Attempting to fix a few wrongs

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/34899199.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: Gen
Fandom: - | Death Is The Only Ending For The Villain - Kwon
Gyeoeul
Relationship: Penelope Eckart & Duke Eckart
Character: Duke Eckart, Penelope Eckart, Emily ( - | Death Is The Only
Ending For The Villain - Kwon Gyeoeul ), Other Characters Mentioned,
Reynold Eckart, Derrick Eckart, Eckles
Additional Tags: Father-Daughter Relationship, Repairing Relationships, Healing, Past
Abuse, Past Child Abuse, Out of Character, Implied/Referenced Child
Abuse, Past Lives, Bad Parenting, Better Parenting, Angst, Fluff and
Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional
Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Baggage, Hopeful Ending, Happy Ending,
Feelings, Family Issues, Dysfunctional Family, Fatherhood, Canon Era,
Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe, i wrote this
in 1 hour
Series: Part 3 of Penelope's rants have interesting results
Stats: Published: 2021-11-02 Words: 2678

Attempting to fix a few wrongs

by SimpleSoul_Shipper

Summary

Direct follow up with the previous fic, the Duke implements his plans to avenge Penelope's
non-existent childhood.
After he does, he and Penelope finally have a sit down, and the Duke finally apologises for
his behaviour and begs to be allowed to stay in her life, to have a second chance at being her
father.

Notes

the third fic in the series, I hope you all enjoy the Duke begging Penelope to let him stay in
her life, in my opinion all of them should be begging for her forgiveness.
It's an alternative universe because the Duke is doing all this before the hunting event.
Ignores all future post the hunting event, complete canon divergence.
When the duke had sworn to himself that he would start his preparations in attempting to fix things
with his daughter, he’d meant that he would start immediately. He didn’t believe in putting off
anything that he could do that day.

He knew his solutions, at least the ones that he had made, he was willing to expand the list with
anything that Penelope would want added.

1. Finding a way to punish the servants – punishments would be varied as much as they could,
pay docks for all of them, removing any letters of recommendations for those who
participated, and disciplinary actions depending on how much they had harmed his daughter.

This could be implemented immediately, he’d called for the butler and head maid, informing them
of the pay docks, and burning any letters of recommendation on front of them.

The butler, while the head maid shivered in fear, called in the maid that Penelope kept close to her,
Emily was her name, she told the duke the names of those who had harmed Penelope, she had also
told him the names of those who insulted her to her face, and the chefs who prepared her rotten
meals.

The list of those who harmed, insulted and poisoned her were quite low, a dozen servants out of the
many at the estate, as well as that, the head maid was on that list. In his fury the Duke ordered
them out of his employment, refusing to budge on time.

Every one of those reported by Emily was sent out of Eckart employment before sundown.

And if Emily had added two maids who Penelope didn’t like but who hadn’t acted against her, then
no one needed to know. She needed to make up for her own wrongdoings after all.

2. Hire a new set of maids for Penelope

Looking at Emily it was clear that she now firmly belonged to Penelope, so the duke’s only
preparation for this task was to gather some resumes.

Penelope could decide for herself who the new servants would be, each one would be informed
that any slander of their lady’s character would be severely punished.

With this, he would entrust Emily to inform him if one of the new servants step out of line. The girl
agreed readily, willing to do anything to actively help her lady.

3. Finding a way for her slave to legally use a weapon aside from a wooden sword.

This task was more difficult. The duke knew the laws of the Empire, he knew that aside from
removing the slave status, there was almost nothing that could be done.

Almost nothing, because as always there are different laws in regards to those in power. If he were
to hire a small group of new knights, around four maybe, then legally the slave would have enough
‘handlers’ to be allowed a weapon if he were escorting his master/mistress.

The day after dismissing the servants he drafted the official document needed to allow the slave to
use a weapon. And set out to hire some new knights.

He had a few criteria for these knights; they would need to know to an extent the hardships
Penelope had faced, so that they would not be swayed by the other knights. They would need to be
aware of her reputation, but still willing to put her life before their own. And these knights would
need to be of peasant background or half-blood background, not pure noble knights like the ones he
already had.

He wasn’t going to make that mistake again, if he hired peasant or half-blood knights, then
Penelope would have those around her who could understand some of her situation, peasants would
still treat her with deference as she is a noble lady and wouldn’t dare to insult her character or
blood.

He would again make a list of those suitable and bring it to Penelope, she should pick those who
would be protecting her when she needed.

And once she made her decision, he would punish the knights who insulted his daughter in front of
the new ones, so they knew exactly what would happen if they were disloyal to his daughter.

It had only taken his afternoon to call the slave to him, Eckles was his name, the slave pointed out
the knights who had spoken ill of his daughter and informed him that all the others had stood
around.

4. Punishing the boys

Now that he was aware fully of the role that each of his sons had played in Penelope’s childhood,
he was not going to let it go unpunished.

Reynold had framed his sister for stealing a necklace that had belonged to Ivonne and allowed her
to be punished for it. Then there was his appalling attitude and demeanor to his sister.

Reynold took pride in his training as a knight, and that training would be restricted to 5 hours a
week, no more.

Reynold would be put through new lessons, these teaching him about the state of the slums and the
lives of those who lived there, maybe it would give him some appreciation for his sister.

Reynold would be confined to his rooms unless on work for the Eckarts, or in his time for training,
or family meals. At any other points he would be kept to his rooms.

Reynold would be instructed to clean his room himself; no maids are to come and clean after him.

Reynold will use his time in isolation to think of every misdeed he has committed towards his sister
and write a sincere apology to her for his actions and behaviour.

The duke nodded in satisfaction.

Reynold would apologise via letter unless Penelope wanted it done in person, and she would by no
means be made to accept this apology.

The duke turned his thoughts to Derrick.

Derrick was being trained as his heir. His punishment would be similar to his brothers.

Derrick would be confined to his rooms unless on work for the Eckarts, or in any lessons needed.

Derrick would be put through a new set of lessons, regarding the state of the slums and those who
lived there, he would also go though a set of lessons on the compassion and mentality needed as
the head of the family when dealing with those of less fortunate backgrounds.
He would not allow Derrick to continue with his patronising attitude towards Penelope any longer.

Derrick would similarly be instructed to clean his room himself; no maids are to come and clean
after him.

Derrick will similarly use his time in isolation to think of every misdeed he has committed towards
his sister and write a sincere apology to her for his actions and attitude.

It wasn’t much in comparison to what Penelope went though, but he would allow her to add any
extra punishment she saw fit.

Five days after he had read Penelope’s book, he gather the resumes of new maids and knights, he
gave the list of punishments to the butler and informed his sons of their isolation, they initially
protested but quieted down when informed that it was punishment for their treatment of Penelope,
a cope of their rules was given to them, and they retreated to their rooms.

With this, the duke headed out into the garden, informing Emily to escort Penelope to their meeting
point. An afternoon tea service in a secluded, shaded part of the gardens, away from the knights,
and private enough for the two of them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Penelope didn’t rush on her way to her meeting with the duke, Emily had informed her only
moments ago that the duke wished to have tea with her in the garden.

She had initial worries about this, the usual place for outdoor socialisation was near to where the
knights trained, and she knew that Reynold had training that day, and in general her last meeting
with the knights hadn’t gone well.

But Emily had informed her that the duke instructed her to escort Penelope to a new place, her only
thought was that she was pleased it was somewhere away from the knights.

She didn’t have any indication of what the duke wanted from her.

Emily hadn’t known what the meeting was about, but she did tell her that a few days ago a number
of servants were dismissed from the estate, she had even smiled when saying that one of the chefs
had been sent off too.

Penelope recognised a few of the names, but most of them didn’t matter to her. They were only fuel
for the original Penelope’s pain after all, they held no importance to her.

As Penelope reached the meeting point, she was surprised that only the duke was present. She had
expected one of the boys to have been there, or at least some servants, but it was only the duke.

And only the duke and her after he dismissed Emily.

The duke was acting strange, and even as he pulled out her chair, she was thinking of anything
she’d done that had caused him to need to see her in this setting.

The last time they’d been together in private he’d given her a weapon.

Maybe this time he was giving her a guillotine.

The duke cleared his throat.

“Penelope, there isn’t a delicate way to say what I wish to, and I sowre that I would be forthright
with you, earlier this week your brothers had discovered your private journal and read it, after
reading it, they gave it to me and compelled me to read it myself”

Penelope stared as he pushed her book across the table towards her.

She was frozen.

At that moment she thought back to everything she’d written in there, was there anything that
implicated her as a reincarnator? Was there anything about Ivonne? Anything about people the
duke should know that she knows?

The duke swallowed again, “I know that it was wrong Penelope, and a grave violation of your
privacy”

Yeah, no shit it’s a violation.

This book held every private thought about her upbringing, her and the original Penelope. And to
think that the idiot brothers and the duke had read it, it was disgusting!

“Penelope”

She looked into the duke’s eyes, her posture exposing her apprehension.

“Penelope, I swear I will whatever you think necessary to attempt to make amends for my horrible
transgressions against you!”

Penelope was confused, it showed in her expression, what was he talking about? What did he mean
‘make amends’?

The duke explained his behaviour for the past week, how he’d found the maids who had physically
hurt her and removed them, Penelope almost corrected him but he explained that Emily was kept
on despite her actions because she had made Emily her own.

Penelope protested when he explained his original plan to replace all the staff, he explained how
he’d replaced the ones who acted against her, and the bystanders were going to be punished for not
reporting their behaviour.

He then explained how the knights would be punished for their insults, how he’d hired her a
private group for anything she wished, how he’d found a way for her slave to carry a weapon.

Penelope sat in silence, she was overwhelmed and disoriented.

She was in too much shock to react.

The duke hadn’t known about the staff’s behaviour? She could have guessed that, he was ignorant
of anything Penelope did.

But to hear that he was punishing those who hurt her, actively doing what he can to try and make
up some small percentage of the harm that befell her.

She wished she could say it was too late…

But…

The duke explained that he had started the punishment for his sons.
He was going to lecture them, make sure they know their every sin, make certain that they have an
education on what happens in the slums, what happens to beggars like she had been.

Hearing that, even though she wanted to throw all the Eckarts away… she might not want to lose
him.

The duke was her second father, but unlike her first one, who she had actually been blood related
to, this father who had ignored her for years was trying to fix things in a meaningful way.

He’d removed the servants who’d hurt her, and the new ones would be chosen by her.

He’d kept Emily on, because Emily was hers.

He’d disciplined the knights.

And he’d found a way for Eckles to carry a weapon and done it in her name.

And finally, he’d actually taken his sons, his blood children aside and punished them, and it wasn’t
a one-off punishment, but something that would have lasting consequences!

She was smiling, she was actually smiling!

After so many years, she hadn’t thought she’d ever see it, that someone would apologise, and try to
do right by her.

She… she could forgive the duke.

The duke had never hurt her, he’d never actively belittled her or insulted her, he given small
punishments in response to big events, but they had been lenient compared to the punishments
Derrick can up with.

Yes, she could forgive him, even if she wouldn’t forgive the others.

The duke had stopped talking when Penelope started smiling, it warmed his heart deeply to see that
despite what she’d been through, she could still smile so sweetly.

His precious daughter.

“Penelope, there’s one last thing”

Penelope looked up, her smile still on her face.

“I know… I know that you’re considering leaving the Dukedom after your birthday”

Penelope almost panicked again, but she held herself still. Just this once she would try to have faith
in someone, just this once she would try to believe in her father, that he would do the nice thing for
her.

“I accept all of your feelings daughter. If you truly wish to leave once your birthday comes. I won’t
stop you”

The duke looked deep into her eyes, hoping his sincerity shone through.

“But, please, allow me the chance to make things right between us, I would like to try and be the
father that you deserve”
Penelope reached for his hand, this conversation, the entire afternoon, it was taking its toll on them
both.

“But, if you still wish to leave after I’ve done my best, please allow me to provide for your future”

Penelope was a little shocked, provide for her?

“What do you mean provide for me?”

“I mean, let me buy you a property, anywhere you wish for it, outside the empire if you wish, let
me send you off with trunks of goods so you never want for luxuries, let me give you a deed to a
gem mine so you never want for money, just please…”

The duke stood up and walked to Penelope, kneeling down he took her hand and held it tightly. But
Penelope noted distantly that it didn’t feel restrictive.

“Please let me provide for your future even if you want nothing to do with me”

Penelope couldn’t hold it in, for the first time in both her lives, she threw herself into her father’s
arms, hugging him tight, tears streaming from her face.

“I just, I just wanted to be wanted”

It was all she’d ever needed, in both worlds, for her family to want her, like her, love her.

To hear her father say he wanted to provide for her, in the only way he knew how, even if she left
behind his name, she couldn’t help but feel that this is what she’d been waiting for.

A chance at family.

Or at least, a chance at a father.

The duke held her close, whispering his oaths in her ears, swearing that from now on, he’d be her
father, he’d protect her, he’d teach her, he be whatever she needed.

Penelope had to admit to herself, eyeing the pages of resumes waiting for her examination, the
duke might not have fixed everything, but he’d taken the first steps.

And that meant more to her than anything.

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