Sweet melodies flowed, the faint light spreading from the chandeliers hanging from the high ceiling in a serene space.

“Princess Haribo has fainted!!”

“Oh my! What to do!!”

Chaos ensued in an instant.

“Hurk! Haah…haah.”

Lucia, slumped on the floor, clutched her chest and breathed in pain.

“Lucia! Are you okay?!”

Duke Haribo, kneeling in front of his sister, embraced her.

“I’m…okay…hic! hic!”

In her brother’s arms, she twisted her face in terror.

“Hic…haah. haah.”

Her small body convulsed as if she would lose her breath at any moment.

“Lucia. Calm down. It’s okay! Calm down!”

Lamein, who had been watching Duke Haribo desperately trying to calm his sister, clenched her fist tightly.

‘It’s absolutely impossible!’

And she left her husband’s side, where she had been standing guard for a long time.

“Lamein!”

Ignoring her husband’s voice from behind, Lamein ran frantically towards the entrance of the banquet hall.

She grabbed a paper bag containing gifts Lucia had prepared for the guests as if snatching it.

And she ran to Lucia, who was now almost lying in her brother’s arms, writhing in agony.

“Don’t hold her like that!”

Lamein shouted as she sat down on the floor.

Duke Haribo looked perplexed at Lamein, who had suddenly appeared and shouted.

“Don’t hold her like that! She can’t breathe!”

She shouted again and ripped the ribbon off the paper bag she was holding.

Then she turned the paper bag upside down.

Thud.

A pretty comb that Lucia seemed to have drawn herself fell to the floor and rolled around.

Duke Haribo’s eyes narrowed menacingly as his sister’s carefully prepared gift was thrown to the floor.

I know. I know what you’re thinking right now.

Since he’s a man who cherishes his sister, there’s no need to ask why his eyes look that way.

“Hic! Ben…s…brother. Hic!”

But she must be saved first.

“Your Grace! Let go of that arm!”

When Lamein quickly approached Lucia, who was calling her brother in pain, and shouted, Duke Haribo slowly let go of the arm he was holding.

Lamein quickly brought an empty paper bag to Lucia’s lips.

“Lucia. Breathe! Slowly. And very deeply!”

Her eyes were filled with terror, tears brimming.

It hurts, doesn’t it? Of course, it must.

Swallowing a brief pang of sympathy, Lamein put force into her eyelids.

“Bigger. And slowly. Yes, like that. Breathe. Right.”

She spoke as gently as possible to calm her.

Lamein focused on Lucia, repeating the same words dozens of times.

The space became as quiet as a mouse.

Only Lamein’s voice was echoing through the banquet hall.

‘Is she starting to get better?’

Although she was still breathing roughly into the paper bag, the small body’s twitching seemed to be subsiding bit by bit.

‘Soon her breathing will return to normal.’

Lamein carefully put her palm over her chest.

She felt the heart beating as if it would not stop.

Lamein looked at the dress tightly squeezing her small body.

Just like herself, she must be wearing a corset that stifles the body to the point of discomfort.

‘Putting this kind of dress on a child itself is the problem.’

The movement of the paper bag, crumpling and straightening quickly with each painful breath, gradually became stable.

And Lucia’s chest also began to calm down.

‘It’s a simple case of hyperventilation.’

There’s no way to tell by the naked eye if she has lung disease or some other condition.

Whatever the cause, her behavior just now was a common symptom seen in patients suffering from hyperventilation syndrome.

‘If the cause is not removed, this will happen again. What’s the problem?’

Lamein, looking at Lucia with a doctor’s eye, slowly peeled away the paper bag she had been holding to her mouth.

“Lucia. Are you okay? Can you see me?”

“Don’t hold her like that.”
The Duke of Haribo, about to embrace Lucia with a worried look in his eyes, flinched.

“Brother… I’m… okay now.”

As if trying to reassure her brother, Lucia let out a weak voice.

“Are you really okay?”

“Yes. I’m fine.”

To his own eyes, Lucia’s hyperventilation seemed to have completely stopped.

“It might be best to take Lady Haribo to her room and get her out of that dress first.”

Lamein, who had added one more comment without malicious intent, stood up from her place, smoothing out the dress that was scattered messily on the floor.

And then.

‘Damn.’

She only realized then what she had done.

This time, she truly thought her face would be pierced.

‘But fortunately, it’s mild.’

It was different from the spicy look that had flown at her when she first appeared here.

At that time when she stood up straight, holding her waist perfectly erect.

“Lamein.”

She turned her head at her husband’s faint call.

“Are you alright?”

The man’s face approaching was not bright.

He was clearly surprised by her sudden action.

“Cedric. I’m sorry. You were startled, weren’t you?”

She decided to strike first.

“I was surprised, but thankfully, Lady Haribo seems to have found peace thanks to you.”

Cedric, who had been looking straight ahead, shifted his gaze over her shoulder.