With sharp eyes, forbidding features, and a commanding voice, Angelica isn't your typical beauty. The only daughter of a royal army general, she was raised as a soldier and earned the nickname “Ice Witch” due to her aloof personality. Thanks to all that, she's already lost one engagement, and has resigned herself to never marrying. But that does nothing to lessen the expectation that she will provide an heir...so what's a lady of battle to do but secretly hunt for a man to help her conceive? It isn't long before a man comes to her, and he happens to be Prince Elvan, the crown prince and the very person to whom Angelica has sworn allegiance!

The Scheming Crown Prince’s Wicked Consort has story by Subaru Kayano and art by Seikan. English translation is done by Christine Dashiell with an adaptation by Annie Bowers and lettering by Kai Kyou. Published by Seven Seas Entertainment (February 3, 2026). Rated M.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

Some of my favorite romance stories are the ones that are unintentionally hilarious. That's the case with this one, although to be perfectly honest, I have my suspicions that Subaru Kayano knows exactly what they're doing in terms of insanity. Heroine Angelica is something of a sendup of villainesses in the increasingly oversaturated villainess genre: she's kind and intelligent, but because her military father trained her to hide all facial expressions behind a stiff mask of muscle, everyone assumes otherwise. When her fiancé breaks up with her, people are ready to assume the absolute worst of Angelica; in fact, newspapers create false reports of her cruelty. But Angelica, although sad to lose a man she quite liked, is also genuinely happy that he and his pregnant girlfriend are in love and are going to have a baby. She barely even acknowledges that in order for his girlfriend to be pregnant he was cheating on her.

Meanwhile, our “scheming crown prince” isn't so much “scheming” as “ready to make his move after being thwarted.” He's been in love with Angelica since they were kids, and he was heartbroken when her father arranged for her to marry another man. But now Daddy Dearest is on the front and Angelica's engagement has fallen through…and she's expressed interest in acquiring a man's seed. Yes, Angelica's big worry isn't marriage, but producing an heir for her dad, so her new plan is to have an illegitimate child who can inherit, as is the law. I think you can guess where things are going.

There's absolutely an element of dishonesty in Angelica and Elvan's relationship, which could be a turn off for some readers. Elvan allows Angelica to think that he's just giving her his seed when his real plan is to marry her, which arguably would mean that her plans for an heir are thwarted, as their child would be the heir to the throne. (Unless they had more than one. I doubt Elvan would object.) You could say that if Angelica stopped to think for two minutes, she'd realize that having a child with the crown prince wouldn't be the same as with some random knight, and there's some implication that Elvan is keeping her off-balance to prevent that. It's not the healthiest relationship.

Still, the book itself is fun and very uncensored. The art isn't terrific and I'm baffled by the fact that Angelica dresses in late Victorian gowns while all of the other women are wearing Marie-Antoinette style clothing, but that's likely to be a me problem. If you're in the mood for some raunchy escapism, this is a safe bet.