182話 彼女の狙い
「なんというか、ずいぶんと打たれ弱い方なんですねぇ」
彼女が最初にお家取り潰しの憂き目にあった時も、現状を受け入れることも反発することもせず、ただ誰かが救い出してくれることを願った。
そして次も、徐を悪者にして己のことを憐れな悲劇の女の立ち位置に捉え、誰かの救いの手によって以前のちやほやされる生活が戻ることを期待したのだ。
徐と己の技量の差については、気付かないふりをしたのだろう。
都合の悪いことに対してわからないふりをするのは、どうやら彼女の悪癖であるようだ。
雨妹の言葉に、徐も頷く。
お偉い身分に生まれた女っていうのは、ああいう風に育つのかねぇ?」
徐がやれやれといった調子でそう言うが、彼女は話しているうちにずいぶん話し方などが砕けてきている。
色々抱え込んで我慢していたものを一部吐き出すことで、気分が楽になってきているのかもしれない。
ともあれ、徐のそんな極論に雨妹は苦笑する。
「そうではないと思いますけど。
妃嬪でも女官でも、もちろん清廉な人ばかりではなく、己の欲に忠実なあまりに道を踏み外した人もいるけれども、少なくともただ泣いているだけの他力本願な人はいなかった。
そういう意味では悪人となってしまった人も、彼女よりは立派だろう。
「そんなものかい?」
雨妹の話を聞いても、徐は首を捻るだけだ。
徐の身分であれば、高貴な女性たちは楽団が押し込まれている場所から紗越しに見るものであり、近くで接して会話する相手ではないのであろう。
話を戻すとして。
彼女は現状を徐のせいにして嘆いていただけではなかった。
『お前がいなかったら私はもっと早く出世して、とうに皇帝陛下のお目に留まっていたに違いない』
彼女はそう述べたのだ。
ここで言う「お目に留まる」とは、単に琵琶が上手いことを褒められるのではないだろう。
そのもっと先、皇帝の閨に呼ばれることを期待したということらしい。
「え、皇帝陛下狙いになっちゃったんですか!? 本気で!?」
思いもよらぬ展開に、雨妹は思わず声が大きくなる。
この驚きの声に、徐は若干呆れたような表情だ。
「はぁ~、根性があるのかないのか......」
それとも、豪族の娘ならばかつて一族内で後宮入りの候補に上がったことがあったのかもしれない。
それで人生をそちらの路線でやり直すつもりになったのだろうか?
――だとしても、楽観的だよねぇ......?
雨妹は自分の「後宮ウォッチングをしてみたい!」だけで、辺境からここまで来てしまったのも大概だとは思ってはいるが、彼女の方も雨妹とどっこいどっこいのお気楽さだ。
ちょっと意見を聞いてみようと、それまで静かに聞き役に徹していた立彬に話を振ってみる。
立彬はバッサリとそう切り捨てる。
「同じくだな、宮妓出身の妃嬪は制度としてはあり得ることだろうが、現実的ではないな。
もしそうなるとしたら、よほどその個人が飛びぬけて優秀な必要があるな」
――だよねぇ......。
立彬と男の意見には、納得感しかない。
Chapter 182: Her Goal
"How should I put this, uh, she's quite the weak person, isn't she."
In the face of her family's hardships and downfall, she neither accepted the situation, nor did she do something to oppose it. She just wished that somebody would save her.
Afterward, she made Xu appear as the villain and saw herself as a pitiful, tragic, woman. She hoped that somebody would save her and restore her to her former life of being a pampered woman.
She pretended to be oblivious towards the difference of her ability with that of Xu.
It seemed that she had a bad habit of pretending she didn't know anything if it didn't suit her convenience.
Xu nodded in agreement to Yui Mei's words.
"Yeah, precisely. Are all women born with golden spoons in their mouth raised like that?
Xu seemed like she was saying "good grief" by the way she spoke, but it was noticeable that her manner of speaking had become more relaxed.
Perhaps she was feeling better after letting out all those things in her heart that she had been holding back.
In any case, Yui Mei just smiled wryly at Xu's unreserved judgment.
"I don't believe that's how it is. All the noble people I met here in the palace are all splendid, you know?"
Of course, not all the consorts and the palace ladies were purely innocent, and there were those who went astray because they had been devoted to their avarice. Nevertheless, none of them stayed weeping in the corner while relying on others to save them from their situation.
With that perspective, even those who had turned into villains were still considered splendid in Yui Mei's book.
"Is it like that?"
Xu just shook her head even after hearing Yui Mei's explanation.
From Xu's standpoint, those noblewomen were not people she could casually approach and strike up a conversation with. She could only see them beyond the gauze that separated them from the place where the band was crammed into.
Now, back to the topic at hand.
Blaming Xu for her current misfortune wasn't the only thing that the girl did.
"If it wasn't for you, my career should already be rising by now, and I might even have gained the attention of the emperor"
That was what the girl said.
The "attention" she was referring to didn't just mean being praised for her skills in the lute.
She had been expecting something beyond that -- that was to be summoned into the emperor's bedchambers, apparently.
"Eh, did she just target His Majesty the Emperor!? Seriously!?"
Yui Mei unwittingly shrieked at the unexpected development,
Xu looked a bit exasperated at her scream.
, I'm not sure now whether she has the guts, or she's a coward...."
Or perhaps, had she belonged to a family powerful enough that she was once considered as a candidate to enter the Inner Palace?
Was that the reason why she decided to start over and change her life course into that direction?
'Still, isn't that a bit... too optimistic of her?'
Yui Mei came all the way here from the borderland just so she could watch the Inner Palace, but she doesn't think it was such a big deal. That girl was as carefree as Yui Mei in this sense.
Yui Mei turned to face Libin, who had been quietly listening until this time, because she was a bit curious as to what he thought.
Libin promptly dismissed it.
"Yeah, same for me. The organization per se might make it possible for a palace courtesan to be a consort, but it isn't realistic. Having no backing or support is considered as a blemish on one's career, and they don't give any benefit to the country, so they're generally considered as a worse option than having a commoner-born concubine.
In order for the impossible to happen, that person must be someone extremely outstanding."
'Right?...'
She could only agree with Libin and the man's opinions.
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