It's time for another Bad Romance Month, where we cover a selection of some of the worst and weirdest romances to grace manga. We're starting with a fairly recent title that's in the same vein as all those villainess stories, but no sausage-curled ojou-sama could devise a torment as bad as the one this story's heroine receives.
I WANT TO ESCAPE FROM PRINCESS LESSONS (Kisaki Kyoiku kara Nigetai Watashi), based on the light novels by Izumi Sawano and illustrations by Miru Yamasaki, with art by Uri Sugata. First published in 2020 and first published in North America in 2023.
PLOT:
When Leticia was seven years old, she was engaged to the crown prince Clarke. This meant she was torn from her family home and forced to undergo a decade's worth of lessons in deportment, etiquette, history, dancing, and more, all for the sake of a boy she barely knew and a role she never asked for.
One day she finds another woman on his arm and presumes she is free at last from her unwanted engagement. She immediately runs off the countryside to play, roam, and do all the un-ladylike things she's been forbidden from doing for years. Unfortunately, Clarke does not want their engagement will end and he will do anything to keep Leticia by his side, including stopping her many attempted escapes.
