As the legitimate heir to the imperial throne, Yullikian kuhn Rondenez is desperate to find a way to keep his usurping uncle from killing him next. Frequenting the slums to make it seem like he's become a gambler, he crosses paths with Maddie, a notorious pickpocket who is willing to do anything for the right price, even kill. That's when he comes up with a crazy plan. Yullikian proposes to Maddie to get his uncle off his back, but will this fake marriage lead to mad love or just madness?

My Mad Fake Marriage to Maddie has a story by salgujelly and art by 89seCharles, based on a novel by Dandi. Localized by TAPAS ENTERTAINMENT (September 10, 2025). Rated T.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

There are marriages of convenience, and there are marriages of convenience. For a prince with the unlikely (and unfortunate) name of Yullikian kuhn Rondenez, marrying a woman who can protect him from his scheming uncle, who may or may not have murdered his parents, is his only viable option due to the immutable laws of fiction. He's been doing his level best to make himself look non-threatening, which mostly means hanging out in the slums pretending to drink and gamble, but he's aware that this only has a limited shelf life as a plan. So when he meets a young woman named Maddie who is more than capable of taking care of herself, he figures that maybe she can take care of him, too.

Thus begins My Mad Fake Marriage to Maddie, one of the more delightfully unhinged series I've read recently. And it's really not that zany when you get past the surface, or at least, no more than your average romcom. While Maddie is utterly beyond Yullikian's ken, she's really just a young woman who has had to fend for herself in ways that those better off might describe as “unscrupulous.” She's also an absolute force of nature compared to the women the prince has known – when they first meet, she tells a knife-wielding man whose wife she's helped escape that she can defeat him with “one finger.” She absolutely does – it's just that that finger is on the trigger of a gun. She didn't lie, she just misleadingly phrased things.

As you might guess, the joy of this series is in watching Maddie and Yullikian interact. They're opposites who aren't sure they want to attract, but can't quite help themselves regardless. Maddie takes her protection gig very seriously, even spiriting Yullikian out of the capital disguised as a woman to get him away from his uncle, although it could be argued that “jumping from a moving train” offset the “getting him to safety” bit. But that's just how she thinks, and Yullikian admires it even if he can't always admit it. It's a classic romantic comedy with fantasy trappings, and if that's in your line, I highly recommend checking it out.

Bolts
Rating:

I am delighted to read a story filled with charm, witty characters, and a setup that facilitates intrigues. My Mad Fake Marriage to Maddie is a story about a young Prince named Yullikian, caught in a typical political situation where he is under threat of being assassinated by his uncle. He needs a bodyguard, someone who will always be there through thick and thin. You could even say he needs somebody…till death do them part? My wisecracking aside, he decides to marry a pickpocket from the slums named Maddie, and this is where the story truly comes alive.

Maddie's name is in the title for a reason. Yullikian is interesting, surrounded by the tragedy of his family and being depressed over all the political violence. He's just a sweet guy that you don't want anything bad to happen to. But Maddie facilitates all of the narrative beats of the story. How she confronts all of the different circumstances, both direct and political, is fascinating. I'm curious about her backstory, which has just the right amount of intrigue without bringing down the story. She's genuinely unpredictable in an intriguing way without feeling like a gimmick, and she has surprisingly strong chemistry with Yullikian.

The bright and vibrant colors combined with the very strong expression work make it very easy to flip through chapters at a breeze. The dialogue is filled with humor and sharp wit, which helps the characters feel more than what they are on paper. There is a little bit of an issue with how the story delivers exposition, as the story seems to pause to tell the audience directly who a character is or what the current situation is, and it brings the pacing to a halt at times. But outside of that, this is a very fun political drama with a lot of sass and a bit of dark edge. There's a little bit of something for everybody here in a way that is easy to digest, which is very hard to come across these days. It's a hard balance to strike , and I respect the book for being able to do it.