「そうなんですか?」
彼女の叫びを聞いた雨妹が覗いている立彬に尋ねると、彼は「まあそうだな」と頷く。
「徐が宴席に出ない今だと、あの者が宮妓の琵琶師の頂点だろう。
そんなこちら側の疑問はさておき、あちらの部屋では取り調べが始まった。
「お前は変わった煙草を周りに勧めたそうだな?」
「煙草がなによ、誰だって吸っているものじゃないの、そんなことでこの私を連れてきたの!?」
刑部の人が尋ねるのに、彼女は騒ぎつかれたのかそこにあった卓に備え付けの椅子にドカッと座ると、貧乏ゆすりのように足を鳴らしながらそう話す。
「どこで手に入れた?」
問いに答えない彼女に刑部の人が次の質問をすると、彼女はダン! と卓を拳で叩いた。
「私の琵琶の音を愛好してくれているお方から、贈られたのよ!
彼女はそうやって、聞かれる事に対していちいち噛みつくように喚く。
その様子を覗き穴から交互に眺めながら見ていた雨妹たちはというと。
「あの人たちって贈り物とか、貰うことがあるんですか?」
雨妹がひそっと問うと、立彬が「ふぅむ」と顎を撫でる。
「宮妓は後宮と内廷の境の広間で行われる宴席にも出ることがあるので、そこで外部の人間に顔が知れるのだ。
小声でそう解説をする立彬に、男が補足を入れる。
――へぇ、つまりは人気のある宮妓にはファンがついているのか。
ファンから贈り物を貰うなんて、まるで前世のアイドルだ。
いや、もしかすると宮妓とはそういう存在なのかもしれない。
皇帝を奏でる音色で癒すこともあるが、外部の人たちに対して印象を良くする役割も負っているわけだ。
それにしても、この宮妓はまるで高位で気位の高い妃嬪のような振る舞いである。
先だって己を「妓女」だと自嘲した徐とは大違いだ。
今は見る影もない姿だが、以前は可愛らしい容姿をしていたのだろう面影があるので、そういう点でも人気者だったのかもしれない。
徐
彼女は「思えば初めて会った時から嫌な奴だった」だの、「いつも嫌味ばかりを言ってきて腹が立つ」だの、とにかく思い付く限りの悪口を並べ立てている。
「いつもいつもいつも、私が目をかけられるのが悔しいからって邪魔をして、かつてはアイツが皇帝陛下のお気に入りだったのかもしれないけれど、今は私がお気に入りなのよ!」
貧乏ゆすりと卓を叩く音とで、彼女は一人で賑々しい様子である。
「よくもあれだけの悪口がついて出るものだな」
そんな彼女を見て、男がいっそ感心している。
"Is that true?"
Yui Mei asked Libin while he peered into the hole when they heard what the courtesan yelled. He nodded.
"Well, that's true.. Xu doesn't show her face at the banquets anymore, so that woman currently sits at the pinnacle of the courtesan. But then, was she like that before? I can barely see the resemblance, but it's like she's a totally different person from my memory."
The interview had begun while she was thinking about it, so she just set that aside for now.
"It seems that you're pushing the use of a strange tobacco to the people around you, is that right?"
"So what about tobacco, huh? Everybody's smoking it! Don't tell me you took me here for that reason?!"
The person from the Ministry of Justice inquired. The woman was probably tired from kicking up a fuss. She sat heavily on the chair beside the table, and started tapping and shuffling her feet while talking.
"Where did you get it?"
The woman didn't answer the first question, but when she heard the second query, she banged her fist on the table.
"It was sent by a person who loved the sound of my lute! Oh, I see now, so you're jealous of me, so you hatched this plan, huh!?"
The woman snapped and screamed at every single question the man asked her.
The trio alternately watched through the peephole all throughout the interview.
"So they receive gifts from other people?"
Yui Mei asked in hushed tones, and Libin hummed in agreement as he stroked his chin.
"Those palace courtesans would sometimes attend the banquets held in the hall located at the border of the Inner Palace and the Inner City, and that's where they are seen by outsiders. There are times when those outsiders would send gifts to the courtesan that they saw."
Libin whispered while explaining, and the man supplemented his words.
'Heh, so popular courtesans have fans?'
Receiving gifts from fans -- it was just like the idols of her previous world.
No, maybe it would not be strange to say that the courtesans were just like them.
They would soothe the emperor with their music, but they also played the part of giving a good impression to the outsiders.
Still, this court courtesan was extremely arrogant, acting like she was a high-ranking concubine.
It was a far cry from Xu's self-deprecation when she referred to herself as a prostitute.
Her current appearance no longer had any trace of her former self, but perhaps she had a lovely appearance before, and it was one of the things that made her popular.
The wailing woman abruptly dropped Xu's name, then started a barrage of verbal abuse towards her.
She started spewing vitriol, like "I hated her from the first time we met", "She's so annoying for always saying unpleasant things", and she continued saying whatever insult she could come up with and hurled it out.
"Always, always, always getting in my way just because I'm so famous and she's so jealous of me. Even if she had been the former favorite of His Majesty the Emperor, I'm still his favorite now!!"
The woman fidgeted, tapped her feet and banged the table while animatedly saying those things. She was very lively, indeed.
"Whoa, what a great mouth, dissing somebody else with that gusto."
The man looked on in admiration while watching the woman.
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