は医局に戻りがてら、お互いに名乗り合って医者から話を聞く。
急いでいたので自己紹介すらしていなかったのだ。
――高熱での異常行動で、小川に落ちたのか。
「それ、目を離した人が悪いですよね?」
どうして高熱を出している人を放っておいたのか。
女の衣服は濡れた上に小川の石にひっかけたのか、あちらこちらが裂けて悲惨なことになっていたものの、意匠は凝ったもので生地は木綿ではなく絹だった。
ということは、あの人は妃嬪であるはず。
「そうなんだがなぁ」
ここに至った状況に納得のいかない雨妹に、子良が唸る。
「とりあえずこの人の濡れた服を脱がせますから、なにか布をください」
雨妹の言葉に、子良が棚から敷布を一枚出して渡す。
「お前さんを引っ張って行って、つくづくよかったよ」
子良は自分の判断を称賛しながら、医局から出て戸を閉める。
子良が着替えを頼もうとしても、先ほど遠巻きにしていた宮女や女官の様子からして、呼んですぐに誰か駆け付けるとは思えない。
けれど医者として、このまま濡れた服を着せておくわけにはいかない。
この場合、子良が自ら着替えさせるのは大変危険だ。
医者で宦官とは言え、二人きりの状況で妃嬪の裸を見たとあってはタダでは済まない。
熱を出している女の看病をするのに、マスクは必須だろう。
「さぁて、お着替えしましょうねぇ」
濡れた髪すら拭っていない宦官どもは、後で絶対誰かに言いつける。
恨みつらみは後にして、まずは着替えだ。
雨妹は濡れた床もしっかり拭いたところで、戸の外に向けて声をかける。
「もういいですよー」
「では、お邪魔しよう」
すると雨妹に聞き覚えのない、若い声が答えた。
――え、誰?
戸惑うこちらを余所に入ってきたのは、艶やかな長い黒髪を背に流し、青い瞳を微笑ませた美しい男だった。
「え、え、え?」
雨妹の頭の中は、今大混乱中である。
後宮は女の園。そこに立ち入る成人の男は皇帝と、跡取りである太子のみ。
あとの男は全て宦官だ。
繰り返すが、後宮に立ち入る男は二人だけで、その内皇帝は四十代半ばのおっさんのはず。
――じゃあ、この人が太子殿下!?
太子の名は
というか、自分以外の青い瞳の人と初めて会う。
宦官がわざとらしく咳払いしたので、我に返った雨妹は慌てて頭を下げる。
小さく呟くと、雨妹から視線を外して床几に横たわる女に近寄る。
Yui Mei listened to the story of the physician as they made their way back to the clinic.
They didn't have time to introduce themselves to each other earlier. The physician's name was Chen Ziliang. Apparently, he received a notice that his patient, who had high fever, left the clinic the moment he took his eyes off her. He then rushed out to look for her and to give her medical treatment.
'Maybe she was behaving abnormally due to the high fever, and then she fell into the stream.'
"Isn't it the fault of the one who left her alone?"
Why would they leave a fevered person by herself?
The woman's drenched clothes were snagged in the small stones of the stream, and several places had been torn. Although they were in a wretched state, the designs were exquisite. Furthermore, it was made of silk.
That person must be a concubine.
"Yeah, that is correct."
Ziliang nodded at Yui Mei's dissatisfaction regarding the current situation. They reached the clinic while still in the middle of their conversation. The eunuchs who brought the woman had long been gone. They left the woman as she was. The woman was lying on the floor, without a single blanket to cover her.
"We must change her wet clothes immediately. Please give me some cloth."
Ziliang took a sheet from the shelf and handed it to Yui Mei. He also gave her a few more sheets to wipe the woman's body.
"I'm glad I pulled you and took you with me."
Ziliang praised his own decision as he closed the clinic's door.
Even if Ziliang were to ask other court ladies and maids, judging from how they kept their distance, he doubted someone would respond immediately.
However, as a physician, there was no way he would have left the woman in her drenched clothes. If Yui Mei, that court lady, was not here, it would have turned into an extremely troublesome situation.
It would be very dangerous for Ziliang to change her himself.
Even if the physician was a eunuch, he would not be able to escape unscathed should it be known that he saw the consort's bare body, moreover if there were only the two of them. It was only natural that he would want to avoid being suspected with adultery.
A mask was indispensable when nursing a person with high fever.
"Alright, let's change you now."
Even if they couldn't change the woman's clothes, they could at least wipe her clothes. Those guys did not even wipe the woman's hair, and the infuriated Yui Mei vowed to tell somebody about what they did.
She then set aside her grudges, and started to change the woman's clothes.
Yui Mei mopped the floor. She then called out to the door.
"It's alright now."
"Then pardon us for the intrusion."
A young-sounding voice answered. Yui Mei never heard it before.
'Eh, who?'
As Yui Mei stood dumbstruck, a fascinatingly elegant man with smiling blue eyes entered. His long black hair flowed down his back.
"Huh, huh, huh?"
Yui Mei's head was spinning.
The only men who could enter inside were the emperor, and his heir, the crown prince.
The rest of the males were eunuchs.
Again, there were only two men who could enter the Inner Palace, and the emperor should be a forty-something old man.
'So this IS the crown prince!?'
The crown prince's name was Liu Ming Xian, and he might be Yui Mei's elder brother.
Rather than that, it was the first time she met someone with blue eyes, aside from her.
The eunuch coughed intentionally, and Yui Mei returned to herself. She hurriedly bowed her head.
The crown prince muttered as he removed his eyes from Yui Mei, and he drew closer to the woman lying on the wooden bed.
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