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The Girl Who Was Forced by Her Stepsister to Marry the Cursed Duke
Type
Web Novel (JP)
Genre
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Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 64 votes)
5    50% (32 votes)
4    20% (13 votes)
3    9% (6 votes)
2    13% (8 votes)
1    8% (5 votes)
Language
Support Book (#ad)
Author(s)
One entry per line
Artist(s)
One entry per line
N/A
Year
Example: 2012
2021
Status in COO
Status in Country of Origin. One entry per line
63 Chapters
Licensed
N/A
Completely Translated
Original Publisher
One entry per line
N/A
English Publisher
One entry per line
N/A
Release Frequency
Every 58.9 Day(s)
Activity Stats
[Graph]
Weekly Rank: #13295
Monthly Rank: #9625
All Time Rank: #4092
Reading List
[Graph]
On 1873 Reading Lists
Monthly Rank: #14235
All Time Rank: #5226

Description

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Miltia was treated as a servant and oppressed by her stepmother and her stepsister because there was no blood relation between her and them. She was having trouble getting enough food to survive every day. Somehow she was able to get by through cooking whatever thing she could find herself.

In the midst of all this, her stepsister, whom was doted on by both her stepfather and her stepmother, along with her fiancé, who was only interested in a woman’s youth and physical appearance, cruelly broke off her engagement in public and forced her to marry the notorious 『Cursed Duke』, the Duke of Lönnrot.

Because of the curse, the duke had a repulsive, monstrous appearance. He was ostracized by a lot of people and grew distrustful of people… At first, he was hard on Miltia, but to Miltia, the duke’s monstrous appearance actually resembled an octopus, an ingredient she had grown used to seeing, so she didn’t find the duke’s appearance to be repulsive. Furthermore, she was actually happier living in the ducal house compared to in her previous county house since her daily necessities were provided by the ducal household.

As the result of her, faithfully serving the 『Cursed Duke』, along with Miltia’s unexpected behaviour, she gradually melted Duke Lönnrot’s cold and hard heart. She was also able to grab ahold of the duke’s stomach through her cooking.

The duke, whose curse was lifted by the cooking of the woman he loved, was actually a very beautiful, young man.

As soon as her stepsister found out about it, she completely changed her demeanor and insisted.

“I want to swap our fiancés!!”

But of course, the duke wouldn’t tolerate such selfishness. Eventually, the people who had ab*sed Miltia reaped what they sowed and fell to their demise.

This is the story of Miltia, a young girl who was ab*sed, scorned and survived through eating whatever things she could get, but she eventually received her happiness and was doted on by the cursed duke.

Associated Names
One entry per line
義妹に押し付けられた嫁ぎ先は、呪われた公爵閣下でした
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
Doro Doro Obake Ouji-sama (1)
The Frog Prince and the Witch (1)
The Substitute Bride Is Adored by the Clumsy Margrave (1)
Recommendation Lists
  1. To Read - Fully Translated - F/M 2
  2. Fairy Tale Vibes
  3. Romance BxG
  4. Female mc third part
  5. Luuki's TL

Latest Release

Date Group Release
04/05/23 Shanghai Fantasy c63
03/30/23 Shanghai Fantasy c62
03/21/23 Shanghai Fantasy c61
03/12/23 Shanghai Fantasy c60
03/04/23 Shanghai Fantasy c59
02/27/23 Shanghai Fantasy c58
02/15/23 Shanghai Fantasy c57
02/01/23 Shanghai Fantasy c56
01/16/23 Shanghai Fantasy c55
01/02/23 Shanghai Fantasy c54
12/27/22 Shanghai Fantasy c53
12/19/22 Shanghai Fantasy c52
12/15/22 Shanghai Fantasy c51
12/05/22 Shanghai Fantasy c50
11/17/22 Shanghai Fantasy c49
123…5
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Review
7 Reviews


Luukia
Luukia
Mar 13, 2022
Status: --
Another easy to read novel. The villains are s*upid and cliché. Every problem are easily solved without being dragged on for too long. But that's exactly why I love this novel. I like easy to read novel like this. The ML is cold at first but after he fell in love with MC, he easily becomes a sweet simp. I just love it so much! The MC is kinda.. detached from the norm because of how she was raised but as the story unravels, we know the MC is just... more>> awkward, not cold.

Also one of the biggest reason why I choose to translate this novel is because... CTHULHU ML CTHULHU ML! ML IS A CTHULHU! Well they described the ML as hideous sea monster but just look at the novel cover and the ML's pic from manga adaptation! ML IS A CTHULHU!! ANYONE WHO SAYS OTHERWISE FIGHT ME !!! (ง'̀-'́) ง

Spoiler

well he returned to his human form after MC broke the curse though.

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28 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Extra07
Extra07
Apr 01, 2022
Status: --
If you're not good with heavy, deep, angsty stuff, this novel might be a good match for you as it is filled with nothing but fluff and uncomplicated stuffs. It's simple yet very very very catchy if you know what I mean. I just can't stop reading this and knowing that this also had a manga adaptation makes me go over the moon. The art is top-notch *chef's kiss*
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Asphyxia778
Asphyxia778
Jul 16, 2022
Status: --
A simple fluffy shoujo story to get rid of your fatigue and relax. The antagonists are cliche and MC is a bit naive but overall this story is ok with what it does.

I especially like ML's moster design. Chuthulhu ML is cute. Honestly I like his monster figure more than his original ikemen face. (I read the manga just to see his designs)

3.3 stars rounded upto 4
7 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
tankitha
tankitha
Dec 23, 2023
Status: c63
Fun, silly story except for the random s*xual things thrown in all of a sudden. Tags did not reflect that.

It's a shame, because they didn't really add much to the story. They could have been simplified and cleaned up, have the same exact results, and be a story safe for all ages.

... more>>
Spoiler

The description of the former fiancé being castrated by the squid poison was a little weird and excessive, the discussion past "you do know how to make babies, right" that delved into weird s*xual education methods was unnecessary to the story line and world building and could have been completely eliminated, or if really necessary (which it's not for the story, because the characters never reach this stage in their relationship before the story's end anyway) could have been summed up with "make your wife feel good and pay attention to her and move slow". The tentacle monster thing taking v*rginity at the end... just seems like a weird fetish thing. The sister could have come up with other ways to make the MC undesirable.

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Really, they just seemed rather abrupt and unnecessary in an otherwise lighthearted, fluffy fairytale-like story. <<less
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chande
chande
Apr 14, 2023
Status: Completed
This story had a "Beauty and the Beast" vibe but there's more to it after the happily ever after. Unfortunately, the author didn't really delved into the "after" problem deeply and left a plothole.

... more>>
Spoiler

For example, what happened to Dark Order?

[collapse]

I also didn't like overly naive, kind, and foolish type of MC in this story. Maybe because I often read strong female lead as MC in another novel and it set my standard higher. However, I also know that MC was like that was pretty much understandable and realistic since she was oppressed all her life and didn't see the world much. That's why I still give this story 4 stars in the end. <<less
1 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
starcake
starcake
Sep 27, 2024
Status: Completed
1.5 stars: This is one of those stories where the premise sounds like a light sweet story—a Cinderella x Beauty & the Beast romance with a cold duke and a heroine of fallen noble status hated by her step-family, made more unique by the duke having a weird curse that gives him a monstrous appearance and makes sea-creatures sprout from him, and the heroine just happening to be used to eating seafood and good at cooking it. And those aspects of it are fun, and while there are several scattered... more>> chapters focused on delicious cooking, it's not a foodie novel so the cookery isn't overwhelming. Although Miltia is the main character, there are frequent chapters from assorted other POVs, which keeps things moving and offers different perspectives. The translation is also pretty good.

Unfortunately, there is a difference between "light" and "superficial", and the story is sadly extremely superficial, as are all of the characters. I didn't go into this expecting deep complex characterization with detailed attention to worldbuilding—I was here for some romantic fluff and a bit of magic. What I got was a generic story with hardly any real conflict, confusing details not explained until well after the fact (if at all), and characters so one-dimensional a piece of tissue paper has 10x the strength, substance, and intelligence in comparison.

Miltia is a very generic and cliché heroine fitting the mold of the naïve compassionate angel. She was most interesting at the beginning of the story where she came across as the personification of ennui, being generally lifelessly vacant due to having no desires, interests, or ambitions, and was resigned to being ab*sed by her family and then resigned to being married to the monstrous duke. Then she gradually warmed up into being blandly s*upid and naïve, while blushing and stammering and constantly expressing her low self-esteem.

She experiences no other character growth than what I've just described. She doesn't ever really come into her own or change for the better or grow courage, despite what appears to be a climactic finale to the story—in said climax, she's just kind of there and doing stuff because she's a Compassionate Savior Type and she naively/s*upidly walked into a situation because the plot demanded it, and it's not because she was being brave or had a real plan or even felt anything in particular other than "oh dear, I need to help people".

The duke was also most interesting in the beginning when he was a generic cold misanthrope. At some point he fell in love with Miltia and I must have blinked and missed it, it happened so fast, like when he confessed his feelings for her I was like, BWUH?? Since when??? At that point, he turned into the naïve intellectual love-novice type entirely devoted to Miltia—he's a megane character, btw, he wears glasses even as a monster, that should tell you everything you need to know.

Miltia's Evil Stepfamily escalates from being generically abusive a**holes to over the top cartoonishly evil, kind of like author wanted to make really, really sure the reader knew how evil they were, and how awful, and inhuman, and totally beyond any kind of redemption, like, just soooo evil. Even their ambitions are so generic and shallow they sometimes just don't make sense, like how at one point after Miltia has been sent off to the duke, they decide to try to kill her because then they'll inherit her half of the duke's estate... despite Miltia and the duke not actually being married yet and inheritance laws not working that way.

Unless inheritance laws do work that in this world (this is never explained either way). This brings up the other point that kept annoying me throughout the whole story: Weird, clashing details and illogical conclusions piling up until 20 chapters later when the weird clashing thing is finally explained in a one-liner. And yet there are even more weird details and apparent setup that are never explained and just sort of are, like how the aristocracy is European-coded while the lower classes and peasants are apparently Japanese-coded?? And at one point Japan is specifically referenced by name, so, uh, okay... ? This is a Japanese novel but it's just... strange. Where is Japan located, are the Japanese-coded peasants immigrants or are the European-coded aristocrats colonizers, like, what is going on? The stark cultural division between classes is never explained. It just is.

Let me give a big non-spoiler example that bothered me throughout the story until finally after chapter 30 it was finally "explained": Despite the kingdom being a seaside one, all of the characters except Miltia are horrified by the assorted sea life that sprouts from the duke as a result of his curse, to the point that they call the creatures "sea demons" and are shocked that Miltia eats them—and no, it's not because it's weird and gross that tentacle-y sea creatures and etc sprout directly from his skin, and it's weird that Miltia is eating them 'cause yeah I'd think that's pretty weird too considering their origin, but no, they literally don't recognize what these things are, much less consider them edible.

Some things like sea cucumbers and sea urchins, fine, those look pretty weird if you've only ever seen them prepped and served on a platter and not alive/raw, or never seen them at all and don't know what they are. But they don't recognize crab, lobsters, clams, octopi, or squid—or eat any of them? Despite being a seaside kingdom? As in, a kingdom literally smack dab right next to the sea?

I find that weird and improbable. If that's the case, it's also weird how the old cook of Miltia's house taught her how to cook such a vast assortment of seafood, when nobody eats it or even recognizes it—and a point is made later on that the current cook knows nothing at all about seafood, not even how to clean it, much less cook it.

But after 30 chapters (out of a 63 chapter story), there's finally a line explaining that the aristocratic thing to do is eat meat because only the lower classes eat seafood, hence why (or so the story implies) the aristos of the story don't call it seafood, they call it sea demons. This, despite the fact that even the house servants, whom presumably come from humbler backgrounds, are also grossed out. I find this premise really improbable but if it had been explained within the first 5 chapters, I might've had better luck suspending my disbelief and not been increasingly bothered by how weird the story was getting. There are historical precedents for certain types of food being considered low-class/for the peasantry so that kind of division wouldn't normally bother me but it's hard for me to believe that the entire nobility of a kingdom doesn't know what a crab is and has never eaten seafood ever and their chefs are totally ignorant about it and their servants are equally horrified.

I also find it pretty hard to believe that all seafood is considered inedible by the aristocracy, rather than just certain types or preparations. That just doesn't seem realistic or plausible.

Miltia's old cook who apparently mentored her before leaving and was the only person who looked out for her is also Sir Not Appearing In This Story. It seemed like there was setup for him having an identity or maybe reappearing, but nope, despite being repeatedly mentioned, that's as much as we know about him. How and why he learned to cook seafood remains a mystery, the implication being that he was from the lower classes, I guess... ?

But here's another thing related to the above, and yet another example of how superficial and ill-explained this story is: That mysterious cook taught Miltia to cook seafood because he took pity on her for the fact that her stepfamily was so abusive they didn't even feed her and the only food she could get was whatever she found herself, which happened to be seafood since their house is by the sea.

And if you take that at face value, it seems to make sense. Initially after the first time or two her not being fed was mentioned, I was fine with it, but as details continued to emerge about how much Miltia's family treated her like a s*ave and worked her to the bone and ab*sed her, combined with the weird "nobody knows anything at all about seafood much less that seafood is food" thing, the logic quickly fell apart. The following sounds super nitpicky but it's like if a story is premised upon a peasant being homeless and starving, and then it says he goes back to his house and eats bread and stew. And you're like... is he technically homeless because the house doesn't belong to him? Is the food like... just a crust of bread and a stew made out of rocks... ? I thought he was homeless and starving!

Overwhelming-even-for-a-shoujo-romance-fantasy-story lack of logic regarding Miltia's entire background and premise as a character is as follows:

Spoiler

When exactly did Miltia find time to collect seafood, if her family was so abusive and forced her to do so much work all the time? They don't seem like the type to allow her out of the house to scrounge her own food, so okay, she must have sneaked out, maybe at night when everyone else was asleep... but this is never mentioned and is solely my conjecture. And where exactly is their house—is it literally beachfront property conveniently next to some tide pools? How else is she getting to the sea to collect food, in the dark of midnight or otherwise?

For that matter, how did she get such a wide array of seafood ingredients? She knows how to prepare and cook everything from sea cucumber sashimi to clam soup to bouillabaisse, knows how to butcher octopi and use a special tool to cut open sea urchins for their roe, how to cook crabs and lobsters, etc. So she must have cooked and eaten those things with some frequency, to be able to flawlessly cook them now. Did she take a boat out and use a fishing net or pole, or know how to set traps, and where did she get these things? How did she get a boat and where did she keep it, and who taught her how to use it and how to fish? Was that nameless, faceless chef secretly taking her out on his own boat and educating her on her to be a mariner as well as how to do all kinds of fishing? When did either of them have time for this? For that matter, when did he teach her all of these widely varying preparations and cooking techniques and recipes? And if not him, then who taught her how to fish?

'Cause the story just says that he taught her how to cook the seafood. It never says he taught her anything else or helped her any other way.

If her stepfamily was so abusive they didn't give her food, and apparently the other servants also looked down on her and dismissed her (again, according to a few lines in much later chapters explaining this) except for the long-gone old cook, somehow I don't think they'd be willing to let her use seasonings and spices for her scrounged-up seafood—even assuming the old chef was still there and looking the other way, but what about after he left? She could have plausibly sneaked a bit here and there at night, but this seems like the sort of thing she'd have been caught for, like if someone gets up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and smells seafood stew cooking. And then, having been caught, punished severely and probably locked in a cupboard at night or with the spice cupboards locked. Or both, considering her family.

And again, going back to the whole "where did Miltia find the time to do all this", am I supposed to believe that after a day of hard s*ave labor and ab*se, Miltia was able to, say, sneak out of the house late at night in order to go to the beach to dig for clams in the dark, and then go into the kitchen and prep the clams and cook them for her one meal of the day, clean up and dispose of the garbage discreetly, and then go to bed, and repeat this every night, or at least frequently enough that she didn't starve to death and had enough strength and energy to do s*ave labor everyday... ?

I mean, I'm even allowing that maybe her family didn't literally not feed her (despite that being what the story tells us more than once), like maybe some days they gave her nothing and others they gave her scraps and/or she sneaked scraps of food, and maybe they didn't always literally force her to do hard manual labor all day long since apparently their house still has a full complement of servants...

... but even so. See, I know it sounds like I'm way overthinking the details of a silly fluff romance novel, but the sheer illogic of the basic groundwork and backstory kind of ruined the rest of the story for me. Like, I need even my fluff stories to be built around basic logic.

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More lack of logic regarding Miltia and when she meets the duke, and the duke's behavior:

Spoiler

She shows up not by private carriage but in a common carriage that's basically the medieval equivalent of a bus filled with commoners because her family is cheap and hates her, her hair has been hacked off by her b*tch of a sister so it's unusually short for her supposed social standing, she's wearing a worn-out patched gown and her hands are roughened by manual labor, she has only a small bag of luggage because she has almost no possessions, and when she arrives on the duke's doorstep, neither he nor his manservant Bhadra question her appearance or her identity.

I thought they'd be shocked or suspect that the family was trying to pass of a peasant or maidservant as the bride, but nope, they not only accept her at face value, they question nothing. WTF.

[collapse]

You know what, I give up writing more of this review. The story just didn't make sense and was so shallow it holds zero water. There were also a bunch of plot points both hinted at and directly brought up that ended up amounting to nothing as they were either forgotten or brushed aside, such as:

Spoiler

- The whole plot point with the demon king and his remaining adherents/evil mages never did anything—it was mentioned several times and seemed like there was buildup but then, nope, nada. Nothing more happens and we find out nothing more.

- The story was set up like the prince and the muscle saint were going to play larger roles but didn't, much to my dismay, as they were the only ones who seemed like they had some actual character and entertainment value.

- There was a subplot about Miltia's stepfamily faking their daughter's noble status that basically had no real conclusion.

- Miltia having super magic powers unbeknownst to her sort of did happen but also kind of didn't because nothing really happened or came of it.

- There were other things but I'm getting too annoyed remembering how frustrating it all was so I'm stopping here.

[collapse]

I started the story and thought I'd warm into it after a few chapters, but as things went on, I just got more and more annoyed by how weird things were and how spineless Miltia was—and remained. I kept reading to see what would happen with all the myriad plot points coming together only, as spoilered above, many of them simply went nowhere and were forgotten. I also kept reading see if it would get better and it never did and by the time I realized it was just aggressively mediocre, the story was over. It's main good point is that it's on the shorter side (compared to novels with 100+ chapters), so at least it's not mediocre for long. <<less
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Caitlyn19
Caitlyn19
Jan 20, 2024
Status: Completed
The story is so light. I definitely enjoy reading this all in a day. FL is clueless and funny, and other thing that makes reading this novel fun is how translator always find the best meme at ths end of chapter.
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