I Became the Familiar of a Chuunibyou Gloomy Girl

‘Sigh…’

Estelle, rolling only her eyes to look around, inwardly lets out a short sigh.

The area around Estelle can literally be described as a vast garden of flowers made of people.

A garden of brilliant and beautiful flowers that would make even someone who dislikes flowers turn their head and focus.

However, Estelle, standing at the center of these flowers, doesn’t give even the slightest glance to the flowers around her.

Well, that can’t be helped.

No matter how beautiful flowers may be, if you’ve seen them all your life, wouldn’t the feeling of beauty fade?

For her, the lady of the Dain Ducal family, the most prestigious family in the empire, the flowers that always unfold toward her are too familiar.

Tap tap—

“Well, please step aside now.”

As Estelle taps the table with her finger, the nobles serving her immediately rise from their seats, creating a path for Estelle to move.

This action naturally pushes away the nobles who had been filling the area around Estelle, which should cause problems, but not a single one of these pushed nobles is complaining.

Well, not all nobles are equal, after all.

Because between them and Estelle, there’s a difference as vast as the sky and earth.

History, legitimacy, power. In none of these can they compare to Estelle.

In the first place, if they satisfied even one of the three, they wouldn’t be here at Estelle’s side trying to get some scraps.

Scribble scribble—

“…Kuk.”

For example, like Ariel over there, writing as if nothing matters.

It was common for nobles who didn’t want to get anything from Estelle not to approach her.

But such nobles were literally those who were equal to or even more noble than Estelle.

Moreover, even such nobles couldn’t completely ignore Estelle.

But Ariel not only doesn’t come near Estelle, she doesn’t even acknowledge her presence.

If it were when Ariel had long bangs, Estelle wouldn’t have paid attention to Ariel either since she couldn’t see Ariel’s eyes and expression, but not now.

‘She’s… treating me like I don’t exist at all…!’

Estelle trembles her hands as she looks at Ariel’s eyes and neck, which show not the slightest movement.

No matter how noble one might be compared to Estelle, not a single noble had treated Estelle like this.

Born and raised nobly as the lady of the Dain Ducal family from birth, Estelle has lived her life being guaranteed at least basic courtesy from all nobles, including the Emperor, just for breathing.

But since Ariel shows no reaction to Estelle, whom even the Emperor treats with courtesy, this is naturally enough to make Estelle heated.

Bang—!!

“…”

As if showing her anger, Estelle, with her red eyes blazing and her blonde hair flying, roughly places a book on Ariel’s desk.

Ariel, who had been reviewing the class by looking at her notes, stops as she sees another book suddenly covering her notebook.

A normal person would immediately lift their head to see who did such a thing, but Ariel doesn’t.

She just stares at the covering book silently, like a statue.

If another student were to freeze like this, one might guess it’s because they’re afraid of Estelle, but nobody here thinks that way. Except for Ariel herself.

“Mi-Mistress Estelle… to Lady Ariel…”

“The Dain family and the Cielnoir family… hmm, for it to be called a good spectacle, our family’s position…”

“Ariel…? Wait, that person was Ariel? I’m seeing her for the first time even though it’s been a week since school started?”

The gazes of everyone here, except for Ariel, focus.

It can’t be helped, as the Dain family that Estelle belongs to and the Cielnoir family that Ariel belongs to are huge families that occupy the two pillars of the noble society.

The ancient Dain family, representing traditional noble forces, and the Cielnoir family, the foremost among the newly-created noble families through the war 100 years ago.

Given the completely different characteristics of the two families, it’s only natural that factions form even if they themselves don’t want it.

“As far as I know, Lady Ariel certainly didn’t do anything… why so rudely…?”

“…Is she deliberately picking a fight? Saying she’s not a noble?”

“Kuk… how long will they treat us like commoners… it’s been nearly a century already?”

Regardless of Ariel’s will, the nouveau riche nobles instantly gather around Ariel.

Among these nobles are also those who were lingering around Estelle just a moment ago, hoping something might trickle down to them.

“…Those things.”

“Tsk…”

Estelle and the traditional nobles, immediately realizing this, instantly frown, but they can’t overtly say anything.

Well, Ariel, who has given confidence to the nouveau riche nobles, is certainly a being with that much power.

The Cielnoir County, which possesses the largest and most fertile land among the newly created territories from the Imperial Expansion War 100 years ago.

Some even call it the Border County because it commands the empire’s border, and the power of the Cielnoir family is certainly not inferior to the central nobles. No, far from being inferior, it’s at a level that can push them back.

After all, the Count of Cielnoir runs a massive army to protect the empire’s border.

It’s not for nothing that the nouveau riche nobles, having found a focal point in Ariel, instantly attached themselves to her.

Rumble—

The two noble groups instantly fall silent as if by agreement.

The nobles, keeping their mouths shut and watching for cues, look almost like racehorses waiting for the signal from two jockeys.

Estelle, standing upright and rolling only her eyes to look down at Ariel, and conversely, Ariel, rolling only her eyes to look up at such an Estelle.

The atmosphere and expressions of the two are so sharp that if things go wrong even slightly, something will happen.

If one had common sense, someone should step in to mediate before the two collide head-on, but the nobles here can only remain still.

Because the only ones who have the authority to decide matters here are Ariel and Estelle, the two of them.

The noble culture, where bloodline directly leads to legitimacy and power, deprives all nobles here of the right to speak about the Cielnoir family and the Dain family.

Clatter—

“…Ugh.”

The only one moving freely here is Weiss alone.

Weiss, moving with a clattering sound, stands between Ariel and Estelle, completely blocking their view of each other.

Since Weiss is Ariel’s familiar, this could signal that Ariel threw the first punch at Estelle, making the surrounding nobles terrified, but they soon realize that’s not the case.

Flutter—

Caw—

Estelle’s familiar, Raven, comes forward and gently perches on Weiss’s collarbone.

Raven’s claws are so delicate that onlookers can tell that Raven is being considerate of Weiss.

“…Kuk, let’s go.”

The same goes for Estelle.

Feeling half angry and half relieved that Raven has done this on its own, Estelle grits her molars and turns to leave, and the nobles who follow Estelle also drain out of the classroom like an ebb tide, following her.

“Uwaaaaah… I was so scared…”

Naturally, as soon as Ariel and I are left alone, she clings to me, crying.

I sort of expected this from when she was extremely frightened in front of that strange woman… but even though I knew in advance, the shock doesn’t seem to diminish.

Uh… um… hmm…

It’s fortunate that my current body only has bones.

If I had flesh… no, never mind.

“—Huh! Ah, no… ahem, I highly value thy loyalty.”

It seems a bit too late to put on airs now.

And at least wipe your tears before saying such things.

Sigh…

‘Estelle… was it?’

I think of the woman who was glaring with fiery red eyes and swinging her blonde hair.

I don’t know the details, but judging by the reactions of the surrounding students, she’s certainly someone noble.

Why on earth is such a woman hostile to Ariel?

There were many nobles following Estelle, and looking at the atmosphere, I get the strong impression that someday they might just collectively lynch Ariel.

Hmm… that would be troublesome, so what should I do… ah.

‘Let me try using the knowledge in my head.’

Since becoming this body, my head has been literally stuffed with knowledge from unknown sources.

This knowledge was so outlandish that even I couldn’t believe it, but since the knowledge that I could speak even with this body was true, and since none of it has been wrong even once, it must all be true.

There’s nothing more dangerous than using information from an unknown source, but… it’s nothing to lose, so I’ll just try it.

“Ahem, ahem. For now, I must explore again the knowledge learned today. Thou art of noble birth, so knowledge worthy of—”

Snatch—!

“—Uh, huh?”

I take away Ariel’s notebook as she prepares to review while still muttering strange nonsense.

Ariel, having her notebook taken away, looks up at me with a stupid expression.

Review? Not necessary.

This isn’t just putting on airs—it’s really not necessary. Why review such things?

First, I need to get rid of this useless simple memorization.