Penelope's True Home (Villains Are Destined to Die fanfic)

Callisto Confronts Duke Eckhart

NOTE: I changed a few things around so it's different from the novel. In this fanfic, Yvonne returns, Penny poisons herself, and then Callisto's birthday banquet happens.

Also Penny and Callisto may be a bit OOC but I tried my best to keep it realistic lol.

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Penelope was shocked to have Callisto propose a marriage of convenience to her at his birthday banquet. After all, he was one of the MLs she had originally crossed off the list as unattainable due to always killing her in hard mode. Why would he suddenly wish to marry her?

She checked his affection score as a reflex and saw it was at 88%. After being betrayed by Eckles when he brought Yvonne to the estate, she decided to place her hope on Callisto. She semi-accepted his proposal to please him by saying it first needed to be approved by both of their fathers. It wasn't exactly a yes, but it wasn't a no either.

Her answer had the intended effect she wanted. His affection score went up 6 points to 94%. She left the banquet happier than ever that she was very close to her goal.

Just a few points more until it's at 100%, then I can leave this godforsaken game and go back to my world in Korea!

However, unlike when she used Eckles with no remorse, she felt very conflicted with Callisto. Oftentimes, she could go from feeling confident she could trust him to stressing out and overthinking in less than a minute. She was rather good at predicting Eckles' feelings objectively like she was playing a game, but with Callisto, she could never tell what was in his heart. She also didn't want to hurt him by being so cold.

It also didn't help that her eldest brother displayed a whole new level of assery when she returned from the birthday banquet. Upon finding out that she and Callisto were officially courting one another, Derrick banned her from seeing him ever again. Since then, she had not been allowed to attend any balls or banquets and was essentially confined at the duchy. She was sure that all letters from the Imperial Palace were also kept hidden from her. She waited patiently for Callisto to come to the duchy, just like he did after the trial, but he didn't come even after three weeks. She became more and more depressed as the days went on.

These were the times she felt utterly idiotic for even believing her new plan could work. He still had to get approval from the emperor and ask her father for her hand in marriage, both of whom would surely be against this marriage. Not only that but she wasn't born a noble; she was adopted. In other words, a fake princess. Her anxiety often had a way of convincing her that she wasn't good enough, or that Callisto would meet someone else and change his mind.

She hated these thoughts because she wanted to keep her thoughts about him strictly objective and strategic. She was just using him to get back to her world, after all. She shouldn't have to worry about being good enough to be queen because she wouldn't stay long enough to become one. All she needed was for him to say he loved her and that was it. End of story.

Despite her claiming their relationship was purely contractual, it seemed that everything reminded her of him lately--the gold lace on her dresses, the ruby red drapes in her room, and especially the golden sunlight that warmed her skin. She always found herself thinking of the Crown Prince fondly.

The morning three weeks after his Birthday Banquet was no exception. While stuffing her face with small cakes, she began thinking of ways to increase his affection score. I wonder what he is doing right now?

She tilted her teacup a bit too much while thinking and spilled her hot tea on herself absentmindedly.

"Shit!" Penelope muttered, grabbing her napkin and dabbing at her dress.