Nadia’s first memory began when she was ten years old.
She had been abandoned in the forest, having lost all her memories. After wandering for days, Nadia was lucky enough to meet the Baron and Baroness of Hess.
The Baron and Baroness were kind people. They had longed for a child but had been unable to conceive. To them, Nadia appeared as if she were a child sent from the heavens.
“Dear, won’t you become our daughter? We may be nobles only in name, but we promise to treasure you sincerely.”
Nadia, who had no memories, had no reason to reject their kindness.
The Hess estate was small, with fewer than a hundred residents, but it was a warm and welcoming place. No one shunned Nadia despite her sudden appearance. Even the manor servants doted on her, calling her “young lady” and taking great care of her.
For ten years, Nadia was happy.
Learning to manage the estate, working alongside the people from dawn to dusk without any pretense, and sharing simple tea times with her adoptive parents using handpicked, sun-dried tea leaves—all of it brought her joy.
At least, until the Baroness of Hess fell gravely ill.
Everyone on the estate, including Nadia, devoted themselves to her care day and night, but there was no sign of recovery.
With great difficulty, they scraped together enough money to bring in a renowned doctor from the capital. He was able to diagnose the illness—but treatment was another issue. The Hess family couldn’t afford the medicine.
The baroness clutched Nadia’s hand desperately.
“People are meant to leave when their time comes, just as you came into our lives when it was your time.”
But Nadia shook her head.
“You and Father accepted me because of your will. Now, it’s my will to save you.”
Determined, Nadia examined every possible way to earn money. Though the estate residents were willing to help, there were limits.
If she burdened them too much just to save one woman, the Baroness—who loved them dearly—would likely take her own life. That’s how much she cared for her people.
So Nadia unfolded a map and studied every mine within the Hess estate. Somewhere, in this barren land, there had to be something…
Her hand, as if guided by something unseen, moved across the map.
The Hess territory bordered the northern lands of the Baldwin duchy. The moment Nadia’s finger touched the Baldwin land, a splitting headache struck her, and she collapsed to the floor.
There was a loud noise, and all the nearby estate residents rushed to her aid.
“My lady! Oh no! You must have overexerted yourself!”
“Quick, let’s get her to bed!”
Though everyone shouted in alarm, Nadia shook them off and lunged back toward the map.
And the moment she laid eyes on the Baldwin duchy’s territory again, all of her memories came flooding back.
She remembered who she really was—Rivenia Baldwin.
She had been the duchess through a political marriage to a much younger groom. She was on her way to celebrate his graduation from the academy when she was caught in an accident…
Reeling from the flood of information, Nadia staggered from the overwhelming shock of her returning identity.
Even amidst the turmoil of rediscovering who she was, she couldn’t shake the image of the Baroness’s pale, sickly face.
Then, Nadia pointed to a particular mine close to the Baldwin border.
“Here. There are mana stones buried here.”
The estate residents looked at her skeptically.
“My lady… I don’t mean to doubt you, but only coal ever came out of that area. Enough for us to get by, yes, but nowhere near enough to afford medicine for the madam…”
Although Nadia had often helped the miners with their work, as a noble’s daughter, she had never wielded a pickaxe herself or entered the mines.
So it was hard to believe she could be sure about the location of mana stones.
But Rivenia Baldwin had been different. She was someone who could play with knowledge others didn’t even know existed.
“It’s real. Please, just trust me this once. If we dig up the mana stones and sell them, we can buy the medicine Mother needs right away.”
Moved by her desperate plea, the estate residents nodded.
“Our lady’s always been unusually smart—if she says there’s a reason, there is.”
“Let’s repay the Madam’s kindness!”
And so, they all picked up their tools and headed for the site Nadia indicated.
The mining began swiftly. At first, it seemed hopeless—but then, mana stones truly began to emerge.
Mana stones were valuable even in raw form. They could be sold immediately.
They had done it. With this, they could afford the medicine.
The residents cheered, and Baron Hess, watching from nearby, looked like he might burst into tears.
He pulled Nadia into an emotional embrace.
“You’ve saved your mother. You are the miracle of the Hess estate.”
Nadia, too, was overjoyed that she could save her adoptive mother. Surrounded by her father and the residents, she beamed brightly.
But the excitement didn’t last long.
“Baron! My lady! A nobleman has appeared!”
“He says this land belongs to Baldwin and we weren’t allowed to dig here… What do we do? Should we run?”
“Right! Let’s just get the medicine first! If someone has to be punished, let it be us!”
As panic spread, Nadia’s eyes trembled.
“…Baldwin?”
It wasn’t fear.
To Nadia, Baldwin was not a name that evoked terror.
It was a name that felt dear—achingly so. A name that tugged at her heart.
Steeling herself, she lifted her head.
‘Hainie wouldn’t bother coming in person for something this minor. At most, it’ll be a knight commander.’
“Father, I’ll handle this. There’s nothing to fear, so please don’t worry.”
As Nadia stepped forward, Baron Hess followed in a fluster. He kept insisting he should go instead, but Nadia firmly refused.
“I started this, so I’ll be the one to resolve it.”
Baron Hess was a gentle and kind father, but he lacked a practical sense and often ruined things with his naïveté.
So Nadia gently reassured him and stepped in front of the gathered people.
And there, in the chilly air, she came face-to-face with a familiar man.
Jet-black hair like a panther, a sharply defined forehead, and crimson eyes that glinted with dangerous intensity.
The sun shone behind him, casting him in silhouette—but it couldn’t hide his devilish beauty.
The moment she saw him, Nadia’s vision blurred.
This was the tenth year since Rivenia Baldwin’s death.
The tenth year since Nadia had been born into a new body.
Never in her wildest dreams did she think she’d meet Heinrich again—on this very day.
She lowered her head deeply. If she kept looking at Heinrich, she’d start crying again.
How could she have spent ten years without remembering him? That sweet boy who had breathed life into her world.
Not long after the disturbance between the two estates, a thick stack of documents arrived at Baldwin Manor.
They contained the very evidence Nadia had cited to support the historical claim.
Heinrich handed everything over to his secretary, Allison.
“Check if that mine truly falls under Hess territory.”
Allison, ever capable, returned with her findings in less than two days.
“If this turns into a political fight, of course Baldwin would win.”
“And if we go strictly by logic?”
“Then it belongs to Hess. Although communication between Baldwin and Hess ceased about two hundred years ago, there’s no record of the land being formally returned. It’s likely everyone just lost interest in that small piece of land.”
Heinrich sat in his office chair, deep in thought.
“No one cared about that land, so how did she know there were mana stones buried there?”
“You mean the Baron’s adopted daughter?”
“Yes. It’s reasonable that she knows Hess estate well after ten years. It’s not strange she’s aware of events from 300 years ago. But how did she know that barren land contained a vein of mana stones?”
“Who knows how she figured it out, but it’s certainly a great stroke of luck for House Hess. Thanks to that young lady, the Baroness’s life will be saved. Maybe the saying is true—heaven helps the good.”
Heinrich scoffed.
“Nonsense. It’s just coincidence.”
If heaven truly helped the good, then wasn’t there someone far more deserving of divine help?
He remembered the woman who always smiled at him gently.
A defenseless duke of only eight years old.
She must have seen him as lacking in every way as a husband, but she had always given so much—kind, gentle, respectful to even those of low status.
His nominal wife, Rivenia Baldwin.
He had wanted to grow up quickly. To become her true husband, or at the very least, someone she could lean on.
But now, Rivenia was no longer by his side.
“Very well. That land will be handed over to House Hess. Make it official in the documents, and notify Baron Hess.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
Allison bowed smoothly and exited the office.
Left alone in the spacious room, Heinrich suddenly felt drained.
‘That woman… Nadia Hess, was it?’
He thought of Nadia—a girl who looked barely twenty, with striking red hair and golden eyes that didn’t dim even in the sunlight.
A stranger.
Rivenia had been much softer. Silvery-blonde hair like moonlight and calm blue eyes like a quiet lake—he could still see her clearly when he closed his eyes.
But when Heinrich looked into Nadia’s tear-filled eyes, something gripped his chest.
It felt like someone was squeezing his heart with sharp nails—painful and suffocating.
Maybe it was because that silent weeping reminded him of Rivenia.
He let out a breathless chuckle.
‘Ten years. It’s already been ten years since she left me.’
Maybe that’s why he saw glimpses of her in someone who resembled her so little.
Staring out the window with bitter eyes, Heinrich watched the moonlight pour in—bright and pale, just like the hair of the wife he had lost.
