now, but tension remains high as dangers approach Elise at every turn—drawing Lesset more closely to her in spite of himself. It's a simple “fake marriage” trope story, but it's well executed and beautifully drawn.