Spoiler Death Is The Only Ending For The Villain

IIRC didn't someone earlier in the thread that gastric cancer can be caused by severe malnutrition and eating improperly stored/rotten food? That makes her whole family culpable for her death, so I'm not exactly sympathetic with them.

Do you know how Penelope feels about her former family towards the end of the story? Considering she easily left them for the Prince (and who could blame her), I'm left thinking that this didn't do much to endear themselves to her.

 

In chapter 41 of the novel it tells how she went hungry in Korea

Spoiler

In the school cafeteria everyone tried to push her, and each time her food was on the floor ...
And at home, she had to eat the leftovers from her brothers and father's dinner at night ... only the second brother constantly spoiled this food (mixed something in the food).

Because of this, I hate her "family" in Korea

 

@LockedPuppet I agree with you, I don't feel sorry for them either.

 

I personally feel that the modern day family is meant to run as a parallel to the Eckart family.
The awkward father = the Duke
Second brother = Reynald
First brother = Derrick (minus the crazy obsession I hope )
Towards the end of the story we learn that Penelope did have a loving relationship with her mum growing up even though they were extremely poor but after she passed away, Penelope had to move in with her father. I wonder whether her father even knew of her existence before her mother passed away. I honestly don't think he did, seeing as he's rich and a high ranking figure, I'd imagine if he knew she existed he would have at least paid child support as a minimum but instead she and her mother struggled with little income. So I don't think the family were even aware of her existence to begin with. We also know that her father's actual wife passed away before Penelope was born and that her second brother is only a few years older than her. Penelope believed that the reason the brothers hated her was because they blamed her for their mother's death but I don't think I believe Penelope's narrative on that. I would imagine they were more angry that their father slept with another woman so soon after their mother passed away and resented Penelope at first because she was the living symbol that this happened. But we also learn from the hospital scene that they never hated her. Much like the Eckart family, the modern day family are incapable of expressing their own feelings properly and honestly.
Father/Duke - socially awkward/stunted
Second brother/Reynald - hides feelings with irrational bursts of anger
First brother/Derick - cold/stoic & can't truly express himself.

Did they go about handling the situation correctly? Absolutely not. Was there a huge misunderstanding in this family? Absolutely.

The second brother insulted her publicly which led to her being bullied and assaulted at school. This bullying runs as a parallel to how Reynald insulted Penelope publicly in front of the Eckart staff and the knights which led to her mistreatment by them. Neither of them intended for her to get bullied or harassed but that was the end result in both cases. Both were furious when they realized this is what happened with the second brother even beating up all those who hurt her.
Then we come to the second brother wanting to get her to eat with them as a family because she always avoided them and only ate when they went to bed. Rather than talking to her about it properly he, similar to Reynald, just resorted to insulting her over it as if it was his way of trying to guilt her into joining them. But he also took it one step further by trying to make the meals uneatable so she would have no choice but to join them and eat normally. But that didn't happen as she still ate the ruined food which is one of the contributing factors of her getting gastric cancer.

- just as a note on the gastric cancer, Penelope had several risks factors throughout her life that would have contributed to it. First was her childhood growing up with her mum. As they were poor she would not have had a balanced diet and would have probably suffered from some form of malnutrition and potentially gastritis to some degree. Then her time with the family with the second brother tampering with the food. It was already said that this contributed to her having gastritis which is a risk factor for gastric cancer. Furthermore, as she wasn't eating properly with them he malnutrition persisted. Finally, after she left the family and tried living independently, she continued to not eat properly and even overworked herself to exhaustion to the point she fell into a coma. Penelope never ate properly throughout her life and continuously suffered from malnutrition and gastritis which would have both contributed to her developing cancer.

In the case of the first brother, he also never wanted her to become independent of the family and wanted her to stay with them. So he gave her an appalling apartment hoping it would scare her into coming home - but of course it never did.

The father like the Duke, never clearly expressed his feelings for her because like the Duke, he didn't know how to. We learned from the hospital scene that he was planning on paying for her to study abroad because she got admitted into university. This is something you would only do if you were a proud parent, but unfortunately for the father, he never clearly expressed those feelings to her.

Now where do the two families differ? Penelope never once confronted her modern day family about how they treated her. It kind of makes me wonder what would have happened if she had. She spent the entire story believing they hated her because of their treatment and so avoided them and eventually tried to become completely independent of them, but we learn that they actually did care about her a lot. If she confronted them honestly about it, would it have changed? I think it would have. But exactly like original timeline Penelope, she never once confronted the family and instead just bore with their treatment until the end. But unlike the original timeline Penelope, she was born in the modern world and could move away and live independently from her family - something the original Penelope could never do.

Why do I think the modern day family would have changed? The Eckart family are their parallel and the only reason the Eckart's treatment of her changed was because she confronted them about it. She confronted them because she believed she wasn't really 'Penelope' so why should she put up with the treatment she received. In a way, I feel it gave her a sort of confidence to do this because it's not something she ever did with her modern world family. Due to her confronting them, Reynald realized the wrong in all his past actions towards her and therefore tried to make amends. Likewise, the Duke realized his neglect towards her and also tried to fix this and fire all the staff who had mistreated her. Her confrontation with them was what allowed them to try and fix their mistakes.

But I believe the phrase "too little, too late" applies to this story. She's now aware that her first family loved her but still mistreated her. She's also aware that she is also really 'Penelope.' Before this revelation, she hadn't ever thought she had the right to forgive anyone on her behalf because she believed she wasn't her. But upon realizing that she is 'Penelope,' she also now knows that she was the one suffering all the past mistreatments from the Eckart family - even if she no longer has those memories from her childhood there. She still knows key events, and can she truly forgive them? The answer is no. As she currently is, she can't bring herself to forgive any one of them because she was the one who still suffered. She suffered from Derick's hostility, Reynald's actions, and finally from the Duke's complete neglect. Even if they have started to treat her well, it's only in the past couple of months whilst she spent years living in neglect and fear for her life.

Maybe one day she can bring herself to forgive them after she heals but as it stands, right now she can't. I personally can't fault her for this. Whilst I do feel some pity for the families, actions speak louder than words and their actions were the nails in the coffin for having a relationship with her.

 

We don't ever see the direct scene where Reynald tells the truth to the Duke. The Duke only mentions that Reynald did tell him the truth when he meets Penelope before her coming of age ceremony. He tells her he was so angry that he wanted to hit Reynald when he learnt the truth but didn't because he realized he didn't have the right to do so.

By this stage, he has already realized that because of his neglect towards her, Penelope has been badly treated and starved within the estate. She has never been granted freedom to go anywhere as she pleases and to top it off she's a high ranking noble who hasn't even been given one escort to protect her. He also remembers how Penelope reacted when he blamed her for stealing the necklace and then tried to offer her jewelry instead. How it was the exact same reaction he observed when she seen Eclise had brought Yvonne back. How she held he breath and stopped breathing as if she was trying to kill all her emotions. He had realized by this stage how badly he has hurt her and wants to do anything to make amends. But his way of trying to make amends is clumsy and he tries to push for her coming of age ceremony as his way of apologizing to her.

 

I like how the author makes these chapters not just like the usual happy fluffy scenes but actually putting a proper closure with each character. I can't wait to know the aftermath of Derrick, Reynald and Eclise. This story is very well-written and close looped.

And thanks again for the timeline spoilers and detailed chapter translations!

 

Thank you for the spoilers! I love how this story isn't a typical fairytale! Not everyone get their happy ending! Well written author!

 

So in her korean family, her second and first brother are her step-bros and the head of the family is her actual biological dad? Aren't they her distant cousin?

 

I love how this series flips both ours and Penelope's expectations. The reader had a horrible first impression of Callisto and quickly dismissed him as a believable love interest for Penelope based on that first meeting. Penelope, right from the beginning, didn't see Callisto as a love target as he is often the cause of her death in Hard Mode. On the other hand, we immediately favor Eclise over the other targets --- Penelope, herself, even makes a conscious decision to choose him.

As the story unravels and we peel back the layers of these characters, we discover the Callisto is actually the perfect match for Penelope as, despite that ruthless exterior, he is the only one who truly loves her. Eclise, who we initially saw as Penelope's salvation, is revealed to have a dark side to his meek personality.

I just find it so fascinating that, in the beginning, Penelope dismisses Callisto's potential as a target and becomes the first name she crosses off her list. Yet, he is the one who truly, unconditionally loves her. Also, in the beginning, Penelope instantly places her hopes on Eclise because he was the only target who didn't hate her in Normal Mode. Yet, he is the one who ultimately betrays her and becomes somewhat a villain due to his obsession over her.

 

That "young master" would be Derrick right? HAHAHAHAH. Oh my. I have high hope for that to be Callisto.

 

Are there any Wattpad links for the story?

 

She usually referred to her Korean brothers as 'step brothers' so I assumed that her dad was her biological dad but she and the brothers didn't share the same mum - open to being corrected if I'm wrong about that

 

@Elyriona Thank you very much for continuing to translate.
I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of this story.

 

so I was watching some edits for this, and you gotta admit that no matter the beef you have with them, derrick and reynold are hot..