Villains are Destined to Die

This post may contain affiliate links which earn me a commission at no additional cost to you.

The game, “Daughter of the Duke, Love Project, ” is a breeze to clear as the heroine, but when playing on hard mode as the hated villainess, Penelope Eckhart, one wrong move could lead to death. To make matters worse, there’s no reset button in sight. Penelope must gain the affection of one of the male leads to clear the game, all in a single playthrough. All five male leads are hard to charm for various reasons, and Penelope is on a time crunch as the game will get exponentially harder to clear once the heroine makes her appearance. Will Penelope be able to safely reach a happy ending? And what will be her reward for clearing the game?

If you’re a fan of compelling villain isekai stories, this one is an absolute must-read. It’s incredibly popular for good reason, and I’ve mentioned this manhwa multiple times on my blog–first in 2021 on webtoons you should be reading, and again when I realized we were printing webtoons now. So, I thought it was time to give this webtoon/manwha a proper review.

In her original world, she was adopted into an affluent family who treated her terribly. However, she studied hard, got accepted into a good university, and finally gained her freedom from her family when she became addicted to an otome romance game on her phone.

She completed the regular mode and switched to the hard mode, where the story is played from the perspective of the villainess, Penelope Eckart. She proceeds to repeatedly die in hard mode. And then, of course, she eventually wakes up as the villainess, Penelope (no white truck here guys).

Penelope is not really a part of her family; she’s a replacement who looks like their deceased sister. She is mistreated by both the maids and her family and is presented with choices on how to respond to various situations, much like in a video game.

Our poor FL. She escapes her abusive family in her first life, only to be isekaied into another abusive family. However, she is determined not to die as Penelope and return to her original world.

The story and plotline are exceptionally well-thought-out. This series has been available for a while, so if you haven’t read it yet, you should definitely get to it!

Quick thoughts while rereading…(Minor Spoilers)

The kissing up to her family isn’t very villainous of her. I mean I know surviving is important but I wanted her to at least get some sort of actual revenge, rather than just them feeling bad about how they treated her.

Her maid…ew…

Was Callisto always this crazy?

JUSTICE FOR ECKLES…I know she is supposed to be a villain but why is she so mean and manipulative to the only person who actually respects her? AND WHY is he so quick to obey her??