Line #30 Manhwa/TheMonstrousDukesAdoptedDaughter


1	[[quoteright:224:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/596_xp919196.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:224:]]
3
4	The first twelve years of Leslie Speràdo's life were wrought with misery. Expected to do nothing but support her elder sister Ellie, starved when she didn't perform up to standards, faced in front of a mirror to tell ''herself'' how useless she is...
5
6	It all culminates when her father has her thrown into a fire. Leslie survives, but the experience awakens something in her, the dark magic that the Speràdo family has, but to a much greater degree than either her father or sister. Fearing her life is in danger if she stays in the Speràdo home, but needing a guardian to protect her until she reaches adulthood, Leslie approaches Duke Salvator, matriarch of a family alleged to have monster blood in their veins, and asks to be adopted.
7
8	Intrigued by Leslie's request, the Duke agrees to protect her and thus begins the saga of ''The Monstrous Duke's Adopted Daughter''. As the Duke and her family help Leslie learn to protect herself, Leslie may experience true affection and joy for the first time in all her life.
9
10	The novel and webtoon have both reached their conclusions. The webtoon can be found in the original Korean [[https://page.kakao.com/home/%EA%B4%B4%EB%AC%BC-%EA%B3%B5%EC%9E%91%EA%B0%80%EC%9D%98-%EA%B3%84%EC%95%BD-%EA%B3%B5%EB%85%80/52792529 here]]. The website Tapas has licensed it as well, and the official English translation can be read [[https://tapas.io/series/the-monstrous-dukes-adopted-daughter here.]]
11	----
12	!!Associated Tropes:
13
14	* AbortedArc: In the beginning and middle of the story, Leslie angsts a little about the contract making her a part of the Salvator family until she's 18, hoping she can extend it once the moment comes. It disappears as the story goes on due to how evident it is that they wouldn't dream of kicking her out, and doesn't get a single mention once she's 15 and onwards, likely because Leslie is already HappilyAdopted by then.
15	* AbusiveParents:
16	** The most benevolent memory Leslie has of her life in the Speràdo house? Having her mother march her up to a mirror, and then being forced to tell her own reflection "you're useless."
17	** Sir Konrad's father won't win any prizes either, after he abused him for [[spoiler:siding with Leslie and the Salvators against the Speràdos during the trial for custody.]]
18	* AdoptingTheAbused: The series starts with Leslie reaching out to the Salvators and asking them to adopt her so she can escape her biological family's abuse and the fate of being sacrificed. The Duke agrees to adopt her, and from then on, Leslie's life vastly improves.
19	* AerithAndBob: The series uses both normal names, such as Leslie, Ellie, Travis, and Konrad, and names that are clearly made up, such as Aleca, Sairane, Bethrion, Ruenti, Fieste, Arlendo, and Derrial.
20	* AndNowYouMustMarryMe: Duke Salvator warns Leslie that when denying marriage proposals, she must be careful to keep stoic about it. Some nobles will take ''blushing'' as a sign of consent and agreement to the terms presented.
21	* ArrangedMarriage: These are a common thing among the noble houses to gain or regain power and influence.
22	** Marquis Speràdo had been able to use his waning influence to secure Ellie as the Crown Prince Alendro's fiance. [[spoiler:Their losing the Noble Trial and things said there have jeopardized this and the Emperor is considering revoking this arrangement]].
23	** Duke Salvator has endured many proposals from noble families to marry into hers. [[spoiler:After Leslie becomes a Salvators, she too receives a proposal from the eldest son of a prominent merchant noble, who is also about 13 years Leslie's senior]].
24	* AristocratsAreEvil: With the exception of the Salvator house, which is headed by the titular "Monster Duke," all the aristocrats and nobles are entirely self-serving, at best, but the crown of cruelty has to go to the Speràdo house, where Leslie hails from.
25	* ArmorPiercingQuestion: When the Duke shows Leslie her facial scar in order to understand the woman she wants to be her mother, the Duke anticipates Leslie will recoil in shock or fear. Instead, she asks softly, "Doesn't it hurt?" and stuns the Duke for a moment at this empathic response.
26	* BatmanGambit: The Salvator Knights discuss a plan in chapter 45 to [[spoiler:find an excuse to fight and hurt the Speràdo Knights by dressing in worn-out clothing when they celebrate the birth of one of the Salvator Knights having a second child at a pub the Speràdo Knights frequent, they hope to provoke the Speràdo Knights into a conflict and beat the crap out of them]].
27	* BigFancyHouse: Two of them! Both the Speràdo and the Salvators live in big, lavish mansions on large estates on their properties.
28	* BlackAndGreyMorality: The Salvator family does have a history of morally dubious behavior, but still treat their friends, allies, servants, and each other with genuine kindness and affection, especially the sweet little Leslie. Their enemies, especially the Speràdo, are morally pitch-black, doing things that are evil, purely because it is evil, but have the gall to openly call themselves "righteous" and only pretend to have redeeming features, for the sake of appearances and to prevent punishment from coming their way.
29	* BreakTheCutie: Leslie is cute as a button, even comes pre-broken for your convenience. The Speràdo family still insists on breaking her more, however.
30	* BreatherEpisode: Chapter 42 starts immediately after the trial ends, and it's basically one big, heartwarming chapter consisting of nothing but Leslie spending time with the Salvators and being happy.
31	* CainAndAbel:
32	** Ellie covets the power Leslie is born with and wants her dead to not just obtain the power, but return things to how they were before.
33	** Marquis Speràdo [[spoiler:is the eldest of three siblings. His younger brothers were treated like slaves to the elder brother, being beaten and injured regularly. When they were sold to slavery, one died in the carriage crash and the other escaped and survived in secret]].
34	** In the history of the Empire there has been at least one case of this for the Emperor himself. Emperor Rowtten killed not just his brother Amgrample but every other living member of their family to secure his ascension to the throne.
35	* CollectiveDeathGlare: Poor Conrad gets hit by one anytime the Salvator men are in the room and he's anywhere near Leslie.
36	* DarkIsNotEvil: Zigzagged. Dark magic is neither good nor evil, it just is, like shadows. Its current user is Leslie and is called the "Dark Saint" by Duke Salvator. However, the bloodline from which it hails, the Speràdo, have been engaged in HumanSacrifice to bestow it upon their favored offspring, killing all the "useless" silver-haired siblings, for at least 1000 years.
37	* TheDogBitesBack: As early as chapter 3, Leslie, rightly, gets fed up with all the abuse she's suffered at the hands of the Speràdo family, and starts pushing back, [[MadeOutToBeAJerkass at which point, her father, mother, elder sister, and all the household servants start treating her like she's evil, insane, and insanely evil.]]
38	* DownerBeginning: The story begins with a little girl about to be thrown into a fire pit, desperately calling for her family for help, but her father pushes her in when she refuses to go into the pit. This causes her to snap and accept that her treatment from the Speràdo family will never improve, causing her to flee to the Salvators for asylum. From there, the story spends a lot of time showing how much her new family cherishes her.
39	* DramaticIrony: When Leslie and Duke Salvator meet for the first time and Leslie requests being adopted, the Duke notes that as the child of a Marquis she won't know dire hardships or starvation, unaware of the completely abusive life the girl has lived.
40	%%* EarnYourHappyEnding: '''Boy''' does it ever. At the end of the original novel, Leslie finally attained her happy ending.
41	* ExpositionCut: Many a chapter ends by skipping over one character recapping to another what the audience already knows.
42	* FantasticRacism:
43	** The Speràdo family teaches its blonde, green-eyed children that they are the best at everything and deserve the best the world has to offer, just for the asking. They treat all of their other children with disdain and abuse. Children with silver hair are offered up as a HumanSacrifice to empower their blonde children with the black magic they steal from said silver-haired children.
44	** Also most of the empire is stated to be extremely xenophobic towards outsiders which is one of the reasons Medea was so embittered and driven to villainy.
45	* FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo: [[spoiler:Prince Arlendo]] is actually [[spoiler:Medea's son]].
46	* FromTheMouthsOfBabes: When Leslie meets Duke Salvator's husband, Sairaine, he tells her about how the Duke repelled an attempt by Leslie's father to take her back. Not really getting how to talk to children, however, Sairaine describes the incident as a "fucking massacre", prompting Leslie to ask what a "fucking massacre" is and getting Sairaine thrown out of the room. It's later revealed this isn't the first time this sort of thing has happened, as Bethrion asked the same thing as a child... in front of royalty.
47	* HateSink: The Speràdo family does its best to live out the biblical scripture "the heart of man is truly wicked and desperate in its wickedness." To try and maintain their standing in the empire, they have been murdering their own children for HumanSacrifice, and do their damnedest to be utterly despicable to Leslie, while daring to call themselves "noble and righteous," and the current Marquis, Leslie's father, is absolutely desperate to hold on the family title of "the masters of Dark Magic," no matter how vile the actions he has to take are.
48	* HeroBall: Usually the cast are incredibly efficient about trying to keep Leslie out of danger once the Speràdos make their intentions known. But then Leslie herself grasps onto this firmly [[spoiler:for the meeting with Amroa, not wanting her several knight bodyguards or taking off the strangely heavy bracelet she was given to at all disrespect the only woman that's ever respected her before the Salvators. Leslie nearly burns alive for this unusually reckless behavior, though as an upside, this sinks any mercy the Emperor had left for the Speràdos as well and leads Ellie and the Marquess to getting their just desserts, and Leslie is ''incredibly'' self-conscious about the reckless decisions made here.]]
49	* HeroWithBadPublicity: The Salvator house. Every single one of them is a OneManArmy or OneWomanArmy, in the case of the titular Duke, and they are war heroes the Recardius Empire relies on for survival, to defend them against their enemies, yet the local talk about them is anything but kind, and mostly untrue. Said rumors are a direct result of ''all the other noble houses and the crown'' being afraid and jealous of their SuperStrength. Ironically, this is what causes Leslie to seek them out for aid in the first place.
50	* HourglassPlot: The light novel "The Monster Duchess and Contract Princess" starts with Leslie being in the lowest position among the Speràdo family. However, as the story continues with Leslie deciding that [[TheDogBitesBack she had enough and fought back]], Leslie eventually gets the happy family life she wanted with the Salvator family as she trains to be a future duchess and part of the Salvator family, while the Speràdo eventually [[HowTheMightyHaveFallen spiral downwards]] to a point of losing their reputation [[spoiler:and position as a noble family]].
51	* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Leslie was brought up with the bare minimum of food required to survive and looks about half her age as a result, while the Salvators are a family of giants who tower even over normal adults, let alone a malnourished child. This makes her look even younger and smaller than she already did. While she eventually grows in height by the TimeSkip in the novel, she is still relatively tiny compared to the rest of the Salvators.
52	* HumanSacrifice:
53	** The story ''starts with one''. Leslie is thrown into a fire, by her own father, who pushes her in with a staff, "to be of use to her sister." The entire Speràdo family is enraged when she survives, by falling out a window into the river below. This is actually a family policy to maintain their strength: Children with Ellie's and Leslie's appearances often appear with no notable magical ability, but sacrificing those like Leslie in a certain way makes the Ellies much stronger. However, the spirits of the sacrificed children stick around, which allows them to save Leslie at the start of the story.
54	** [[spoiler:Medea intended for Ellie]] to be a sacrifice to release Ephialtes. At the end when told this, she doesn’t take it well at all.
55	* {{Irony}}: The Speràdo's entire lineage have coasted on their powerful dark magic as a bargaining tool they exploited, sacrificing their own children to attain it and abusing them to the point that they won't ever fight back. When it came Leslie's turn, the past sacrifices helped save her via that magic - that '''she''' was actually the rightful owner of, as were all the sacrifices. This bites the family in the ass when she finally pushes back, and their attempts to control or even kill Leslie to keep their status quo ends up ruining them because they have no idea how to react when things ''don't'' go their way for once while proclaiming ''[[ItsAllAboutMe they're the victims for being denied what is theirs]]''.
56	* ItIsDehumanizing: So they don't see themselves as murderers, the Speràdo family calls all their silvered haired children "it" or "that" to each other, and to outsiders, while calling said child "useless" to their face. Leslie finds out, to her horror, by checking the census at the library, that even children of the poorest commoners get a three day mourning period, minimum, for a funeral. The Speràdo children who fell to "mysterious illness or accident" ''would be lucky to get a full day.''
57	* MadeOutToBeAJerkass: After the Speràdo family has thrown Leslie into a fire, in addition to a lifetime of abuse and neglect, they call her insane, evil, and a liar for having the cheek to survive, and pointing out the scars, when another member of said family ''rips her clothes in public.''
58	* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: The Speràdo have been hiding their HumanSacrifice by recording in the official royal ledgers that their children died of "illness" or "unfortunate accident" for a good 1000 years.
59	* MeaningfulName: "Salvatore" is an Italian name that means "Savior". The Salvator family ''save'' Leslie.
60	* MistakenAge: Characters frequently mistake twelve year-old Leslie for being about nine or ten, as she is smaller and skinnier than she should be for her age due to her abusive upbringing including not feeding her properly. This is exaggerated when she meets Bethrion. Between his only frame of reference being Ruenti and the fact that his family are all naturally large people, he initially assumes Leslie is ''five''.
61	* NamesToTrustImmediately: Doesn't get much more trustworthy than being called 'Salvator,' a name meaning savior.
62	* OneSteveLimit: Averted; the titular Duke's full name is Acela Benkan Salvator (or Aleca in the scanlations). According to Leslie's Salvator-appointed etiquette teacher, there is an Acela Di Altera, another Duchess (or female Duke in the manhwa) and the fourth highest ranking woman in the Empire (directly behind Salvator).
63	* OnlySaneMan: The Duke and Leslie gradually become the only sane members of the Salvator household. This is illustrated best when the men, including the generally sensible Ruenti start gushing about Leslie's birthday and proposing all sorts of extravagant gifts, including festivals and streets named after her. Acela laughs while Leslie can only facepalm as the conversation carries on.
64	* OrphanageOfFear: [[spoiler:Sairaine]] tells Leslie that [[spoiler:he grew up in one as a result of being a war orphan. The director stole money, fed the children very little and often beat them. Sairaine grew quicker than the other children and eventually big enough to deal with the director on his own.]]
65	* ParentalFavoritism:
66	** The Speràdo family, for at least 1000 years, favors the first born, without exception, and raises any siblings with silver hair to be a HumanSacrifice so that the heir will "awaken" Dark Magic.
67	** The Duchess' husband goes gaga over his adopted daughter, but it's downplayed by the fact that both his sons, a) are adults, and b), ''join in''.
68	* PimpedOutDress: The Speràdo ladies sans Leslie are always wearing these. One chapter shows the Salvators going to a dressmaker so they can get her some nice dresses, seeing as she was never able to wear anything nice before.
69	* PoorCommunicationKills: Compleely subverted, anytime Leslie has some kind of problem, she goes and asks her parents (and they likewise tell her important information) rather than agonize over it.
70	* RuleOfThree: The Speràdos attempted to burn Leslie at least three times, including at the very beginning of the story as a sacrifice, and in a carriage after she rebels against them and makes her first visit to the Duke to test if she has magic. The third attempt being [[spoiler:the last time the Speràdos attempted to burn Leslie, after they lose the Noble Trial]].
71	* ScarsAreForever:
72	** Played With. Leslie's burn scars are cured by a cleric, at the request of Duke Salvator. For the Duke herself, she has a scar that's too deep and too deforming to cure, so she wears a mask.
73	** Her husband has a scar on his face it’s implied he kept [[spoiler:because his wife gave it to him when they first met.]]
74	* SheIsTheKing: The official English translation gives Aleca the title of Duke rather Duchess. The Korean title uses a phrase which literally means 'Duke' and technically the term 'Duchess' is usually reserved for those who marry a Duke. Aleca didn't marry a Duke, she inherited the title, so it is actually more appropriate that she holds the title 'Duke' rather than 'Duchess.'
75	* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The scanlations don't always spell the character's names the same way from time to time. Marquis Speràdo's real name is Travis, but recent chapters called him Tra Vesh, likely a translation error. At one point, Duke Salvator's first name, Aleca, was spelled as Acela.
76	* StupidEvil: The best way to summarize the Speràdo family's habits and actions. Ellie and the Marquis especially demonstrate that if you at all get past their surface level 'pleasantries', they're effectively selfish, insane, paranoid maniacs that will do anything to get their way - even if what they do would be suicidal and just plain '''dumb'''. Just about everyone that knows them personally despises them for this, even alleged supporters like Medea.
77	* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
78	** If you can get past the Speràdo family's false exteriors, almost ''everyone'' instantly knows they're pure scum that fly straight into StupidEvil. The Salvators on the other hand are feared and hated publicly for their power, but as direct enforcers to the emperor they refuse to carry the IdiotBall for even a second while the Speràdos keep screwing up in their attempts to take Leslie before finally initiating the Noble's Trial. The result is nigh-unanimously in Salvator's favor and, short of the Child Protection Act problem, no one really expected otherwise.
79	** Before said trial, Marquis Speràdo's numerous plans failed but he still had the reputation and political power to even get the trial in the first place, not to mention manipulating word of mouth through backhanded means. When finally put in the public of court, his lack of thorough planning and HairTriggerTemper ''destroys'' his reputation in short time as he repeatedly demonstrates how unstable and downright psychotically angry he can be when things don't go his way, on top of throwing other groups like the entire magician's guild under the bus as in the palms of the Salvators ''[[RightInFrontOfMe even as they're attending.]]''
80	* SweetTooth: It's a marvel Leslie still has teeth with all the desserts her adoring family keep feeding her.
81	* TearsOfBlood: Both [[spoiler:Conrad]] and [[spoiler:Leslie suffer this affliction while trying to keep Ephailtes from breaking free]].
82	* ThirdActMisunderstanding: Conrad and Leslie get into one in the final chapters, each thinking the other is seeing someone else: Conrad with a NotWhatItLooksLike (Leslie acting out a love scene from a play, leaving just before he sees the two collapse with laughter about how melodramatic it is) and Leslie seeing Conrad talking to a DudeLooksLikeALady.
83	* TimeSkip: One occurs in the novel which takes place 4 years after the start of the story, with Leslie being 16 years old. The readers do not get a look at the older Leslie in the end of season 1 of the Manhwa adaptation as her back was turned before any readers could see her matured face.
84	* TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening: Leslie's ability to control Dark Magic is triggered when she's thrown into a fire, by her own father, and a bunch of spirits, presumably the many, many others sacrificed over the years, pushing her out a window, falling into a river far below.
85	* ViewersAreGoldfish: Each chapter of the story starts with the final panel of the last. Justified for English speaking markets as the ''minimum'' time between translations is approximately 2 weeks.
86	* WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou: The ''entire Speràdo family'' does this to Leslie, from the moment she was old enough to walk and talk, until they "have no other choice" but to throw her in a fire, with her father yelling at her "Don't you know dying in your sister's place is your destiny?! Naive brat! Don't you know you are useless?!"
87	* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Averted in the end. [[spoiler:Medea expects to be arrested for her crimes where she'd get ample opportunities to escape and plot, so Aleca just stabs her and finishes it.]]
88	* YinYangClash:
89	** Divine magic and and Arcane magic oppose each other so to say the temple and the magician's mansion don't get along is an understatement. The two types of magic can not interact with one another. This is precisely why, at one point, Duke Salvator mixes a bit of magic in when she breaks Marquis Speràdo's arm; by doing so she ensures the arm can't be healed using divine magic and the Marquis has to recover the old-fashioned way.
90	** [[spoiler:Debaine]] is actually from a bloodline that is this personified and most of her relatives died extremely young. The only reason she lasted before meeting [[spoiler:Medea]], who helped stabilize her, was because both magics were extremely powerful.
91	* YouJustToldMe: Before Aleca got the whole story of her abuse out of Leslie, she visited the Marquis Sperado and only knowing for sure from her grandfather that second and third born Sperado children tended to die young threw out the comment all of them had white or gray hair which the marquis confirmed with his reaction.

Context Manhwa / TheMonstrousDukesAdoptedDaughter