――でも、青い髪で目立つのはやっぱ危ないよねぇ。
立彬の懸念の通り、さすが母がこの髪で皇帝に見初められただけはあって、雨妹の髪は目立つ。
――まあ、あまり変な期待は持たないようにしよう。
雨妹は自身の出自を示すようなものを、なにも持っていない。
そんな風に自身の出自を割り切っていた雨妹だったが、頭巾にマスク布という風体を怪しまれてもなんのその、普通に過ごしていた。
一方でインフルエンザの猛威は未だ衰えない。
インフルエンザにかかりたくない雨妹は、清掃・手洗いうがい・アルコール消毒を徹底して生活する。
「駄目ですか?」
「駄目っていうかねぇ......」
苦情を言われても全く動じない雨妹に、楊おばさんが困った顔をする。
「大部屋に住む娘たちの一部から、一緒の部屋にいたくないと言われているんだよ」
どうやら苦情を申し立てている相手は、それまで待てないらしい。
けれど大部屋は下級宮女が放り込まれる場所で、寝に帰るだけの場所である。
「その人たちは、私にどうしろと?」
あの大部屋よりも下の部屋はないのだが。
大部屋にも梗の都出身らしい娘が数人いるので、彼女らに言わせているのだろう。
人員不足なので個室は余っているが、個室が与えられるのは上級宮女からだ。
雨妹を納屋に入れれば気持ちがスッとする。
どちらに転んでも面白い展開というわけだ。
雨妹が怪しい格好を止める以外で事を収める手段は、大部屋を出るということだ。だがさすがに納屋は嫌だった。
「......本当に納屋に行く気かい?」
「大部屋横の物置が余ってますよね?」
人が減れば荷物も減るので、現在は複数ある物置がどこもガラガラだ。
「風通しの窓もありますし、掃除して床几を入れれば立派な部屋になるかな、と思いまして」
糾弾している娘たちの意見を飲むことになり、雨妹は個室を手に入れられ、一石二鳥ではなかろうか。
「小妹はそれでいいのかい? 物置だよ?」
この提案に驚く楊おばさんに、雨妹はにこりと笑みを向ける。
「物置は物を置いているから物置なのであって、そこで人が暮らせば部屋と言えませんかね?」
「......まあ、そうかもしれないがねぇ」
楊おばさんが困った顔をするが、結局物置案は採用された。
――やった、個室だ!
引っ越し準備をする姿を他の宮女が痛ましそうに見る中で、雨妹の心はルンルンだ。
そしてふと気づく。
'But then, it's really dangerous if my blue hair stood out.'
It was just as Libin said. Her mother drew the attention of the emperor because of this hair, too. It was truly eye-catching. People were starting to know her as the 'girl with the bluish hair' in the residences she cleaned.
'Well, I shouldn't have any unnecessary expectations.'
Yui Mei did not possess anything that would prove her lineage. After all, it was only a story told by the nuns. There was also a possibility that her parents had been a travelling couple who had passed by the borderland, and they might have died from disease or met an accident, so the nunnery took her in.
In this way, Yui Mei found a clear explanation regarding her birth. She spent her days as usual, despite being treated as a dubious person.
On the other hand, influenza's menace had not abated yet.
Yui Mei wanted to avoid being infected by the flu, so she religiously cleaned-up, washed her hands, gargled, and thoroughly disinfected herself using alcohol sanitizers.
"Is it not allowed?"
"Well, rather than saying it's not allowed..."
Yui Mei was not affected despite being told off, so Aunty Yang had a troubled expression.
"Part of the girls complained and said that they do not want to stay in the same room as you."
Apparently, the complainant couldn't wait for that long.
However, the lodging room was only for the low ranking court ladies. They only returned to the room to sleep. Whether they like it or not, it was not a personal space they could be picky about. At most, they can only move their wooden beds to a further location. That's why even if she was told that someone did not want to be in the same room as her, she could only respond with 'so what?'.
"What would they like me to do?"
There was no room under that floor.
There were a few capital-born girls among the court ladies staying at the lodging house, so those girls must have complained to her.
Since the court ladies were short-handed, there were vacant rooms available; however, only the high-ranking court ladies were allowed that privilege. It was impossible to give preferential treatment to the low ranking court ladies staying at the lodging house. Moreover, the girls involved with Mei did not have a hardworking personality.
If Yui Mie was transferred to the shed, then they would feel at ease.
Either way, it would be a favorable outcome for them.
Unless Yui Mei stopped wearing her suspicious get-up, she had no choice but to leave the lodging house. However, she did not want to go to the shed, either.
"...Are you really okay with living in the shed?"
"There is an extra storage room beside the lodging room, isn't it?"
If the number of people decreased, then the number of things would also decrease. Presently, there were several unoccupied storage rooms everywhere. If the items inside were transferred to another storage room, then it would become an empty room. Besides, even if it was called storage, it was still bigger than the modern business hotel rooms.
"There is a window for ventilation, and if I clean it and put my bed in it, then I think it would become a fine room."
With this, Yui Mei would not concede to those who denounced her, and she would also get her own room; thereby killing two birds with one stone.
"Xiao Mei, are you really okay with that? That's a storeroom, you know?"
Yui Mei smiled at the bewildered expression of Aunty Yang.
"The storage room got its name because of the things stored in it, but if people will live in it, then it can become a chamber, isn't it?"
"...Well, that may be so..."
Aunty Wang was still doubtful, but eventually, she decided to let Yui Mei use the storage room.
'Hurray, it's a private room!'
The other court ladies pityingly stared at Yui Mei as she prepared to move, but Yui Mei was ecstatic.
That was when she suddenly realized that it would not be odd if Aunty Yang was one of the people who might remember Yui Mei's mother.
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