✨ Character Spotlight ✨

Penelope Eckhart

Daughter of the Duke – Love Project! • Otome Game (Normal Mode villain / Hard Mode heroine) • Web Novel • Web Comic

Villainess Hard Mode Heroine Otome Game “Duke’s Fake Daughter”

She is the ‘duke’s fake daughter’, who receives attention from no one, including the duke himself, and goes around doing wicked things anywhere and anytime.

Cover image (manhwa/web comic).

📖 Series Info

Game Title: Daughter of the Duke – Love Project!
Setting: Empire of Eorka • Eckhart Dukedom
Role Split: Normal Mode = villain • Hard Mode = heroine
Debut (Web Comic): Prologue
Debut (Web Novel): Chapter 1

In Normal Mode, Penelope dies in all original routes.

🧾 Character Profile

Names: Penelope Eckhart • Penelope Regulus • Siyeon Cha (시연 차)
Age: 17 at the beginning (before her coming-of-age ball)
Birthday: April 1 (turns 19 the day after entering the game; noted age-system context)
House: Eckhart Dukedom (adopted)
Adoptive Family: Duke Eckhart • Derrick Eckhart • Reynold Eckhart • Ivonne Eckhart (late)
Voice Actor (Korean): Kim Yeon-woo

✨ Appearance

Penelope is described as a young, beautiful girl in her late teens. She has wavy magenta/dark pink hair that reaches to her hips/waist and turquoise/green emerald almond-shaped eyes. She’s noted to have a cold, expressionless, cat-like face. According to Siyeon’s father, both Penelope and Siyeon share small hairs under the ear, dimples, and moles on the side of the hand and the neck.

Fashion / Style

As a duke’s daughter, she wears luxurious, high-quality clothing with a darker palette. In the novel, her outfits are often red, green, and black; in the comic, she wears a lot of purple. Nobles criticize her look as “too extravagant.”

🧠 Personality

Penelope is described by multiple characters as volatile and miserable before the novel’s start. She craves validation and affection due to the abuse and neglect she faced as a child. In retaliation and desperation for attention, she lashes out—sometimes violently—becoming increasingly isolated and misunderstood.

Coping / Emotional Traits

Her coping methods are considered extreme. As a child, she prayed out loud in the attic for Ivonne to never return, fearing she’d be kicked out. Duke Eckhart notes that when Penelope’s anger hits its limit, her eyes look lifeless and she goes completely quiet. She’s also been described to be vain—overvaluing expensive jewelry and dresses—which is re-contextualized as another coping mechanism to hide her loneliness.

📜 Background

Penelope was born a commoner without a last name. Her widowed mother, a poor traveling merchant, died of illness when Penelope was 12. Soon after, Duke Eckhart adopted her because her resemblance to his long-lost daughter caught his eye.

As she grew older, neither the pink hair of the late Duchess Eckhart nor the blue eyes symbolic of House Eckhart were present in her. Over time, she became labeled the “duke’s fake daughter” and received attention from no one—including the duke.

Childhood (Key Events)

Penelope hid from the maids who abused her. She used to love going to the attic as it was a cozy and solitary place. After Reynold accused her of theft, her father banned her from all doors on the third floor, and she lost that hiding spot. This event deeply affected her and is described as the starting point of her behavior: she began spending lots of money and stopped calling the duke “Father.”

Hunting Tournament Incident

At the last hunting tournament, Penelope was invited to a tea party by Gloria Kellen. Gloria put insects in her tea and bribed two guards to get Penelope in trouble. The noble ladies mocked her. Penelope then tried to shoot at Gloria. Her reputation worsened, and as an apology, her father had to give the Kellen family a diamond mine.

Hard Mode vs Normal Mode

Hard Mode: Penelope is the heroine instead of Ivonne. The story takes place before her coming-of-age. Love interests start at 0% affection (exception: Reynold starts at -10%). Affection can drop; lower affection increases the chance of a Bad Ending.
Normal Mode: Begins on Penelope’s coming-of-age ceremony when she becomes an adult. In this mode, Penelope is the typical villain. The brothers are more willing to call her a “fake lady” or a “lowly thing,” with Reynold constantly comparing her origins to Ivonne’s nobility. It’s implied her fate is bad in all routes, making her survival dependent on achieving a good ending before Normal Mode begins.

🏰 Relationships

Family

Penelope’s Biological Mother: Deceased
Duke Eckhart: Adoptive father
Evelyn Eckhart: Adoptive mother (deceased)
Derrick Eckhart: Adoptive brother (former abuser / former killer)
Reynold Eckhart: Adoptive brother (former harasser / former killer)
Ivonne Eckhart: Adoptive sister (late)

Extra Notes

Derrick: Dislikes her so much that he’s disgusted by her calling him “brother.”
Reynold: Most hostile; in Hard Mode, his affection score starts at -10%.
Ivonne: The real daughter who went missing around age 11–12; Penelope was adopted due to resemblance.

⚔️ Allies & Enemies

Allies

Penelope Regulus: Listed as an ally
Eckles: Former bodyguard and former killer (a slave she bought to make into her personal knight; originally the prince of a defeated kingdom)

Enemies

Holy Nation of Laila: Includes Ivonne Eckhart (Laila) — archenemy and former rival (deceased)
Eckhart Dukedom: Pennel • Emily (former personal maid / former bully) • Dona (former bully) • Mark Albert
Imperial Palace: Callisto Regulus (former killer)
White Rabbit Guild: Winter Verdandi (former killer)
Gloria Kellen: Former rival
Countess Dorothea: Listed enemy

The document also notes Penelope as the spouse of Callisto Regulus, mother of Judith Regulus, and current empress of Eorka (under the name Penelope Regulus).

🧩 Abilities

Archeology: As a university student, she studied archeology. She has sufficient knowledge to extract magic scrolls from a skeleton.

🪶 Etymology

Penelope: Greek girl’s name meaning “weaver.”
Eckhart: Derived from Ekkehard (Germanic): ekke = “edge/blade/sword” and hart = “brave/hardy.”

💫 Trivia

Age note: Despite the book saying she’s 20 years old, she’s actually 18 since her birthday is April 1. She turns 19 the day after she enters the game (with the document explaining the old Korean age system context).
She is fond of desserts, especially melon sherbet.
She likes small and cute animals like rabbits.
She despises getting rained on because her family would never share their umbrella with her in bad weather.
White lilies symbolism: White lilies appear on covers featuring only Penelope. They symbolize funerals (Penelope’s deaths) and resurrection (reincarnation).

🎭 Aliases

The Duke’s Fake Daughter Noble Lady The Rabid Dog of Eckhart The Chimpanzee with a Crossbow Master Old Lady The Hunting Goddess with Dark Pink Hair The Goddess of the Hunt The Queen of the Hunt Femme Fatale Professor

📚 Manhwa Info

Villains Are Destined to Die (a.k.a. Death Is the Only Ending for the Villainess)

✨ Quick Details

Status: Ongoing
Chapters: 162
Artist: SUOL
Author: Gwon Gyeoeul

🔗 Where to Read (Official)

Tappytoon (official):
Read here

Read on Tappytoon

📝 Summary

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?