Penelope Eckhart/Relationships

*For the Penelope Eckhart before the events of the story, see: Original Penelope Eckhart/Relationships.*

**WARNING**

This page is ***incomplete***, you have been warned!

## *Daughter of the Duke - Love Project!* Main Characters

### Original Penelope Eckhart

When Siyeon discovers that Penelope, the villainess in normal mode, is now the heroine in hard mode, she takes interest in her. As she continues to play hard mode despite constantly dying in the game, she learns that Penelope and Siyeon live a similar situation; both were taking in by their father, their older brothers act hostile toward them, and are unloved by the people.

### Ivonne Eckhart

When playing the game in normal mode, Siyeon thinks Ivonne and her are similar because both lived in poverty until they lived with their wealthy family.

After reincarnating inside the game, Siyeon, now Penelope, expresses general apathy toward Ivonne. She's only interested to get out of the game and doesn't care what will happen once normal node starts since she assumes that she'll be gone by then.

**Spoiler!**
Penelope sees Ivonne for the first time on Arkina city.

They officially meet for the first time after Eckles betrays his mistress and brings back the biological daughter of Eckhart. […]

### Derrick Eckhart

Penelope knows the way to have the safest route with him and to raise his affection acore by call him "Lord Derrick" instead of "older brother", wearing more modest clothing and "knowing her place.

During the story he becomes a lot more protective towards her, carrying her in his arms after she is harmed by the Crown Prince, following her and Reynold to the festival to keep them safe.

**This section contains spoilers! Do you want to read them?**When she understands that Derrick was attracted to the original Penelope and is in love with the current Penelope, she openly expresses her disgust to him.

Years after the main events, it seems that Penelope and Derrick are more or less on better terms enough for Penelope to let Derrick see her daughter.

### Reynold Eckhart

It seems that Reynold is not inherently malicious, as he mostly just pours his anger and grief resulted from Ivonne's disappearance on Penelope because she is the easiest target. He was the only one outraged at Emily's actions demanding for her punishment and even seemed worry towards Penelope for a split second until she refused his help. He is also shown to be worried for her when he caught her after she jumped from her window and insisted to go with her to the festival to keep her safe. Still, he almost immediately started looking for a fight when he asked why doesn't she ask him and Derrick to buy her anything.

Because of the circumstances of his life, he has no idea of what being poor is like so he proves to be completely unaware of Penelope's circumstances, the biggest turning point for his relationship with her is the attic scene during the festival. This is when Penelope confronts him for the first time. Penelope tells him what might have been the real Penelope's life like before her adoption by the Duke, which left Reynold speechless. From that moment Reynold seems to realize slowly the gravity of his actions, although his pride keeps him from apologizing. Just like Derrick, he starts being protective of Penelope, being hostile towards Winter when he gets close to her and more openly showing worry for her when she gets hurt.

**This section contains spoilers! Do you want to read them?**Reynold realizes later in the story that everything started because of him. He feels guilty about it until the end of the story and knows what he did is unforgivable. When Penelope runs away, Reynold spends his days getting himself drunk and crying in his bed as he regrets everything he has done to her. The only thing he can do is supporting and helping Penelope to achieve her happiness. When Derrick opposes the idea of Penelope leaving the duchy after the poisoning incident and insists on continuing the investigation, Reynold yells at him to stop, or Penelope may leave the duchy once and for all or worse tries to kill herself again.
According to Gwon Gyeoeul, if Penelope and Reynold weren't siblings, they would have been good friends or even become a cute couple.

### Callisto Regulus

Penelope is generally fearful of him, often looking back to the constant "Game Over" screens she would get back in Korea and that time in the maze garden (At least 76 deaths). Out of all of the Love Interests, Penelope favors his appearance the most due to his golden-blond hair. Her eyes would always get drawn to his hair rather than his Affection Score.

**This section contains spoilers! Do you want to read them?**Callisto becomes intrigued by her after Penelope tells him that she fell in love with him in a desperate attempt to make him spare her life. After the hunting competition she grew closer with Callisto. Callisto often teases her, but was very protective of her. Penelope was able to forget her problems when she's with Callisto.
### Winter Verdandi

In the story, their relationship is mostly positive. Penelope describes Winter as someone kind and warm. She considers the sorcerer as the second best option to get out of the game.

**This section contains spoilers! Do you want to read them?**

However, at the end of the hunting competition, he suspects her for being part of the nation of Laila as he can feel a strange aura around Penelope. This will unfortunately cost her trust after he tests her and learns she has never been part of Laila since the beginning. Even though Penelope understands his actions, she is deeply hurt and disappointed.

Their relationship is mostly business-like as each time Penelope helps him, Winter returns the favor later.

### Eckles

TBA

**This section contains spoilers! Do you want to read them?**Later in the novel Eckles' love for Penelope grows into obsession where he wants her for himself only. The turning point of their relationship is when Eckles betrays her by bringing Ivonne back, so Penelope will rely only on him, which causes her to hate Eckles because she fails his route.

Penelope's relationship with Eckles is very toxic as both have hidden motives and don't trust each other.
## Eckhart Dukedom

### Duke Eckhart

The Duke was the one that found Penelope when she was a commoner and adopted her. He is not shown to have any malicious feelings towards Penelope and, at least in some capacity, considers her his daughter, but he is disappointed in her behaviour.

His favourable behaviour towards Penelope becomes more pronounced during the story. The Duke getting angry when Penelope falls on her knees to beg for his forgiveness a second time, marking the turning point when he starts treating Penelope more and more like a daughter. Also he seems the most aware of Penelope's circumstances from the entire Eckhart family, as he didn't answer back when Penelope told him that she resented him in the past.

### Emily

Once Siyeon takes possession of the original Penelope's body, she doesn't hesitate to blackmail Emily so the maid won't mistreat her like she did to the real Penelope. After some time, Penelope starts to trust Emily.

Emily is one of the very few people Penelope genuinely cares and has affection for.

**This section contains spoilers! Do you want to read them?**

Emily is probably the only person who knows how to cheer Penelope up. When the protagonist comes back to the duchy after she received the unwanted title of "Queen of The Hunting Tournament", the maid is really happy and proud of her mistress. This makes Penelope feel a little bit better.

When Ivonne is back to the duchy, Penelope is scared that Emily will stop being her maid and want to work for the real lady. To the contrary, she doesn't leave her mistress' side and continues to serve her much to Penelope's surprise.

After Penelope wakes up from the poison she drank, she asks Emily to not tell anyone that she sent her to the guild street and to worry about her safety first before her lady's as she doesn't want the maid to get into trouble.

At the end of the story, Emily is the only one out of all the people of the estate Penelope forgives.

## Nobility

### Gloria Kellen

When Penelope sees Gloria at the tea party during the Hunting Tournament, she remembers that she is the one the original Penelope tried to shoot last year. […]

## **Korean Family**

### Korean Mother

Cha Siyeon seems to have had a happy and lovely relationship with her parent. Before her mother died, they would go to an archeological museum together. Because they were poor, it was the only place they could visit. Her mother was very proud of her daughter doing her best at school even when she failed and would praise her for memorizing archeological factoids. This would motivate Siyeon to later become an archeologist.

### Second Korean Half-Brother

As Penelope, Siyeon often compares him to Reynold, and the two do seem to bare a resemblance in terms of personality. Siyeon was often bullied and belittled by the Second Brother, and he would often poison any leftover food the family had, knowing that Siyeon would secretly eat it out of desperation at night.

Siyeon seems to hold nothing but contempt for her Second Half-Brother, calling him the “Second Bastard” in her mind. She would later admit that she hated him much more than he hated her.

**This section contains spoilers! Do you want to read them?**

It is later revealed in the Special Chapters that he never hated her; he wanted to get closer to her. The reason he put food tasting like garbage in the fridge whenever Siyeon would sneak food in the middle of the night was because he was hoping it would force her half-sister to eat with her family.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Manhwa: Season 1, Chapter 8
2. ↑ Manhwa: Season 1, Chapter 11
3. ↑ Tapas Interview
4. ↑ Manhwa: Season 2, Chapter 72
5. ↑ Manhwa: Season 1, Chapter 12
6. ↑ Manhwa: Season 1, Chapter 36
7. ↑ Manhwa: Season 2, Chapter 49
8. ↑ Manhwa: Season 2, Chapter 51
9. ↑ Manhwa: Season 1, Chapter 6
10. ↑ Manhwa: Season 2, Chapter 65
11. ↑ Manhwa: Season 1, Chapter 1
12. ↑ Manhwa: Season 1, Chapter 2