Richel hurriedly loosened Edwin’s collar.

He continued to make strained, choking sounds and his fingers scraped helplessly against the floor.

It was clear that he could not breathe properly.

Watching someone struggle to the point of death right in front of her made her fingertips tremble violently.

The veins in Edwin’s neck stood out sharply and his face was growing redder by the second.

Richel repeatedly fumbled with the buttons at his collar, but her shaking hands kept missing them.

“Edwin, please, just breathe. Breathe—”

Tears burst from her eyes at that very moment.

“My lord!”

The doctor rushed into the room.

After quickly checking Edwin’s condition, he turned around and ran back out again.

Seeing the doctor disappear while someone was literally suffocating to death right in front of her left Richel so stunned that she could not scream.

Fortunately, the doctor returned almost at once.

He was clutching a paper bag tightly in his hand.

“My lord, place this over your mouth and breathe into it. Inhale the breath you exhale…”

He guided Edwin to breathe into the bag.

The paper bag repeatedly expanded and collapsed.

It took a while longer before Edwin finally began calming down.

“Haa… hngh…”

Once his breathing settled, Edwin lost consciousness almost as if he had fainted asleep.

His face looked utterly terrible.

The doctor instructed the servants to carry him back to the Count’s bedroom.

“My lady, I’ll go upstairs and attend to the Count.”

“I’m coming too. I need to hear what exactly happened.”

The doctor hesitated at those words.

His gaze shifted awkwardly to the side.

Only then did Richel remember that David was still present.

It was the height of terrible manners for a host to completely forget her guest.

Richel turned to David, her face flushing red.

“I’m sorry. I was so shocked that I completely lost my head…”

“It’s alright. I was just as startled myself. Please hurry upstairs. Once Cornelia returns, I’ll explain the situation to her.”

Cornelia had stepped away temporarily to greet James first.

While she was away, all this happened.

David gestured for Richel to hurry upstairs.

After silently apologizing once more, Richel followed the doctor towards the Count’s bedroom.

“My lady, please sit down.”

The doctor urged Richel to take a seat.

Her face had turned deathly pale from shock.

“The Count is alright now. His breathing has returned, so he should wake up soon.”

“…Did Edwin have some kind of chronic illness? How could he suddenly collapse like that, unable to breathe?”

A horrified expression crossed her face.

The image of his body twisting in agony while struggling for air remained vividly burned into her mind.

The doctor inwardly felt troubled.

‘This is difficult… I don’t even know how to explain it properly.’

What Edwin had experienced was hyperventilation.

It appeared as though he could not breathe, but in reality, he had not actually been suffocating.

Letting out a sigh, the doctor began explaining.

“The symptoms the Count experienced were not actual suffocation. Cases where it becomes fatal are also rare.”

“I saw him unable to breathe properly, and you’re saying it wasn’t that…? Then are you saying he was pretending?”

“He was not pretending. The sensation of suffocation is real. The pain itself is real as well. I only mean that he was not literally unable to breathe.”

Richel stared at the doctor in disbelief.

Even though he was speaking seriously, it sounded almost like meaningless wordplay.

As though understanding her bewilderment, the doctor nodded before continuing.

“In truth, that is not the important part of this condition. Hyperventilation is most commonly caused by psychological shock or extreme anxiety.”

As he spoke, the doctor reflected on Edwin’s earlier condition.

People who experience hyperventilation for the first time usually panic.

This is because, at that moment, they genuinely believe that they are dying from a lack of air.

But Edwin had shown no fear or surprise whatsoever.

Even when the doctor pressed a paper bag over his mouth and told him to breathe into it, Edwin followed the instructions instinctively, as if he had done so many times before.

‘It seems he’s been suffering from these episodes for quite a long time…’

And if the symptoms had become familiar to him, then the problem ran far deeper.

It meant Edwin’s anxiety and psychological wounds were severe.

The doctor continued speaking.

“Something must have caused him extreme emotional distress immediately before he collapsed.”

Without realizing it, Richel frowned.

“I told you before not to bring up divorce-related topics around him. That’s obviously the cause. Did such a conversation happen again?”

“No, that’s exactly my point. Edwin collapsed the moment he entered the drawing room.”

The breathing episode he displayed today was entirely different from the bizarre behavior he had shown before.

This was not madness.

It was an outright attack.

And to think it had been triggered by something other than divorce….

‘What exactly was in that drawing room…?’

Richel replayed the moment Edwin entered.

No matter how she thought about it, she could only remember standing up to greet him.

The only unusual thing was that David had been with her.

Then, suddenly, a memory flashed through her mind.

She remembered the words Edwin had shouted at her shortly after he came back.

“David, David Nathan! That man you’ve known since childhood! After meeting him, you started trying to divorce me and leave me—!”

The thought was so absurd that Richel almost laughed.

If her suspicions were correct, there could only be one reason why Edwin had started hyperventilating.

David Nathan.

But this conclusion made no sense at all.

David had only entered noble society after Edwin disappeared.

The two of them had never met before today.

The same was true for Richel herself.

During the entire period that Edwin had been away, she had remained in the Isle territory, working tirelessly.

‘Is it another delusion?’

That delusion existed only in Edwin’s mind.

That was the real problem.

His insane behavior.

Today’s attack.

Ultimately, it all clearly stemmed from the same place.

‘Trying to connect David and me… there’s a limit to how irrational a person can be.’

David was the eldest son of a viscount family and a young nobleman destined to inherit a title.

There was no reason whatsoever for him to become involved with Richel, a married woman five years his senior.

Moreover, David was engaged to Cornelia.

Therefore, the anxiety and fear Edwin experienced were nothing more than baseless illusions.

‘I need to address this properly. I can’t let him keep reacting like this every single time.’

Straightening herself, Richel turned to the doctor.

“When will Edwin wake up? There are things I need to ask him…”

“He’ll likely wake soon. But what exactly are you planning to ask?”

“I think I understand why he collapsed. So we need to talk about it properly.”

Her tone was firm.

Richel could be unbelievably stubborn at times like this. Once she had made up her mind about something, she never wavered.

As the doctor quietly left the room, he could only hope that their conversation would end peacefully.

Richel lowered herself into the chair beside the bed.

She intended to wait until Edwin woke up before speaking with him.

No, more accurately, it would likely be an interrogation than a conversation.

She wanted to hear all about the delusions in Edwin’s mind.

‘Though he probably won’t tell me everything honestly…’

It took Edwin a long time to finally open his eyes.

Without so much as a groan, he slowly raised his gaze, his vision still blurred as if he were trapped inside a dream.

The moment he saw Richel, he froze.

His eyes remained unfocused.

Richel let out a sigh.

“I waited because there’s something we need to talk about… but we can discuss it later once you feel better. You must be exhausted, so rest.”

She immediately rose from her seat.

At that moment, Edwin sucked in a sharp breath.

He was tense and frightened.

Before leaving, Richel stopped and stepped closer to him again.

“What’s wrong? Are you alright?”

His pale face stared at her.

Richel placed a hand against his forehead.

It was damp with cold sweat.

“You don’t have a fever…”

Edwin remained completely frozen.

Then, gradually, his breathing became ragged again.

Fearing that he might start hyperventilating again, Richel quickly withdrew her hand.

Just as she turned to call for the doctor, Edwin suddenly sat up and grabbed her.

“Don’t go. Hngh… haa… I was wrong. I’m sorry.”

Richel collapsed onto the bed under the strength of his grip.

She found herself trapped in his arms.

He was holding her so tightly that she could barely move.

After struggling for a moment, she gave up.

Perhaps because she had experienced this before, surrendering came easily to her this time, too.

‘At least the cracks healed properly. But why is he always so unreasonable?’

Edwin soon started crying and held her tightly.

Richel simply let him.

The situation was already far beyond her understanding.

Instead, she tried to organize her thoughts.

‘What exactly do I need to ask? First, there’s the matter involving David… and those delusions of his as well…’

It took a very long time for Edwin’s sobbing to finally subside.

Richel slowly pulled herself upright, feeling the dampness seep into the back of her neck and shoulders.

This time, Edwin’s arms loosened obediently.

She returned to the chair opposite him.

Edwin lowered his head.

“I’m sorry. I lost control of my emotions again…”

Before he woke up, he had been dreaming.

In that dream, he caught fleeting glimpses of Richel from the world in which she died.

She appeared before him, only to vanish the moment he tried to reach out to her.

This was why, even after waking up, he had not dared to move.

He was terrified that she would disappear again.

If she had not touched his forehead, he would never have realized that she was real.

Almost letting the words out in a sigh, Richel spoke.

“Do you remember collapsing earlier? The doctor said it was hyperventilation…”

It was only then that Edwin remembered what had happened before he fainted.

David Nathan had come here.

And Richel had met him.

The brief sense of relief and happiness Edwin had felt shattered instantly.

Anxiety remained.

“Edwin.”

Richel called his name.

Edwin looked back at her again.

Then she continued speaking.

“They said hyperventilation is caused by anxiety and extreme stress. So what exactly was the problem in the drawing room?”

Edwin pressed his lips tightly shut.

Richel asked again.

“You’re not going to answer me?”

“……”

“Then I’ll say it myself. This is because of David, isn’t it? Because David Nathan came to see me.”

Edwin’s face instantly turned deathly pale.