Square Enix’s Manga UP! Global has added another fantasy romance title for English readers: The Cruel King I’m Marrying as a Substitute Bride Is My First Love?!.
The manga is Akira’s adaptation of Aoi’s original web novel, known in Japanese as Migawari de Totsuida Reikoku Kokuō wa Hatsukoi Aite Deshita. The English version arrived on the service on Wednesday, giving overseas readers a proper official route to follow the series.
The story follows Kanae Yano, a 28-year-old woman whose normal single life gets completely derailed when she is pulled into another world. Instead of a grand hero welcome, she meets Duke Zach Skrein and his daughter Rita — a noblewoman who happens to look almost exactly like Kanae.
That resemblance becomes a huge problem. Zach and Rita ask Kanae to act as Rita’s double and marry King Eugene Eistalotte, a ruler with a terrifying reputation. People know him as the “Cold-Hearted Wolf,” and he is feared as a harsh king. To make things worse, the magic that summoned Kanae cannot send her back home, leaving her with very little choice.
But once Kanae finally faces the king, the setup shifts into proper romance-drama territory. Eugene is not just some random cruel monarch — his real identity connects directly to Kanae’s past, kicking off a fantasy love story built around a reunion with her first love.
For Malaysian and SEA manga readers, this is exactly the kind of title that fits the current mobile-reading mood. Isekai romance, substitute bride drama, noble politics, misunderstood king, first-love reveal — memang all the ingredients for readers who enjoy titles like villainess stories, contract marriage plots, and dramatic fantasy web novels. It also helps that Manga UP! Global is easily accessible in English, which matters because a lot of SEA fans still end up chasing fragmented fan translations when official releases arrive late or not at all.
Akira first launched the manga adaptation on Square Enix’s Manga UP! platform in March 2025. The manga has already reached its third compiled volume, which Square Enix published on April 7. Meanwhile, Aoi’s original web novel began on TellerNovel back in October 2021.
So if your manga app rotation is currently full of dungeon crawlers and action shonen, this one looks like a softer but still dramatic addition — less “save the world with a sword,” more “survive court politics while accidentally confronting your first love.” For romance manga fans in Malaysia who want something easy to read on the phone during commute or late-night scrolling, this is worth adding to the watchlist.
Source: Anime News Network