Defenestration

“Um... Lettie, I’m coming in.”

There was no response even as the door’s well-oiled hinges opened silently, allowing Rosaline to poke her head through the entrance. Her light violet eyes were filled with worry as they settled on Leticia’s form.

The black-haired knight was seated on the floor, holding her knees in the fetal position. Her blank eyes stared straight ahead of herself, lightless and lifeless like twin voids. Her face was pale and gaunt as if she were malnourished despite Rosaline saying that she’d only stopped eating for a few days.

“Medrauta and Viviane are with me... Is it alright if they come in too?” Rosaline asked.

Again, Leticia remained unresponsive. In fact, it didn’t even look like she registered Rosaline’s presence. Instead, she continued to stare straight ahead like an unmoving monument of depression.

Rosaline’s lips formed a thin line as she gathered her resolve, holding back the tears that she wanted to release upon seeing the state that her beloved had been reduced to. With a firm push, she opened the door fully, allowing Viviane and Medrauta to gaze upon the full brunt of Leticia’s misery.

Viviane gasped in surprise at the knight’s state. Even though she had seen knights being severely injured, she hadn’t ever laid eyes on someone in such a dismal state before. To her, the current Leticia seemed more lifeless than Medrauta did after taking the full brunt of Gwenhwyfar’s solar beam.

Catching her reaction, Rosaline could do nothing but bite her lip and nod sullenly. She’d tried everything to fix Leticia’s corpselike catatonia over the past few days, but nothing had worked. Even so, she’d at least responded to Rosaline. It was today when she stopped speaking that Rosaline was tipped beyond her breaking point.

Among the three gathered at the entrance, Medrauta was the only one undaunted by the depressing sight before them. She sallied forth into the darkened room as if descending upon a battlefield, her armored greaves soundless against the carpeted floor.

With a single movement, she thrust aside the curtains that kept the room shrouded in shadow despite the brilliant presence of the noonday sun just outside. Light streamed into the room, illuminating its occupants and showering them in warmth.

Despite that, Leticia still showed no reactions. She sat still, her arms wrapped around her knees as she stared blankly at the wall across from her.

“Um... Dame Medrauta...” Rosaline sought to caution the knight against making such sudden changes in the room’s atmosphere, but Medrauta paid her no mind. Instead, Medrauta unlocked the window and pushed it open.

“Leticia.” Medrauta stood in front of her fellow knight, staring down at her as she blocked Leticia’s view of the wall that she seemingly adored so much. “Get up.”

Leticia made no move to follow Medrauta’s direction. In fact, it looked as though she hadn’t even heard Medrauta’s voice.

“Um... Medrauta? Maybe we should wait a bit...?” Viviane suggested.

“Wait? Wait for what?” Medrauta asked, unable to keep the irritation out of her voice as she stared at Leticia’s unmoving form. As a knight, she prided herself on the strength of not only her body, but also her will.

Though a knight’s foremost duty was to achieve victory in combat, it was not what defined them. Rather, a knight was defined by their values and attitude. Humble in victory, graceful in defeat. Strong in the face of adversity, gentle in the times of peace.

Those values had been drilled into Medrauta incessantly by her mentor, and seeing Leticia turned into a husk of her former self only served to anger her.

Medrauta reached down and grabbed Leticia by the collar, hefting her up easily as she forced the knight to look her in the eyes. “Have you lost sight of what a knight should be, Leticia?” She growled. “You needed time to sort your feelings out. I know. You’re hurting. We all are. But no one’s sitting in their room lookin’ like a goddamn corpse, Leticia. Get it together!”

As she shouted those final words in Leticia’s face, the knight finally showed some signs of life. Her dry and cracked lips barely moved as she spoke in a hoarse voice. “...I want to die.”

Rosaline couldn’t handle it anymore. The moment those words left Leticia’s lips, she collapsed onto the floor and began to sob uncontrollably. Just a little over a week ago, their lives had been filled with nothing but happiness.

Rosaline and Leticia had sat in this very room, making plans for their lovey-dovey future over a cup of tea and some biscuits. But now all of that was lost to a despair so dark that it seemed to swallow even the sunlight streaming through the window.

...Just how did it come to this? Rosaline thought as she covered her face in shame as tears continued flowing incessantly from her eyes. She felt Viviane’s touch on her shoulder, but the other noblewoman’s attempt to comfort her was in vain. Am I not worth living for, Leticia...?

“...I see,” Medrauta nodded as if conceding to Leticia’s sentiment. Though her words were understanding and her tone cordial, the ferocious anger that blazed in her sapphire eyes was so great that Leticia instinctively flinched even in her semi-catatonic state.

With an iron grip, Medrauta dragged Leticia toward the open window and thrust her out the open window without a second thought, leaving the black-haired knight dangling from Medrauta’s arm by the collar of her shirt.

Since every room in the barracks was shared among at least three knights, Rosaline had chosen to house Leticia in her own room ever since the two became a couple, both for its privacy and their more intimate moments. While the barracks was by no means a tall building, the same could not be said for the nobles’ dormitory.

It stood fourteen floors high, and incidentally, Rosaline’s room was on the tallest floor. While a knight could easily survive such a drop if they braced, Leticia showed no signs of doing so. In other words, a fall from such a height would be fatal for Leticia in the state that she was in right now.

“I’ll grant your wish,” Medrauta said coldly even as Leticia’s shirt began to tear. Still, Leticia remained unresponsive to the deadly situation that she’d been placed into.

“N-No...!” Rosaline managed to say through her tears. “D-Dame Medrauta, please...!”

Medrauta turned her attention to the crying noblewoman on the floor. “Oh, don’t worry, Lady Rosaline. I fully intend to send you after her. I wouldn’t be so uncouth as to allow death to separate the two of you.”

“M-Medrauta!?” Viviane exclaimed in shock. “What are you saying!? E-Even if I have to fight you, I’ll protect Lady Rosaline! The Medrauta I know and love isn’t someone who would say something so c—”

Viviane stopped as she noticed Medrauta winking violently. She allowed a brief sigh of both relief and irritation to escape her lips as she realized that Medrauta was simply bluffing. I still wish she’d tell me about this kind of thing before doing it...

“You would stop me from uniting these lovers, Viviane? Of course not,” Medrauta said, her tone rich with mock admonishment. “Worry not, Lady Rosaline. I shall make it swift and painless so that you can follow your beloved Leticia after she obtains the death she so desires.”

With that, the silver-haired knight returned her gaze to Leticia. The shirt had torn a little more, but Medrauta kept a firm grip on it. The other knight had shown some signs of stirring, but she still hadn’t reacted at all.

Damn it... It’s not enough! Medrauta clicked her tongue in annoyance. With her free hand, she reached for her sword. “On second thought, perhaps it would be kinder to send them off at the same time. Viviane, bring Lady Rosaline here so I can grant her eternal repose.”

Yeesh! She’s just pretending, but how can she say stuff like that so casually!? Viviane shook her head. She was going to have a long talk with Medrauta after all this was over.

“N-No...” Leticia finally croaked. “I won’t... I won’t let you...”

“You won’t let me?” Medrauta raised an eyebrow as she stared down at Leticia imperiously. “You won’t let me what?”

The sound of steel slithering against leather cut through the air as Medrauta drew her sword with a mere flick of her wrist. Its silver blade shone in the sunlight, pointing straight at Rosaline’s still-prone figure.

Begrudgingly, Viviane cooperated and helped Rosaline up, bringing the pink-haired lady within reach of Medrauta’s sword. After meeting Eirlys as promised during the previous week, Medrauta quickly finalized her appointment as one of the academy’s temporary guard knights who were permitted to carry sharpened weapons even outside of the arena.

Though Eirlys had entrusted that blade to Medrauta for the sake of defending the academy’s students, she now wielded that sharpened blade against Rosaline’s throat. A thin red line formed where the exceptionally sharp edge touched the noblewoman’s skin, and rivulets of blood trickled down the sword’s silver surface, staining its previously pristine steel.

...No. A loud thump reverberated in Leticia’s chest as she watched the scene unfold before her eyes. I can’t... I won’t... She gasped for air as if it were the first time she’d breathed in years. Slowly, the colorless world around her restored itself to its former state. Just what the hell have I even been doing!?

The sight of her beloved lady being a mere second away from death galvanized Leticia’s will at last. Her strength surged like a powerful wave, washing away the weakness that dominated her just a second ago. Like the dawn, her eyes shone with a fierce defiance now, shattering the shackles of depression that had slowly dragged her down into an abyss of despair over the past few days.

How could I even allow a blade to touch Rosaline’s fair skin...? Leticia cursed herself inwardly. She hated herself for falling into a spiral of depression, but she would permit it no longer.

“I won’t let you kill Rosaline!” Leticia roared with all her might.

Medrauta smirked. “‘Atta girl.”

Before Leticia could react, Medrauta released her hold on the other knight’s shirt, dropping Leticia fourteen stories down.

“LETICIA!!!” Rosaline screamed. She lunged forward with total abandon despite the blade at her throat, diving toward the window.

Reacting quickly, Medrauta withdrew her sword at lightning speed, preventing Rosaline from potentially cutting herself against the almost obsessively honed edge.

The pink-haired noblewoman thrust herself through the window, her hand reaching out in a too-late effort to grab Leticia. Though she tried to dive after her beloved knight, Viviane quickly pulled her back.

THOOM!

A small crater was left in the ground as Leticia managed to properly brace and land on her feet, staring up at Medrauta angrily. She jabbed a finger at the open window, glaring at the silver-haired knight who peered downward with a smirk still on her face.

“Just you wait, Medrauta! I’m coming up there right now to kick your sorry ass!”