To My Rude Darling with Multiple Personalities

Chapter 1

It was a gorgeous night.

A beautiful mansion sat with flowers in full bloom all around. Five gardeners had worked hard for several days especially to get the roses to bloom. On this summer night, the whole place was lit up by gas lamps.

If you replaced the word “wealth” with “scenery,” that would describe this place. While it was a sight wherein one couldn’t help but look around in a daze, Monica couldn’t do that. This was because of the man in front of her.

“You’re... not Garcia?”

Monica was taken aback. Someone could ask whether Monica was mesmerized by this man's face, instead of the view of the mansion.

The man was indeed that handsome. He had a tall, broad stature with picturesque, deep-set eyes and blond hair that anyone would admire as being extremely beautiful.

“How many times do I have to tell you? I’m not him.”

The man who answered had a cold expression on his face. Monica observed the man carefully again. Now that she thought of it, this man was wearing fancy clothes, which was completely opposite to the person she knew.

Is he really a different person?

Of course, mistaking people was not unusual. In fact, Monica had recently experienced the same thing twice. They even looked similar to this…

Wait, this situation feels oddly familiar.

Monica pressed her forehead as she frowned. When she had first met Garcia, she had also mistook him for Louis. Before she could organize her thoughts, a bewildered Monica blurted out, “Your name wouldn’t happen to be Louis, would it?”

“Hah.”

A smile suddenly appeared on the cold man’s lips. It was utterly different from Louis’ smile, which was as warm as the sun, but their faces were so similar. However, the man denied Monica’s question by providing a new name.

“My name is Enrique Soliven.”

“Pardon...?”

She couldn’t believe it. She recently had met two men with the same face. Blond hair, blue eyes, and very tall! They both looked exactly the same as the man in front of her.

This meant that Monica was now meeting a third man with the same face.

All three of you have the same face, but you’re different people?

Impossible!

“You’re lying... right?”

Monica’s eyes widened; when he smiled, the man’s right cheek contorted for a moment. In that instant, the lights of the banquet hall created a contrast on the man’s cheeks, and Monica saw a shadow spreading across a hollow at the corner of the man’s eye.

“Looks like I’ve wasted my time.”

The man immediately turned around. It was a step without any hesitation. Monica suddenly felt like she had to hurry.

On the man’s cheek, or rather right underneath his eye, there was a scar. It was hard to see, but it was definitely the same as someone she knew…

“Wait!”

Monica’s hand touched the hem of the man's sleeve. He frowned and turned around.

“My lord, are you perhaps a quad... no, a triplet?”

As she got closer, she looked past his sweaty blond hair and could see the scar underneath his right eye more clearly. Moreover, she could see a small scar at the corner of his red lips as well. Monica knew this scar.

“But then again, I've never seen triplets who all have a scar in the same place.”

Monica was certain that she knew this man, and that he was lying.

Either that, or he had multiple personalities.

* * *

To tell the story of how Monica had met the liar—or the one with multiple personalities—one would need to rewind to a few days ago. It would also be good to get to know the person named Monica.

Monica had always hated it when anyone asked her name.

“What’s your name?”

“Monica.”

Monica would swear that it wasn’t because she hated the name. Her name had been given to her by the orphanage director. She said it was the name of a royal princess in some kingdom. Once she knew the origin of it, she quite liked her name.

The problem was always the question that followed that one.

“What follows ‘Monica’?”

“Um...”

When Monica’s words would trail off, the person who asked her name always made sure to ask again.

“What’s your last name?”

Monica would then smile awkwardly or sometimes look away.

“I don’t have one. I’m an orphan.”

At that, the other person would also react awkwardly.

“Ah, I see.”

Or...

“Oh dear...”

Like Monica, their words would trail off and they’d also look away. Then, they would hurriedly change the topic.

This was why she hated being asked her name!

Of course, it wasn’t quite true that she didn’t have a last name. The orphanage director had registered all orphans' births without fail to receive as much support as possible from the kingdom. But all those orphans had been registered with the same last name.

Monica had seen that document by chance. When she had seen that all the orphans were listed with that insincere last name, she had made up her mind. Rather than mentioning that last name with her own mouth, she had decided she would rather say she didn’t have a last name.

But it wasn’t like the orphanage director hadn’t had an excuse.

“Either way, your last name will change when you get adopted, right?”

But goodness! Even if that were the case, how could she have registered all those children with the same last name?

Moreover, if you reached the age of eighteen without getting adopted, you had to live the rest of your life with that last name. How could she let such a terrible thing happen?

“...phen.”

Terrible…

“Miss Orphen!”

“Yes!” Monica gasped out.

She had been startled out of her thoughts and had answered loudly without realizing it. Whereas the surrounding people all focused on Monica in surprise, their attention was quickly withdrawn. Monica’s face was bright red.

Monica Orphen.

Her last name was one letter off from “orphan,” but was pronounced the same. It would’ve been better to just introduce herself as an orphan with her own mouth.

But she had no choice this time, as she was trying to get a job at the moment. Even though it was a name that Monica didn’t want to hear, it was a hundred times better to have one than not have it.

The person who’d called Monica by the last name she found so terrible was a middle-aged woman with her hair neatly tied in a bun. They were in a tea house on a very sunny commercial street. The middle-aged woman was the housekeeper for a wealthy noble family.

“My apologies. I came by train this morning, so I’m still a bit all over the place.”

“I understand. That train is quite awful.”

The middle-aged woman who had introduced herself as Mrs. Oran responded in a tone that indicated that she didn’t actually understand. Monica had also made an effort to smile and speak vaguely. After all, Mrs. Oran didn’t seem like she wanted to discuss the hardships of having spent an entire day squatting in a third-class train compartment, unable to move, in order to get there.

Instead, Monica adjusted her posture and sat up straight. The windows of the tea house were made of opaque glass. The sunlight shining through the glass illuminated Monica’s face.

Monica was confident in her appearance. Of course, being confident in one’s appearance was usually used to describe someone who was either very beautiful or had enough looks to captivate a man at first glance. But Monica’s confidence was of a different kind.

Bright green eyes, and fine, black hair that had been neatly styled into a bun. She was wearing her best dress—a dark blue taffeta with narrow, long sleeves that looked neat and modest.

In one word, she looked intelligent.

She was the ideal image for a governess of a wealthy noble family. And Monica had actually applied for such a position.

Fortunately, Mrs. Oran didn’t ask any questions about her blatant last name. Monica was starting to feel better.

“I read your reference letter. The one vouching for you also assures confidence. You previously worked as a military nurse, correct?”

“Yes, I worked in the same unit as Miss Diana.”

“Very impressive. Your willingness to sacrifice for your country is a virtue that young ladies need these days.”

“Thank you for your kind words.”

Sacrifice for my country? Monica inwardly stuck out her tongue. She didn’t think like that.

Quite simply, she had just needed the money. The orphanage she had been at required her to leave when she turned eighteen. When she was two months shy of her eighteenth birthday, she found out about the recruitment notice for military nurses.

At that time, the kingdom where she had been living had been at war for two years. There had been a shortage of people on the frontlines, and the kingdom had promised fairly generous compensation to women who applied to become nurses. The pay was two hundred shillings per month, and women who served more than two years would receive support to attend college.

While she had no intention of sacrificing herself for the country, she was willing to do so for pay and college tuition. Of course, the school that the kingdom would send the former nurses to was not really a good college. However, as she had no other option, Monica enlisted.

But life did not go as easily as she wanted.

After she had spent three-and-a-half years in the combat area, her kingdom lost the war. To make matters worse, she couldn’t receive her overdue payments when her kingdom was forced to pay war reparations to the opposing kingdom instead. Additionally, the women’s college that she had wanted to attend had been completely destroyed by the bombings.

So at twenty-two, Monica had to find a new way to live. Fortunately, Diana, one of her close friends and a nurse with whom she had served, introduced her to a good job.

It was in the port city of La Spezia. A wealthy, semi-noble family was looking for a governess. Their child was weak, so they needed someone to take care of the child and do some light teaching.

The governess was really only in name, and it was no different from finding a nurse to look after the child from morning to evening. But most importantly, the salary was quite good.

Monica felt relieved that the city she had arrived in after staying up all night on the train seemed like a very nice place.

La Spezia was a resort town at the southernmost part of the kingdom. It was a strange city that looked peaceful, but because the sea currents were rough, those who didn’t know about the sea routes here were sure to capsize.

Naturally, the war never had any impact here. The king had also taken refuge in La Spezia just before defeat. In addition, there were many nobles who had stayed there until their defeated kingdom recovered. Inevitably, money flowed into the city. It was full of wealthy energy.

For Monica, who had been on the battlefield for several years, she felt truly out of place.

“I’m thinking about introducing you tomorrow, Miss Orphen. I believe the lady that I serve will also judge you as a suitable person, so... you’ll probably start working right away.”

“That would be wonderful.”

Even though it was a semi-noble family, it was obvious that they wouldn’t hire someone solely based on a reference letter.

“Do you have a place to stay?”

“Yes. I found an inn near the train station.”

Mrs. Oran covered her mouth as if she was concerned about Monica’s words. “Oh dear. It’s probably not a good place for a young lady who’s new to this city.”

“Really? It looked like a clean place...”

“Ah, cleanliness is of course important. But I wasn’t referring to that.”

Mrs. Oran adjusted her clothes and spoke lightly. “The La Spezia Train Station was not used during the war, so the area in front of the station is a mess. There are many cases of people getting lost, as the street is a bit confusing.”

“Ahh...” Monica thought for a moment. I guess I’ll have to set out early tomorrow morning.

This seemed to be Mrs. Oran’s way of telling her not to be late. If she could work with a person like this, it might be a pretty good job.

When Mrs. Oran finished her tea and got up, Monica also stood up with a straight posture. Mrs. Oran placed two coins on the saucer to pay for the teas and opened her mouth to say, “There is something I am curious about.”

“Please go ahead.”

“Are you perhaps... an orphan?”

The hope that this could be a pretty good job disappeared with those words. But Monica didn’t lose her smile.

As if to explain herself, Mrs. Oran added, “I ask because of your last name.”

That damned last name!

Monica did her best to gently nod her head.

Mrs. Oran patted her shoulder and said, “Oh, my... you’ve had a difficult life.”

After exchanging a few parting words that were not particularly consoling, but necessary, Monica was finally able to part with Mrs. Oran.

“Hah.” As soon as she turned around, she let out a long sigh. “My kindness is my weakness. I shouldn’t have been so nice back then,” Monica muttered softly as she walked down the street.

“But what’s the use of regrets after all this time? I should’ve just gotten adopted.”

Monica actually had a chance to have a pretty last name once. But she was the one who had given up that chance.

Ironically, it was because her twelve-year-old self was too kind.