Oh to have an older, vampire-cosplaying man spend unimaginable amounts of money on you…
Before we start the review…
Who wrote this manga?
This manga was written by Touma Riko, Kase Ao, and Takayama Shinobu.
Info about the series
- There are 5 total volumes published in Japanese, and 41 chapters in English.
- Volume 6 of the Japanese version comes out November 28th.
- The English Digital is published through K Manga, and can be read here!
You can check out this series for yourself below.
What happens in volume one?
After enduring endless abuse from her family, Freya takes it upon herself to secure her future. Knowing her abusive, cheating fiancé is afraid of the renowned “vampire count”, Freya sets off to seek his help. It takes her four nights to reach his manor, with her scummy fiancé following her in tow the entire way. Once she makes it to the front gates, a vampire-looking attendant coldly lets her in, leaving her terrified fiancé behind.
Upon entering the manor and gaining a meeting with the count, she quickly makes her proposal: if he does her the favour of pretending to be her lover just until her fiancé gives up on her, then she will let him drink up as much of her blood as he wants. She was rather proud of this plan when she came up with it, as she knows that virgin blood is probably not all that easy to come by without a fight.
After making her offer though, the vampire count bursts out laughing, along with his attendant. It turns out that no one in the manor is actually a vampire; they just act the part because it’s fun. While Freya is in a bit of shock, the count, Oscar, continues explaining: living in a rural town is quite boring, so to entertain himself, Count Oscar has taken it upon himself to spread around rumours that he is a vampire. He has gone so far as to paint his entire manor black to make it more vampire-y, and even has his attendants dress up and wear makeup with him.
While this is a little bit strange, Freya is warmed by the sight of Count Oscar and his attendants getting along so well, a stark contrast to the family that she was raised in.
Count Oscar ends up taking Freya in and resolves to make her the perfect villainess, fit to be the vampire count’s lover. Again, he’s doing all of this purely because he’s bored and thinks it will be fun.
The social season in the capital is fast approaching, and the manor’s attendants are doing their best to help Freya prepare. As Freya had an upbringing full of neglect and abuse, she’s lacking confidence. During her time with everyone at the manor, they slowly help her realize that everyone here is on her side, wanting to see her shine.
Then, before long at all, they all set out for the capital to begin the ruse. As Count Oscar wants to maintain the façade that he’s a vampire, he cannot go out during daylight hours. He still wants to make his presence known, so he sends Freya and an attendant out to go shopping in one of his carriages. This is where Freya’s charade starts, as she needs to personify the type of woman that no one could ever dare look down upon, the vampire count’s lover.
My thoughts about this volume
I LOVE Count Oscar. Both in vampire mode and out, he’s such a fun character. Going into reading this volume, I already knew that he wasn’t actually a vampire. What I didn’t expect was that he was the one who spread the rumours about being a vampire himself! He’s such an incredibly likable character, and it’s clear that all of his attendants also really enjoy playing vampire with him.
His relationship with Freya is also very sweet, with him understanding that she has been abused by just about everyone in her life and keeping things lighthearted and fun to try to keep her in good spirits.
I heard someone refer to this as a Cinderella-esque story, and I couldn’t agree more! We have an abused sister running away and gaining a new, loving home. While typically I prefer my female leads being able to fend for themselves, not needing a man to save them, I really enjoyed Freya’s character in this volume. She develops a sweet relationship with two of the maids, finally making female friends! We love to see it!
I will say that there’s about a 10-year age gap in this story, but isn’t there always an age gap in vampire romances?
What I liked most about this volume
❤️ Count Oscar’s sense of humor – he really is so funny, I love him so much.
🧡 Count Oscar randomly calling Freya pet names because he thinks its funny, and the maids egging him on for the bit.
💛 Freya’s sister being such a cartoonish villain. She’s so absolutely classically villainous that I found it to be a little funny. Like she point-blank says she doesn’t want to do something if it doesn’t cause harm to her sister. I cannot wait for the revenge to come.
💚 Literally everyone in the manor just going along with Count Oscar wanting to be a vampire. I like to imagine that one day he just decided to go all in and ordered them to paint the manor black.
💛 The maid telling Freya to learn how to say “thank you” not “I’m sorry”. We love a support system!
🧡 Count Oscar taking Freya horseback riding. While I really enjoy the vampire bit, it was also nice to see the two of them doing “normal” things. It gives me hope that he will keep Freya around even after they chase her fiance away.
❤️ Count Oscar spending a LOT of money on Freya while out shopping. To the point that his maids say his hobby is spending money on young women.
Maddies Manga 
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