Jeonghyeon and KITROW. Cover Art, Hugung Seukaendeul, Naver, Daewon CI.
The Crown Princess Scandal – Information
Author of Story: Jeonghyeon and KITROW
Chapter Count: 89 chapters
Status: Completed
Content Warnings
These content warnings do not reflect the contents of the review below; only the literary work itself.
- Loss of loved ones
- Illness
- Violence
- Suggested SH/SI
Spoiler Disclaimer
This recommendation post may contain small plot spoilers for review purposes. Any major spoilers are hidden by default and are able to be revealed via click or tap.
I had waited very patiently to review this webtoon! It is a very cute story that follows some very fun and unique characters. When I first started the series I knew I would come to love it, and as I finished it I came to like it even more!
This romcom is set in a historical fantasy setting, but still feels rather modern in terms of the characters’ attitudes, dialogue, and actions. It is a romcom through-and-through, with an unlikely storyline and exaggerated character personalities. However, this makes it a joy to read as you stay incredibly engaged, excited, and overcome with laughter at the silliness of this webtoon.
I will warn that some of the events, character choices, or reactions are a little over-the-top at times and may give you a bit of second hand embarrassment. But, that’s part of the humor!
The Crown Princess Scandal – Plot Summary
The Crown Princess Scandal is an enemies-to-lovers story that follows the main lead named Hwa-Yeong. She is forced into a competitive event designed to choose the crown princess, thanks to her scheming little sister—who originally had planned to participate, but heard the crown prince was ugly and backed out.
Therefore, she submitted Hwa-Yeong’s name instead of her own! Now, Hwa-Yeong must live at the imperial palace during the selection for half a year.
However, the rambunctious heroine refuses to submit. She tries multiple times to ruin her own chances at selection, even at the risk of getting thrown out. However, Hwa-Yeong unintentionally and quickly gains the interest of the empress, and even has multiple run-ins with the crown prince himself!
Why I Enjoyed The Crown Princess Scandal
Plot:
First and foremost, the humor in this webtoon is gold. It can be a little embarrassing here and there, but it is very well-timed and often a bit surprising. The humor involves a bit of slapstick, but most of it centers around the exaggerated personalities of the characters and how they react to each other.
Amongst the mischief and entertaining plot, there is romance, of course. It surprisingly happens very naturally, which was pretty nice amongst all the humor and dramatics. This webtoon does bring in some more significant backstories or character developments here and there, so the romance doesn’t feel completely unserious.
I think this was a nice touch to balance out the story, as romcoms can often feel very unserious to the point where the romance is almost lost. Luckily, this story didn’t give me that type of impression and actually made the romance still exciting even amongst the humor.
It starts out as a playful slow burn, but then gets even more fun later on once there is more of an official relationship. Look forward to it!
Speaking of seriousness, there is quite a lot of backstory and interconnectedness throughout this webtoon in terms of the characters and their relationships. It may not seem like it at first, but this plays a large role in the webtoon’s plot, and really keeps things fun alongside the romance.
It was a bit unexpected since there is so much humor in the story, but including this more dramatic aspect in the plot allowed The Crown Princess Scandal to invoke a lot of different emotions from the reader as you learn more about the characters.
One last thing I wanted to mention about this webtoon is that it has a very large cast of female characters—in fact, women run the show in this series. The Crown Princess Scandal features a delightful variety of designs and personalities for their female characters—strong, determined, soft, caring, or cunning. This story has characters of all sorts, none of which are ever sexualized in any way.
It was such a fun experience to read a plot that is primarily pushed by a majorly female cast, especially a cast that was not reduced to annoying stereotypes or fan-service. Even better, the main character of this story is a strong-willed female lead with a super fun and interesting personality, which we’ll talk more about next!
Characters:
If you enjoy romances with interesting and expressive female leads, you will enjoy The Crown Princess Scandal. Hwa-Yeong Baek is an outgoing, determined lead who doesn’t let anyone get in her way.
She’s hot-tempered, smart, and a bit mischievous—but still cares for those around her quite a lot. She’s righteous in that she always feels the need to stop wrongdoers, but also does so in her own mischievous way.
Hwa-Yeong is a heroine that likes to go at her own pace… A refreshing lead who takes things into her own hands, doesn’t need saving, and isn’t oblivious to happenings around her. In other words, she’s a great female lead with a well-thought out personality; who also happens to be pretty funny.
The male lead’s personality, on the other hand, was quite unexpected considering his design. Despite looking handsome and elegant, Shin-Yeong acts a bit childish, uptight, a little entitled, and laughably confident.
Although all of these traits don’t necessarily sound like positives, he actually is very easily embarrassed, which often results in some really cute reactions. What a tsundere! He’s just as hard-headed as the female lead, too—so they frequently butt heads, or even work together to cause double mischief!
However, Hwa-Yeong is a bit more quick-witted than Shin-Yeong—so she often gets the best of him and does a lot of teasing. Honestly, the best part of this love story is male lead’s damsel-like personality. It creates such a entertaining dynamic between the two. It’s so funny, and very cute!
Basically, they’re both two hot tempered weirdos, haha. Hwa-Yeong is the unbothered one who just wants to go home and Shin-Yeong is the spoiled one who doesn’t understand what’s going on. It’s hilarious.
The side characters are great, too. Shin-Yeong’s mother (the empress) is hyper aware of everything that is happening, and is great at predicting the main characters’ true intentions. She even plays a main role in supporting the romance—so she’s a likable character.
Then there’s Hwa-Yeong’s maid, who is often dragged into her lady’s antics. She has some really funny reactions as she is often shocked by Hwa-Yeong’s schemes and personality. She may scold Hwa-Yeong often, but she is an important supporting character that was fun to have in the story.
There are a lot of other great side characters in The Crown Princess Scandal, but I don’t want to give away too much about them. The side characters play a bigger role in this story than you may think!
Art:
The art style of this webtoon isn’t incredibly detailed, but I didn’t necessarily dislike it. It’s simple, but gets the point across. I think the setting and character design makes up for the simplicity, at least in my book.
It’s nice to see male leads with longer hair, and female leads that are less “soft” in terms of their features (and personality). Hwa-Yeong also has some very interesting hair that I don’t completely understand but still liked, haha!
Jeonghyeon and KITROW. Cover Art, The Crown Princess Scandal, Webtoon.
Any Cons?
This webtoon occasionally has a few typos in the dialogue. It’s common enough for me to notice and complain, unfortunately, but they aren’t so bad that you can’t understand what’s happening. Usually they just come across as a word missing a letter.
It’s not a huge deal, but I am a bit picky considering Webtoon is a platform that allows an exchange of real money for quicker reading.
Also, in terms of the story, if you don’t like slow burns or characters who deny their feelings, maybe skip this one! Readers who hate second-hand embarrassment should also be wary.
Final Thoughts
The Crown Princess Scandal is a very fun read with hilarious characters and an exciting romance. I loved the setting, and the story is interesting even outside the romance.
The relationship builds slowly, but still at a good pace and with developments that keeps things very fun. Best of all, the story ends with an incredible wrap-up of events that will leave the reader not only satisfied, but also very glad that they chose to read the story.
Disclaimer: Any images used for this blog are for illustrative purposes only, are not owned by me, and are under ownership of the artist or publisher.
Images Credit: Jeonghyeon and KITROW. The Crown Princess Scandal, Webtoon, 2023.
