Crest of the Strongest Knight

Chapter 68 - 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.