The Speràdo family line possesses a secret: shadow magic. But it's been 100 years since someone last wielded it. When Marquis Speràdo tries to sacrifice Leslie for her favored sister Ellie, little does he know that this awakens the power of darkness in her instead. To escape her family's greed and abuse, Leslie's out to make a deal with the Monstrous Duke: adopt her, and her powers will be at the duke's disposal. Will Leslie escape her parents' cruel grip, or succumb to their evil exploits? 1n6r2x
Original Webtoon:
KakaoPage, Ridibooks, Naver Series, Bomtoon, Lezhin
Official Translations:
English, S.Chinese, German, Indonesian, Japanese, Thai
150 Chapters (Complete)
11 Volumes (Complete)
S1: 60 Chapters (1-60)
S2: 70 Chapters (61-130)
Side Stories: 20 Chapters (131-150)

This story is about how FL found a will to survive her abusive childhood and to avenge those kids who suffered the same tragedies before her.
She asked for help from a duke, a woman who was a fearsome warrior and mage from a powerful household.
Ofc there are few things that irked me:
How they infantilize FL, I mean I get it if they want to carry her in their arms when she was 12 y.o, she was a small child, short, skinny and malnourished too. But when the eldest brother carried her like a child when she was 15 y.o... 😐
You know I wld expect a FL that's fierce and know how to take snobbish ppl down a peg. Sure she had her moments of doing this and I ire her for that. BUT the other times, she looks so naive and was being coddled too much.
Tbh I kind of get it why they made her fought those villains so young at 16 y.o. Probably when it all was done, it gave her peace to continue with her life coz that coming of age party was so beautiful.
... Last updated 8 months ago
While the female lead has been through a lot near the start of the story, the way they keep treating her like a little kid until the end was a bit annoying/cringe.
I liked the courage she showed at the beginning and I hoped she would turn more fierce, but she just becomes like any other plain nice character.
The male lead is way too nice to the female lead. Personally, I actually like male leads like this, but I can understand it can be a bit off-putting if almost all the good folks are like that towards her.
The story was fine until the last few chapters where it just feels dragged on.
The fact that the male lead has risked his life multiple times for the female lead and her mother is like her feelings are more important than your humiliation just put me off. The male lead gets jealous and confused because he thinks she's cheating on him and doesn't know what to feel. This misunderstanding was almost entirely the female lead's fault. Personally, I would never marry into someone like her family, really hate these kinds of obnoxious families.
... Last updated 2 years ago
The main characters feel a little blank and the story has a lot of plot holes, but what I really enjoyed was the family setting. It was just really wholesome to see FL being adopted into a loving family which treats her as a real family member. I loved duo of badass mother who is a female duke and adorable protective father.
I'm 40 chapters in and it's your basic "FL is mistreated by dumb evil parents and family backed by crafty evil young empress but is then saved by the richest, most influential, and noble family in the kingdom and everyone loves her immediately because she is so smart, cute, and fair looking." I want to root for the FL because she has a spine and it's different that her adoptive mother is a badass Duke, but I'm quite bored only a few chapters in and it's off-putting that her adoptive family treats her like she's younger than she is
(she's 12 at the start, but they act like she's 6. They spend a great deal of time baking a cookie then won't dissolve in her hot chocolate because she cried the first time. She evens cried after dropping a flower pot and smashing the flower. What 7th grader cries over a ruined flower? Her family constantly carry her in their arms like she's a toddler, even when she reaches the age of 16!). I don't understand why the author didn't make her under the age of 10 if they wanted Leslie to act like a baby and to be babied. There is a difference between making up for the lack of love she received at her birth parents residence and infantilising her. Also, the father and older brother have little personality or depth beyond dotting on Leslie and being cringely over protective of her ! (the typical physically intimidating any boy who shows interest in her or LITERALLY RUINING the whole family because a son proposed to her? That's not funny, it's stupid and childish) I've just been skimming through the chapters since Chapter 14 ! once she was rescued from the carriage fire and officially stayed at the Duke's household
... Last updated 3 years ago
Stopped at ch 64, not sure if will be continuing. Just can't get into the story. All of the characters feel so.....2D. There isn't any character that sparks my interest.
It's good. Characters are tropes, but it's not a problem.
The 2 first chapters are there to explain plot, and I find it badly done. Almost dropped there.
After that, it was ok and cute.
But machine/bad translation stopped me from continuing further than chap. 77
In the beginning, I never thought I'd come to one day drop this. I've come to adore the FL and her new family. The start was amazing, but around chapter 70-80 the plot started dragging and that's where it started to get boring. It felt as if I was scrolling through chapters more than I was actually reading it. And that's when I knew I had to make a difficult decision. It seems like things are picking up again around chapter 100, but if I'm barely reading through 30 or so chapters just to get there, it makes no sense. Unfortunately, this is one of those stories that starts with a bang but then falls like a feather.
... Last updated 4 years ago