Duke Eckart - Tumblr Posts
Oh my god, Penny would be trapped with her two biggest abusers. The horror of imagining Gloria Kellen in a position of power over Penny gives me nightmares. As the wife of the heir to the dukedom and since the duke is a widower, it is very likely that the duties of the lady of the house were delegated to her, that is, she would have control over the maintenance of the house, meals, parties and servants. If the servants' willing abuse, tolerated by Derrick, consisted of exquisite rotten meals, toy cutlery, insults, and needle wounds; Now imagine the abuse ordered by Lady Gloria, a girl who risked serving a cup of mosquitoes to a duke's daughter just to envy her beauty and wealth, adding also her jealousy of her husband's attention to her own sister. her. Penny could now wake up with rodent carcasses in her bed and on her plate; if she takes the route of physically harming her, she could order her face to be burned and her hair cut off. Gloria would have her sister-in-law's dresses and jewelry destroyed, especially the ones Callisto gives her, because she can't stand that Penny looks prettier than her or that she has better things. If Penny complained, Derrick, as sick as he is (in addition to possibly having a fetish for dressing Penny in a chaste and simple way, highlighting her vulnerability) would say that his wife's actions were correct because Penny's clothing was inappropriate, He would require her to apologize to Gloria and then punish her with solitary confinement. If they were gifts from Callisto, Derrick would struggle to hide his joy, and would add that Penny should be grateful to Gloria, since it is wrong for a single woman to accept gifts from another man, then he would further punish Penny from meeting with Callisto. Callisto.
Gloria would definitely spend her time organizing dances and tea parties, where Penny would be constantly humiliated and harassed. Every time Penny explodes AND/OR defends herself, Gloria would play the victim, she would pretend that she was nice to Penny by introducing her to her friends or that she was just advising her without wanting to offend her, since Gloria chose all the guests, they would happily join in. to their farce, and would declare how "The Eckarts' crazy bitch" attacked the defenseless Lady Gloria. Derrick, as always, would blame Penelope and punish her with isolation without food or water, the Duke who only listened to his son's words, would foolishly shower her with gifts to buy her silence, and Penny, without anyone bothering to hear her version, would suffer in silence.
My personal headcannon is that the original Penny was actually a tomboy interested in learning to use a crossbow and hunting, despite these being activities not considered suitable for ladies in the Empire, to the point of not having special clothing for women, but rather men's clothing adapted to them. I think Penny might be interested in horseback riding, it would give her a feeling of freedom or get back to practicing with the crossbow. Gloria would bribe a stable boy to not adjust the saddle properly for Penny, causing her to fall, or bribe a knight to hurt Penny with an arrow, when she practiced with her crossbow. Derrick would convince the duke and Reynold that the fall occurred or the arrow got stuck, because Penny was very clumsy in its handling, they would never wonder why the seat also came loose or how Penelope magically managed to make the arrow turn around in its seat. address. Penny would end up deprived again of an activity she really enjoys, Derrick would find the perfect excuse to keep her locked up for his recovery and because he will no longer be able to go out to practice, and Gloria would get a new jewel and the pleasure of hurting her imaginary rival with impunity.
But would she still hold on to Derrick? What happens if she constantly dies as a result of Gloria and Derrick's abuse? Makeup mixed with an illicit substance could kill you, animal carcasses contain dangerous viruses, wounds can become infected and can be fatal, and let's not forget hunger. Being the Eckarts, I don't think a doctor regularly visits Penny. I think that by constantly being reincarnated, Penny would mature, she would realize that all her pain is because of Derrick, he is the puppet master behind Gloria and the servants, she would understand that Derrick's abuse is no different, that her brother is a disgusting degenerate who has raped, imprisoned, abused and manipulated her, just because he cannot accept his guilt for having incestuous feelings for his little sister, nor let her have a life without him. He has deprived her of her freedom, even allowing her to be accused of killing the crown prince, only to make her his sexual slave, he is a monster.
If Penny clings to one person, it's Callisto, he has the status to punish Derrick and Gloria, and enough intelligence and common sense not to fall for her lies.
Headcanon that Derrick and Lady Kellen were engaged in the og timeline.
My reasons for why this couple would make sense:
Gloria Kellen seems to be respected among the noble ladies and of marriageable age. For someone like her who is not from a notable family, Derrick is quite the catch as he is the firstborn son and future head of the Eckart duchy. It's not uncommon to break off an engagement if another suitor has appeared who can offer more power and wealth than the previous one, after all marriage back then was not based on love, most marriages were political arrangements. We also do not know how the Hunting arc was resolved in the og timeline. Her fiance Baron Tulitte might have been executed by Callisto for the assassination attempt, imprisoned or incapitated in a similar way as he is now, which would make a marriage with him disadvantageous.
The Duke had to give a diamond mine to Lady Kellen's family as compensation after Penelope threatened her with a crossbow. Through a marriage Derrick could retake possession of the diamond mine and avoid that further incidents involving Penelope could escalate into a family feud.
Similarity attracts. They are both arrogant people who abused Penelope and thought her inferior because of her lowborn background. Unlike Emily, rather than physical violence Gloria uses manipulations and subtle insults to agitate Penelope. Another thing they have in common is that Gloria and Derrick both criticize Penelope for how she used to be dressed. Lastly Derrick has the tendency to mask his attraction to Penelope by hurting her in the worst ways. Exchanging vows with the woman who ostracized Penelope in high society is something that Derrick might do. As his feelings for og Penelope deepen, he would become more desperate to escape them. Did I mention that the wiki states Gloria is around Penelope's age?
It is quite sad that Duke Eckart immediately notices that Penelope's clothes are mature for her age, but that he is unable to notice that his daughter is not eating the food on her plate because her cutlery is too small, while he is talking to her.
Then I watched the food scene again, and I realized that Reynold treats Penelope as a "Bitch" AND a "Crazy Bitch", and even tried to imply that Penny was looking for a romance with Eckles, the Duke didn't even reprimand him, But when Penny throws the spoon she can't eat with and leaves the dining room, he doesn't hesitate to get angry and scold her for ruining the meal. No wonder he could only see Penelope's bad behavior, when he is blind to all the evil around her. That's why Layla triumphed.