94話 お披露目
「呼ばれてもいないくせに、よく言う」
立勇が呆れ顔でその集団を見る。
「あれが、利民様の伯母様だという黄県主ですか」
「若い方がその娘だな」
雨妹がヒソッと尋ねると、立勇が頷く。
その母娘は、パッと見では色白で顔色の悪いのと紙一重で、百花宮でよく見る
衣装も都風の意匠であり、百花宮を意識しているのがまるわかりである。
一方で佳は港町なので、よく日に焼けた肌をして体格の良い者が男女共に多く、会場内もそうした人々ばかりだ。
――これが百花宮だと、ああいう人たちが多いから変じゃないんだろうけど。
ここ佳でアレでは、はっきり言って浮きまくりである。
利民が招いた客人と黄県主一行ではまるっきり見た目が違い、まるで異国人が混じっているかのようにも見える。
「ちょっと、なんなのかしらあの飾りは!
挙句に黄県主母娘は居座った卓から、屋敷の使用人に会場の設営についてアレコレと指図をしているようだが、使用人たちは戸惑いが大きいようで、動きが鈍い。
以前に潘公主を虐めに訪れていた際は、「ここの女主人は自分だ」と言わんばかりの態度であったと、潘公主のお付きの人から聞いている。
その行為の延長で、あのような発言をしているのだろうが。
――あの人が送り込んだっぽい人員は、利民様がだいたいクビにしちゃったからなぁ。
ゆえに今回はそれが通じず、これもまた黄県主をイライラさせているようだ。
そんな黄県主母娘のせいで、気楽な雰囲気の宴だったはずが、微妙な緊張感をはらんだものになっていたのだが。
「利民様、潘公主殿下、おなりー!」
屋敷内から利民と潘公主夫妻が出て来たのだ。
「おお、潘公主殿下だ」
「病に臥せっておられたという噂だったが、お元気になられたのだな」
潘公主はずっと屋敷に籠っていたので、これが久しぶりのお目見えなのだ。
「しかし、あのようなお方だったかしら?」
「ねぇ、なんだかお美しくなられたのではなくって?」
会場内の女性たちが潘公主の姿を目にして、ひそひそとしている。
――うんうん、いい反応!
雨妹はそんな様子を観察しながら、ニマニマした。
生憎と雨妹は、痩せ過ぎな潘公主の姿しか知らない。
けれど立勇情報だと、百花宮にいた頃はかなりふくよかな体型だったとか。
いわゆる色白ぽっちゃりで、口さがない者からは「白豚」などと揶揄されることもあったという。
その潘公主は、現在では程よく筋肉がついて引き締まった身体になり。
適度に日焼けした肌は、佳の民ほどの小麦色ではないものの、余所者感は薄れている。
きちんと肌の手入れをした上での日焼け肌なので、魅惑的にも見える。
――ふふん、色白ほっそりだけが美しさの条件じゃあないんですよ!
美人というのは、土地によって条件が変わるもの。
会場のざわつきが我がことのように嬉しい雨妹の隣で、立勇も感心している。
そう、海外からもたらされた意匠を取り入れて、独自の様式を生み出した佳の衣装を、潘公主はこの日のために仕立てていた。
雨妹が太子に買ってもらったものとも、また違う意匠となっている。
「はい、潘公主殿下がお持ちの衣装は全て、都から取り寄せたものでしたが。
というより、都の意匠はほっそりした体型を前提にしているので、潘公主が着るとぽっちゃり具合を強調してしまうのだ。
それが佳風になると、佳の女性はがっちりした体格が多いので、身体の線をごまかす意匠が多い。
そんな佳の衣装と、都風の顔立ちが混ざり合い、不思議な魅力を生み出している。
こうして潘公主が佳風の衣装を着たことが、佳の民の目にはこの地に根を下ろすという意思表示にも映ったようだ。
どこからともなく拍手が沸き起こり、やがて会場内に満ちてゆく。
その拍手の波に、驚いた顔をした潘公主の肩を、利民がぐっと掴んだのが見えた。
「皆さん、私の力不足で長らく海賊被害で苦しむ状況を作ってしまったことを、心よりお詫びしたい。
乾杯の声が響き、再び拍手が上がる。
「利民様って、声が通るしああして喋れるし、案外演説上手ですね」
なるほど、利民が佳を任されたのは、父のコネだけではなかったということか。
ともあれ、こうしてお祝い気分一色な会場で、唯一黄県主母娘の二人だけが、憎らしそうな顔をしていた。
Chapter 94
"The nerve, they're not even invited in the first place."
Li Yong exasperatedly glared towards the group.
"Is that the Huang County Lord, Lord Li Min's aunty?"
"And the younger one must be her daughter."
He nodded when Yui Mei whispered her question.
The mother-daughter pair was extremely pale, looking sickly white like a sheet of paper. They looked similar to the concubines she frequently saw in the Hundred Blossom Palace.
Even their outfits were designed to look like the clothes from the capital, showing just how conscious they were about the Inner Palace.
On the other hand, Kai is a port city, so many of its citizens, be it men or women, had tanned skin with great body built. Most of the people in the venue were also like that.
'Well, they won't look out of place if this is the Hundred Blossom Palace, though, since there are a lot of people looking like that.'
However, they were in Kai, so they were extremely conspicuous, if she was to be frank about it.
Most of the guests that Li Min invited looked different from the Huang County Lord, so the pair looked like they were foreigners mixed in this place.
"Wait a minute, what's with those decorations? Hurry up and take that trash down!"
When the Huang County Lord and her daughter finally settled down in their seats, they started ordering the mansion servants to do a lot of things regarding the venue's setup. The servants were thoroughly confused, though, so they were slow in doing what they were commanded to do.
Yui Mei heard from Princess Pan's maid that when they previously visited the princess to bully her, they acted as though they were the mistresses of this place.
Well, it was pretty obvious that they were saying all those comments because they're continuing to act that way.
'Mm, the people they sent were already fired by Lord Li Min, after all.'
This time around, they couldn't go through them, so this annoyed the Huang County Lord to high heavens.
Because of the Huang mother and daughter pair, what was supposed to be a fun, relaxed and easy-going banquet turned into one with a highly charged atmosphere.
"Lord Li Min and Her Highness the Princess Pan have arrived!!"
Li Min and Princess Pan came out of the mansion.
"Whoa, it's Her Highness the Princess Pan!"
"Rumors said that she lost weight because she fell sick, but she looks like she's fine now."
The princess had been confined at the mansion for a long time, so it had been a while since they saw her appear in public like this.
"Still, was she like that before?"
"Right, it seems like she's more beautiful now?"
The lady guests looked at Princess Pan's appearance while murmuring among themselves.
'Yup, yup, what a great reaction!'
Yui Mei grinned from ear to ear as she observed the guests' situation.
Unfortunately for Yui Mei, her only memory of the princess was when she looked like skin and bones.
However, according to Li Yong, she had been quite chubby back when she was in the Hundred Blossom Palace.
She was white as snow, so she had been ridiculed as "the white pig" by bullies.
Princess Pan's current figure was lean and toned.
Her glowing, tanned skin was not as wheat-colored as the Kai citizens, but she was not as foreign-looking as before.
She had been taking care of her skin, and it was a healthy color, to boot, so she looked truly captivating.
'Fufun, pale and slender ain't the only standard for beauty, you know!'
The ideals of beauty changed according to the place, so Yui Mei followed the standard of Kai for Princess Pan.
Yui Mei was in cloud nine, as if the buzz in the venue was referring to herself, while Li Yong looked impressed beside her.
Indeed, Princess Pan commissioned a dress for this day, and she drew inspiration from the foreign design and incorporated it into her own style.
Thus, it had a different design from the dress that Yui Mei received from the crown prince.
"Yes, all of Princess Pan's previous clothes came from the capital, after all. They were made to suit fair skin, so they wouldn't match Princess Pan's current skintone."
Actually, the clothes from the capital were designed for slender body types, so they only emphasized the princess's plumpness all the more.
On the other hand, the Kai women were more on the stocky type, so the designs of their clothes gave the illusion of hiding those curves.
When the two designs were combined, a wonderful, alluring dress was born.
And now that the princess wore it, it would possibly become a fashion sensation among the citizens that would take root in Kai.
Claps resounded throughout the place -- the venue had been full to the brim with guests.
The princess seemed taken aback by the warm round of applause, and Li Min put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed her.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to offer my heartfelt apology to all of you for my incompetence. We had suffered from the hands of the pirates for a long time. However, that suffering is now a thing of the past! From now on, our conversations will be filled with the brightness of hope for the future! Cheers!"
Deafening cheers and applause rose up once again.
"Lord Li Min's unexpectedly good at delivering speeches, huh. His voice is clear, and he can talk quite well."
So, he didn't got this position merely due to his father's connections, then.
At any rate, only the Huang County Lord mother-daughter pair showed an odious expression in the midst of everyone else who were caught up in the festive atmosphere.
Housekeeper of the Hundred Blossom Palace
百花宮のお掃除係～転生した新米宮女、後宮のお悩み解決します。
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/housekeeper-of-the-hundred-blossom-palace/
Fantasy Romance Shoujo Slice of Life
Adapted to Manga Ancient China Complex Family Relationships Different Social Status Female Protagonist Imperial Harem Love Interest Falls in Love First Reincarnated in Another World Royalty
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n4104ev/
黒辺あゆみ