The best manhwa romance fantasy is still The Remarried Empress. It's finished, it's on WEBTOON in English, and it has the cleanest premise in the genre: an empress whose husband asks for a divorce, and who asks to remarry in the same breath. The live-action drama starts streaming next month, so this is a good time to read it. If you've already read it, the new pick to follow is Moralless Scandal, a 2025 revenge-divorce story that updates every week.
Pick if you want:
- Court politics with a payoff: The Remarried Empress.
- The same, but darker and newer: Moralless Scandal.
- Tragedy turned into a second chance: The Abandoned Empress.
- A slow-burn marriage: Under the Oak Tree.
- A cold father won over by his daughter: Who Made Me a Princess.
- Saving a child from becoming the villain: I Became the Villain's Mother.
- An assassin forced to babysit: Once an Assassin, Now a Royal Nanny.
- A villainess story with a gimmick that works: Villainess Streamer.
- Something dark and forbidden: Lady Devil (read the content note first).
How we picked: every romance fantasy manhwa here has an official English release you can buy today, and each section is a different engine for the romance (power, marriage, family, a game, a curse). This October we added Moralless Scandal, Once an Assassin, Now a Royal Nanny and Villainess Streamer, all of which started in 2025 or 2026. The Soulless Duchess and Roxana are short notes rather than full picks: their only English home is Tapas, and Tapas ends service on March 31, 2027. Roxana had also been listed twice under its other name, The Way to Protect the Female Lead's Older Brother.
Best manhwa romance fantasy at a glance
| Series | Status | Where to read in English | Content note |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Remarried Empress | Completed | WEBTOON, Yen Press print | None |
| The Abandoned Empress | Completed | Tappytoon (16+), Yen Press print | Tragedy |
| Moralless Scandal | Ongoing, Thursdays | WEBTOON | Suicide, pregnancy |
| Under the Oak Tree | Ongoing, Sundays | Manta | Steamy scenes |
| Who Made Me a Princess | Source finished; English re-release ongoing | WEBTOON, Seven Seas print | None |
| I Became the Villain's Mother | Completed | Tappytoon | All-ages and Steamy editions |
| Once an Assassin, Now a Royal Nanny | Ongoing, Wednesdays | Tappytoon (16+) | Violence |
| Villainess Streamer | Season 1 done, returning | WEBTOON | None |
| Lady Devil | Completed | Tappytoon (16+), Lezhin, Manta until Nov 15 | Mature, forbidden romance |
Best manhwa romance fantasy for court politics
The romance in these three can't be separated from who holds power. Every kiss is also a political move.
The Remarried Empress
The Remarried Empress by Alphatart, Hieori and Sumpul. Cover via AniList.
The best manhwa romance fantasy to start with.
Completed on WEBTOON, 247 chapters on AniList. Yen Press prints it.
Navier is the perfect empress of the Eastern Empire, until her husband brings home a mistress and demands a divorce. She agrees, and asks for approval to remarry, to Heinrey, the ruler of the West. What makes it work is that Navier never waits to be rescued: she negotiates, and the romance grows out of two people respecting each other's judgment.
Hulu's official trailer for the live-action series, with Shin Mina as Navier and Lee Jongsuk as Heinrey.
Read it if you want a heroine who wins with her head. Skip it if you need magic and battles on every page. Our cast and release guide for the drama has the rest, and our Remarried Empress review has the full verdict.
The Abandoned Empress
The Abandoned Empress by Yu-Na Jeong and Ina. Cover via AniList.
The tragic one, and the best second-chance story here.
Completed on Tappytoon, rated 16+; 146 chapters on AniList. Yen Press prints it.
Aristia la Monique was raised to be the emperor's companion, the child of a prophecy, until another girl, Jieun, appears and takes the throne that was meant for her. Aristia dies cast aside, then wakes up in her ten-year-old body and tries to break free of the prophecy. It's colder and sadder than The Remarried Empress, and the romance takes its time to earn her trust.
Read it if you like regression with real grief behind it. Skip it if you want a warm, cozy read.
Want the same second chance with a sharper edge? The Soulless Duchess is finished at 174 episodes. Yvona wrecks her body casting a spell for her fiancé, dies for him, and learns he was secretly with her cousin Tristan. She wakes up a year in the past and, this time, fights for herself, maybe with the cold Duke of Azentine on her side. Its only English home is Tapas, with no new platform announced, so read it before Tapas closes; episodes you unlock there go with it.
Moralless Scandal
Moralless Scandal by Dalseul, Dunggeurami and Seul-Gi Yeo. Cover via AniList.
The best new romance fantasy of 2025.
Ongoing on WEBTOON: Episode 61 went up October 7, with a dozen more already on the app and new episodes every Thursday. The Korean run began in May 2025.
Lorena chose death to take revenge on the husband who ruined her life, and was thrown back in time. This round she wants to protect her family and destroy him, and the only way to win is a scandalous divorce. So she goes looking for "a wild dog" to help her hunt down a hound. It's The Remarried Empress with the gloves off.
Read it if you like a vengeful, scheming heroine. Skip it if suicide and pregnancy plots are hard reads for you; both are part of the story.
A slow-burn fantasy romance manhwa
Under the Oak Tree
Under the Oak Tree by Su-Ji Kim, Namu and P. Cover via AniList.
The slow burn the genre measures itself against.
Ongoing on Manta, which lists 192 episodes and new ones every Sunday.
Maximilian, a lady with a stutter, is forced to marry the knight Riftan, who leaves on a campaign right after their wedding night. Three years later he comes home ready to cherish her, and she can't believe she deserves it. The miscommunication runs long, and readers who want people to just say the thing will get frustrated, but the payoff is in how slowly she starts to trust him.
Content note: Manta tags this series "Steamy", and it has mature scenes.
Manta's official trailer for Under the Oak Tree.
Read it if you want a married couple learning each other. Skip it if you want a finished story, or no explicit scenes. More in this vein: arranged marriage manhwa.
Found-family romance fantasy
In these three fantasy romance manhwa, the romance comes second. The first love story is with a parent or a child, and the romance is what she earns afterwards.
Who Made Me a Princess
Who Made Me a Princess by Plutus and Spoon. Cover via AniList.
The warmest pick, and the one most readers start with.
Finished in Korea in December 2025 at 135 chapters, counting ten extras. In English, WEBTOON is re-releasing it: Episode 34 went up October 7, with new episodes every Thursday and many more ahead on the app. Seven Seas prints it.
A modern woman wakes up as baby Athanasia, the doomed princess of a novel she knows by heart, whose father, Emperor Claude, has her executed in the original story. Her plan is to survive by making a cold, murderous man love her. It's funny, and when it lands, it really lands.
Read it if you want family first and romance later. Skip it if you want to binge it all at once on WEBTOON today; the English re-release is still catching up. Our Who Made Me a Princess review goes deeper, and manhwa like Who Made Me a Princess has more of it.
Finished it and want the same setup played for laughs? Daughter of the Emperor is the older, lighter take on the tyrant-father story: Ariadna is born to royalty because of one dangerous man, a king who conquered ten empires and happens to be her father. It's completed on Tappytoon at 244 chapters (buy it there, since Tapas is closing), and the romance only arrives late.
I Became the Villain's Mother
I Became the Villain's Mother by Iro, from Yulji's novel. Cover via AniList.
The best "raise the villain right" story.
Completed on Tappytoon, 142 chapters on AniList.
Haena wakes up in her favorite novel as Duchess Roselia Chade, rich and powerful, with one problem: her stepson, Einspanner Chade, grows up to be the mastermind who kills her. He's still an adorable child, so she sets out to raise him into someone else, while the duke tries to poison his own son. The romance with the duke is the slow thread; the boy is the heart.
Read it if you want a protective heroine and a sweet kid. Skip it if you want romance first. Tappytoon sells a revised all-ages edition and a separate Steamy edition, so pick the one you want.
Once an Assassin, Now a Royal Nanny
Once an Assassin, Now a Royal Nanny by Nasamos and Roroc, from Da-Un Na's novel. Cover via AniList.
The newest pick, and English readers got it first.
Ongoing on Tappytoon, rated 16+, every Wednesday since March 2026. AniList notes that it came out in English before Korean.
A year after her lover stabs her in the back, the legendary assassin Kyla Angel wakes up in the body of Rachel Brown, a nanny for a neglected prince and princess. She wants revenge, but first she has to soothe a crying toddler with hands meant for throwing daggers. The gag is good, and the family story underneath it is better.
Read it if you want a competent heroine out of her depth. Skip it if you'd rather wait for a finished series.
A villainess story with a twist
The villainess setup is everywhere, so this one gets in on its gimmick. For the full genre, see our villainess manhwa list, and for heroines who are reborn into fantasy worlds, our isekai manhwa picks.
Villainess Streamer
Villainess Streamer by I-Rim Han, BITJAL and Narin. Cover via AniList.
The most fun premise on the list.
On WEBTOON: Season 1 ended with Episode 46 on July 16, and WEBTOON says it will return. The Korean run began in April 2025.
Ji-u Shin is transported into her own dating game, and her life inside it is broadcast live across the cosmos. To end the broadcast, she has to win on the hardest difficulty, as the notorious villainess Theresa, and if she fails, she dies. The audience chat is part of the joke and part of the pressure.
Read it if you like game-world villainess stories. Skip it if you hate waiting between seasons.
Roxana turns the setup around. Roxana Agrece belongs to the criminal family whose fall the novel already foretells, and when her father kidnaps the heroine's older brother, Cassis, she decides to save him, because he's her way out. In English it's only on Tapas, 43 episodes in, and Season 2 ended in December 2025 with a promise of a Season 3. With Tapas closing and no other platform announced, that Season 3 has no confirmed English home.
Something dark and forbidden
Lady Devil
Lady Devil by B.cenci, Hanheun and Shouko Fukaki. Cover via AniList.
The darkest romance here, and not for everyone.
Completed: Manta lists 140 episodes, and the series leaves its Unlimited Library after November 15, 2026. It's also completed on Tappytoon (rated 16+), sold on Lezhin, and printed by Yen Press.
To escape a forced marriage, Giovinetta makes a wish to the devil, without knowing what it will cost her. She has known about "forbidden love" since she was a girl, and the man she wants is the one man she's forbidden to love. The story leans all the way into that.
Content note: Manta tags it "Adult/Mature", "Steamy" and "Dark", with mature scenes, and AniList's tags flag incest and sexual violence. Know that before you start.
Read it if you want gothic, uncomfortable romance and can handle the themes above. Skip it if any of them are a hard no; nothing else on this list goes there.
Our take
Read The Remarried Empress first; for most people it's the best manhwa romance fantasy to start with, then decide by mood. If you want more scheming, go to Moralless Scandal. If you want comfort, Who Made Me a Princess. If you want a long relationship you can live inside for months, Under the Oak Tree, as long as the steamy scenes are fine with you. And if you're tired of villainesses, Once an Assassin, Now a Royal Nanny is the freshest romance fantasy manhwa here.
For finished series beyond this genre, see our best completed manhwa, and for a side-character transmigration story with more action, manhwa like Trash of the Count's Family.
Related Reading
- Best Romance Manhwa 2026: contemporary and fantasy romance together, for when you don't need the magic.
- Manhwa like The Remarried Empress: more court romance with a heroine who negotiates.
- Best Manhwa Historical: period settings without the fantasy, including Joseon-era picks.
- Best Regression Manhwa 2026: the second-chance mechanic behind The Abandoned Empress and Moralless Scandal, in action stories.
- Best Manhwa for Couples: picks two people can read and argue about.
How We Checked This
Status, schedules, episode counts and age ratings come from each series' official WEBTOON, Tappytoon and Manta page, checked October 14, 2026. Chapter counts, credits, start dates and print editions come from AniList, whose counts include extras. The drama's November 4 date comes from Hulu's trailer description, and both trailers were checked through YouTube's oEmbed. This pass added Moralless Scandal, Once an Assassin, Now a Royal Nanny and Villainess Streamer, and moved The Soulless Duchess and Roxana (Tapas-only in English) to short notes; their Tapas pages were checked October 15, 2026. It also corrected the I Became the Villain's Mother and Lady Devil summaries and replaced two images that showed the wrong series.
Last reviewed: October 14, 2026
References
- The Remarried Empress on WEBTOON and AniList
- The Abandoned Empress on Tappytoon and AniList
- Moralless Scandal on WEBTOON and AniList
- Under the Oak Tree on Manta and AniList
- Who Made Me a Princess on WEBTOON and AniList
- Daughter of the Emperor on Tappytoon and AniList
- I Became the Villain's Mother on Tappytoon and AniList
- Once an Assassin, Now a Royal Nanny on Tappytoon and AniList
- Villainess Streamer on WEBTOON and AniList
- Lady Devil on Tappytoon, Manta and AniList
- The Soulless Duchess on Tapas and AniList
- Roxana on Tapas and AniList
- Tapas End of Service FAQ
