Sorry, I was whole hearty with you until you said something about Derrick not being that bad. Yeah no everyone has opinions and I respect it. I swear, but HIM just no.
For eckles I agree he's just there to be tragical. He's just moving from one manipulation to another, I feel bad for him. BUT, he broke my heart, I was routing for him damnit
I can't help but wonder if you read as many as you claim because Derrick IS actually so bad that he deserves being hated. He never really showed remorse. He doesn't even realize what he did wrong. He has always been controlling of Penelope. He never trusted her. He never had her best interests in mind. It was always about himself. He hadn't even been brainwashed at the time and the reason he kept getting brainwashed, more so than others, is because he never understood Penelope.
I feel like there's a lot of layers as to why Derrick was the way that he was. First, of course it was the trauma of losing his little sister. He was the one who hold her hand and supposed to protect her the day she disappeared. That results in neverending guilt for him. Then his father suddenly brought a girl that seems like his little sister replacement without even talking to him first about it. Derrick was still openly grieving and so does Reynold. Their father being so emotionally distant also didn't help their relationship at all. Also, Derrick has a lot of pressure to uphold the family name and the OG Penelope causing ruckus everywhere, worsen the public image of their family, only add to the bitterness of their relationship. We're not talking about the transmigrated Penelope, but the OG Penelope wasn't exactly innocent and perfect either. She didn't know how to communicate her feelings well (I supposed it's also because the earlier prejudiced by the brothers but still) so she was raising hell for everyone instead. Eventually with the transmigrated Penelope, we found out that Derrick do care for her adoptive sister on many occasions. Though it might be hard for him to trust her 100% again considering her attitude and the trouble OG!Penelope did all this time before. It's understandable honestly.
Well why don't you tell me the reason why you think Derrick is so bad and unforgivable at all? I would like you to explain it to me, and don't be vague about it either. Like you said he's always controlling Penelope and he never had her best interest in mind. Tell me the example of those situations and the reasons of what made you think that way.
Also, I really don't like your tone as if I don't grasp what I'm reading simply because we have different opinions. That is very condescending and disrespectful of you. None of us are the better than the other just because we have different interpretation of the materials that we read. After all you and me have different experience, upbringing, morality, etc that might cause the differences. Every form of art is always open to multiple interpretations after all, webtoon is not an exception. We can discuss about it and you can disagree with me without claiming that I don't read as well as you do.
I said so because I feel like there's a lot of layers as to why Derrick was the way that he was. First, of course it was the trauma of losing his little sister. He was the one who hold her hand and supposed to protect her the day she disappeared. That results in neverending guilt for him. Then his father suddenly brought a girl that seems like his little sister replacement without even talking to him first about it. Derrick was still openly grieving and so does Reynold. Their father being so emotionally distant also didn't help their relationship at all. Also, Derrick has a lot of pressure to uphold the family name and the OG Penelope causing ruckus everywhere, worsen the public image of their family, only add to the bitterness of their relationship. We're not talking about the transmigrated Penelope, but the OG!Penelope wasn't exactly innocent and perfectly tragic either. We forgot about her because what we're seeing right now is a different Penelope. But previously, the OG!Penelope didn't know how to communicate her feelings well (I supposed it's also because of the earlier prejudiced by the brothers) so she was raising hell for everyone instead. Eventually with the transmigrated Penelope, we found out that Derrick do care for her adoptive sister on multiple occasions. Though it might be hard for him to trust her 100% again considering her previous attitude and the trouble OG!Penelope did all this time before. It's understandable for me personally.
Sure, you can have your opinion, your views, but saying that Derrick genuinely cares for Penelope is a blatant lie. My reasoning wasn't even that vague but if you want examples I can tell.
The most obvious representation of his desires is the caged pink bird he keeps in his office. He's simply obsessed with her and not in a brotherly way. Penelope realizes that. He also doesn't like it when other male leads talk to her (I can't really explain each moment but when she met Vinter after the hunting competion trial and when the crown prince asked her for a dance are 2 examples). The OG!Penelope was indeed immature in a way but the reason she kept throwing tantrums was because EVERYONE (maids, servants, other nobles) kept harassing her and she couldn't do anything about it as NO ONE took her side. No one listened to her. The proof of it can be seen when Penelope was blamed for the attack on the crown prince. Derrick didn't even listen to her side of the story. Then there's the Penelope poisoning event but let's just excuse him for being brainwashed. He never apologized for his actions, even though he somewhat realized that he messed up during the hunting trial.
Now I actually agree with most of what you said. Especially that hunting incident where Penelope was incarcerated and framed for the attack on Callisto and Derrick still decided to not listen to her and trust her. That almost cost her everything. I also hate him very much during that moment.
I also agree about Penelope being immature because everyone kept harrassing her, which is why in my other reply I also blamed her father for this issue. He knows what might happen to Penelope when he decided to take her and adopted her into his household, especially when everyone is still grieving for the beloved missing daughter Ivonne. He should have expected that his sons and the rest of the household would resent the new adoptive daughter for being the "replacement" for Ivonne; it's as if like traces of Ivonne was being erased and going to be replaced by her. Which is why his father should have protected Penelope through it all. Communicate properly with her, ask her what she truly wants and needs, instead of being emotionally distant and showering her with endless luxury, selfishly assuming that's what she wanted the most.
Sure, overtime Reynold and Derrick should have mature and understand that Penelope was not to blame for anything and even if they find it hard to be actual brothers for her, the least they could do is to be cordial to the innocent girl. They were wrong for fuelling the hostility fire in that household. They should take accountability and properly apologized for that. Which is why I said, they were hardcore jerks at the start of the story.
But still, as the story progress, I feel like both Reynold and Derrick grew to genuinely care about Penelope in their own way. Reynold is a lot more obvious and straightforward with his regret and apology, but I like to think that even Derrick regret his actions to some degree as well when he confronted Penelope right after she left the guilt before she left for Arkina.
Also to be clear, I'm not saying Derrick is blameless or defending his wrong actions. I'm saying that despite it all, I personally believe that he does care for Penelope in his own way. Personally being the keyword here. Which is why I might be wrong here but I'd like to think that he actually does.
I'm sure you understand that a purely subjective opinion can't be "a blatant lie" especially when it comes to interpretation of artwork. Not exactly a factual statement.
Fair enough. You're sure hanging onto that thin thread of positivity. It's apparent that Derrick didn't want to intentionally hurt her. But his denial of his own twisted feelings is what caused misfortune for Penelope.
Oh I definitely agree with that one. I know it's not easy to get over the lost of a sibling, especially when that younger sibling was supossed to be your responsibility but I think after years passed by, Derrick should have come to term that Penelope is his sister right now and regardless of Ivonne returns or not, Penelope is not going anywhere and would still be his sister. There's definitely something darker that caused it, maybe something else beside trauma and guilt, but ultimately it ended up hurting everyone and especially Penelope.
Just to be clear, Derrick never accepted Penelope as his sister. His feelings also became more "romantically inclined". He doesn't want to accept that and that's why he behaves in such an irrational way. Proof of that is the color of his affection meter and the fact that Ivonne used it to provoke him.
I think I have read this story so many times I lost count anymore haha
To be honest I love all five of the "love interests" with all their flaws and strengths. I personally like that they are all not exactly a one dimensional character and that you can hate them as much as you love them.
The best of them is Callisto Regulus of course but I personally really love Winter Verdandi too. Callisto is like bright, burning fire. He's brave, loud, honorable, loyal, and very perceptive especially when it's concern with Penelope. But I really love Winter too, he's such an introverted, gentle soul who's just trying his best to help and protect vulnerable and marginalized people.
I personally Derrick and Reynold (the brothers) wasn't really all that bad either as the story progress. Sure they were hardcore jerks at the start of the story but overtime I believe they come to genuinely care and protective over Penelope as their younger sibling. Too bad the Ivonne impostor came and ruin their relationship. I can't bring myself to hate Derrick in that regard, he was under the influence of dark magic all this time and even then his subconscious tried a few times to break free of it. I think it's kinds unfair to hate on him and wish him death when he was not even himself. I really wish Derrick can sincerely apologize to Penelope and mend their brother-sister relationship after the Leila has been defeated.
Now about Eckles... Man, that entire guy existence is just tragic all over. Starting from a slave, he's just genuinely wanted to survive and live a better life than what he had. You can't really blame him for being obsessively in love and extremely devoted to the lady who saved him. And although I completely understand where Penelope is coming from, but the way she kinda "discarded" Eckles kinda sting me a bit ngl. Especially when he break free to find her after her attempt, and for her to coldly told him he was the biggest reason why she did what she did... Damn that hurts.
I just genuinely wished the other male leads aside from Callisto, who's obviously going to be the end game winner of Penelope, will also find love and happiness along the way. Even not love, perhaps at least some kind of peace in life. I know, it might be possible for the other four but not for Eckles. Still, a girl can hope.