1話 都に行きたいか?
砂漠に近い辺境の村で一人で暮らす、十六歳のお年頃の少女である
一つは、自身に前世の記憶があることだ。
生まれる前の雨妹は、日本という国で暮らしていた。
名前などはわからないが、看護師を定年退職した後の余生を趣味につぎ込み、子供や孫に囲まれて大往生したらしいことは思い出せる。
この趣味というのは華流ドラマだ。
友人と一緒にファンイベントのために中国へ何度も旅行したものだ。
そして生まれ変わっても何故か前世の記憶がある事に首を傾げながら、自分が生まれたのは、昔の中国によく似た異世界であることを知るのである。
華流ドラマも、タイムスリップものや古代中国によく似た架空世界ものなど、色々なジャンルが派生していた。
だがまさかその際たる架空世界トリップを、自分が身をもって体験するとは思いもよらず。
雨妹が生まれたのは
そこの村はずれにあるボロ家に住んでいて、家の前の痩せた小さな畑の作物と、近くの山の恵みで食つなぐ毎日である。
そんな前世の記憶持ちの雨妹のもう一つの秘密は、ここ崔の国の皇帝のご落胤――かもしれないということだ。
実は雨妹の母は、後宮の
皇帝のお手付きとなり赤子を産んだが、位があまり高くないことから嫉妬を受けた。
赤子の父は皇帝ではなく連れ込んだ男の種だと噂を立てられ、後宮を追放されてしまったらしい。
後宮を出された女は、尼寺に入り一生を終える。
生まれた赤子もろともに尼寺入りしたが、母は人生に絶望したのかやがて自殺。
残された赤子の雨妹は七歳までは尼寺で育ててもらったのだが、その際に尼たちの噂話でこの一連の話を聞かされたのだ。
だがこの話が真実だという証拠の品もなく、雨妹としては信じていいものかと半分懐疑的でもある。
七歳になった雨妹は、このままここで尼となって暮らすか、尼寺を出て暮らすかを選ぶように言われた。
この時の雨妹は、せっかく中華な異世界にやって来たのに、狭い世界だけで一生を暮らすなんて御免だと考え、即答で尼寺を出る選択をする。
正直に言えば尼寺の主は、尼寺育ちの子供が外の世界を望むと思っていなかったらしい。
世間がどれほど恐ろしいことにまみれているのかを懸命に語ってくれたが、雨妹の決意は変わらなかった。
だが選択肢を提示してくれたので、公平な人だなと感じた。
その尼寺の計らいで、雨妹は現在今のボロ家に住めているのである。
そんな環境で雨妹は、結婚相手としてお得物件とはお世辞にも言えない存在である。
なにせ雨妹は父は物心ついてから今まで見たことなく、母はとっくに死んでおり、財産なんてものは持っていない。
しかも容姿が人目を惹く華やかさであるわけでもなく、十把一絡げの平凡な顔立ちに、女の魅力がさして感じられない平坦な身体つき。
自分でも密かに気に入っていたりするが、そんなものは女らしい美人の前では意味をなさない自慢である。
そんなわけで同世代の娘たちが結婚相手をさっさと決めて行く中、未だに一人寂しく暮らしている雨妹の元に、ある日村長がやって来て言った。
「のう雨妹、都に行きたくはないかね?」
「はぁ?」
雨妹が眉をひそめつつ話を聞けば、今朝がた役人がやってきて言われたことによると、なんと都の後宮での宮女となる娘を集めているのだという。
この辺りの村々で全部で十人、この村から最低一人は誰かの娘を出さなければならないと、そういうことらしい。
「どうだ雨妹、ここで一人暮らすのも色々と辛いだろうし、都へ行ってみては?」
村長はニコニコしながらそんなことを言う。
後宮の宮女はそこに住まう皇帝や妻たちの使用人。
炊事洗濯に掃除など諸々の雑務をこなす存在だ。
故に後宮入りした女は、いくつか例外はあるものの基本外に出れない。
出る時は皇帝から臣下に下げ渡される時か、母のように尼寺に入る時、もしくは死んだ時。
つまりは女の一生を棒に振る可能性大なのだ。
宮女といえども女官に出世する道もあり、ゆくゆくは国母になる可能性だって無きにしも非ずだが、そんなものは絵物語の中のこと。
――まあ、わかるけどね。
そして雨妹は将来を誓い合った相手がいるわけでもなし、後宮の宮女になるのにさほど困ることはないと思われているに違いない。
そしてこの辺境の村と同じ理由で、人口が多いとはいえ都だけで宮女集めをするわけにいかない。
即ち国の収入が減る未来に繋がるのだから。
故に宮女集めは国全土から均等に、ということなのだろう。
昔の中国でも、人さらいのごとき美女狩りで宮女を集めていた時代があったらしいが、やはり弊害があって禁止になったはずだ。
――にしても、こんな辺境でまで女を集めるとか、皇帝はどんだけ女好きなんだか。
雨妹は内心呆れてしまう。皇帝、すなわち雨妹の父親(仮)であるが。
そして村長の話も、要は村の若い娘を出したくないため、村はずれで一人で暮らすよそ者の雨妹への体のいい厄介払いなのだ。
雨妹の素性からすると、後宮というのは最も近寄りたくない場所であろう。
――妃嬪っていっても、美人だったって話だけどね。
美人という位は、皇后を頂点とする皇帝の妻たちの中でも下位のものだ。
やはり後宮という場所は、女の怨念が渦巻く魔界なのだろうか。
けれど一方で、前世であれだけ画面越しに見た後宮というものに少しだけ興味があるのも事実である。
それに、どちらにしろいずれ辺境から出て行こうと思っていたのだ。
「わかりました、行きます」
「そうか! 行ってくれるか!」
雨妹が話を受けると言うと、村長は諸手を挙げて喜んだ。
――私みたいな平凡女が、後宮でどうこうなるわけないしね。
雨妹は「生の後宮を見てみたい」という、己の欲望に負けて楽観的に考えた。
Chapter 1
Chan Yui Mei lived alone in a remote village near the desert. This young girl of sixteen had two secrets.
One was that she retained her memories from her past life.
Yui Mei lived in a country called Japan prior to her rebirth.
She had no recollection of her name, but she did remember that she was a former registered nurse. After she retired, she spent her remaining years in the pursuit of her hobbies. She passed away peacefully, surrounded by her children and grandchildren.
Her so-called hobbies were Chinese dramas. South Korean dramas were not yet in trend, and Chinese dramas were all the rage at that time. As a result, she was thoroughly obsessed.
She even went to China with her friends to attend fan events; not just once but multiple times at that.
After her reincarnation, she was perplexed as to why her memories of the past life remained. She then noticed, amidst her confusion, that she was reborn into another world closely resembling Ancient China.
She arrived at several conclusions as to where she might be, such as being reborn into a Chinese drama, or maybe a time slip, or perhaps reincarnating into a fictional universe that is similar to Ancient China.
Despite her speculations, it was also beyond her wildest dreams that she'll be experiencing that fictional universe first hand.
Yui Mei was born in a remote region of an empire called Sai. The empire's capital was called Kyou.
She lived in a dilapidated shack located at the outskirts of the village. She relied on the crops of the barren field in front of her home, and in the blessings found in the mountains to fill her stomach and get her through the days.
Aside from her memories, she also possessed another secret - that she might be the illegitimate daughter of the emperor of Sai.
It was said that her late mother was a concubine in the imperial harem.
Her mother became the emperor's maid, and later on, she gave birth to his child. However, because of her lowly status, she became the target of jealousy and envy.
Hearsay about the father of her child spread like wildfire. It was said that the child was not sired by the emperor, but by some other man that she brought into the palace. Eventually, Yui Mei's mother was driven out from the inner palace due to these rumors.
A woman did not have a choice but to spend her life in the nunnery after being ousted from the imperial harem.
She brought her child with her, but the poor mother succumbed to depression, and thus took her own life.
Yui Mei was raised in the nunnery until she turned seven; by then, she learned about her own story through the gossiping nuns.
However, Yui Mei was skeptical about the credibility of those stories, seeing as there was no evidence to support them.
The nuns gave Yui Mei a choice as soon as she turned seven. Apparently, it was the standard age to choose a profession. She was told that she can stay and become a nun, or else leave the nunnery and live on her own. Yui Mei promptly chose the latter.
During this time, Yui Mei thought it would be a waste if she were to spend the rest of her life confined in such a small world. Since she reincarnated into an Ancient China type of world, she might as well make the most of it.
Frankly speaking, the owner of the nunnery was surprised at the turn of events. The possibility that children raised in the nunnery might yearn for the outside world never crossed his mind.
He assiduously tried to persuade Yui Mei that the world was such a horrendous place to live in, but Yui Mei stood her ground.
Despite her firm decision, she thought that the lord was a fair person, since he still gave her the choice.
It was then decided that Yui Mei would then live in her present dilapidated shack through the arrangements of the nunnery. And so, with complicated feelings, Yui Mei came to live in this remote village, where everyone knew each other since birth, with betrothals decided early on.
In this kind of society, Yui Mei's existence was such that nobody spared any effort in proposing marriage, not even as flattery.
It was no wonder, since she had never met her father since birth, her mother passed away, and she did not have a penny to her name.
Moreover, her appearance was not attractive enough. Her beauty was mediocre at best, and her figure lacked womanly charm. She only had her sky-blue eyes--a rarity in this region--as well as her gorgeous hair as her praiseworthy features. Her black hair was tinged with a shade of midnight blue; it was a marvelous sight, indeed.
She was also secretly delighted with it, and it was her pride, but it was meaningless in the face of those feminine beauties.
And so, Yui Mei was living solitarily, while maidens her age were preoccupied with choosing their marriage partners. Maybe it was for this reason that the village chief decided to call upon her one day.
"Yui Mei, do you want to go to the capital?"
"Huh?"
Yui Mei listened to the story with a raised brow. According to the government official who arrived that morning, the capital was recruiting maidens to participate in the selection of court ladies for the inner palace.
Their village must also send at least one maiden, since a total of ten girls were required from the villages around this area.
"Well, how about it? Would you like to go to the capital Yui Mei? I know it has been hard on you, since you are living here all alone."
The village chief said that while grinning ear to ear.
The court ladies of the inner palace attended to the needs of the emperor and the imperial harem.
They  had to do various duties such as cooking, laundry and cleaning. There was also a possibility that they would serve the emperor.
Once they entered the inner palace, they generally wouldn't be able to leave. with only a few exceptions.
They could only leave when the emperor bestowed them on his retainers, or when they entered the nunnery (as was the case with her mother), or when they died.
In other words, there was a huge probability that the woman's whole life would be tied to the palace.
A court lady could also be promoted, and there was also a slim chance that someday, she might even reach the pinnacle by becoming the empress, but that was mostly just a pipe dream.
'Well, I do understand, though.'
It was only natural that they would eye Yui Mei, who was not betrothed to anyone and had nothing to worry about the matter of becoming a court lady.
The capital people also followed the same reasoning as this village. Thus, regardless of their great population, candidates cannot be selected from the capital alone. If numerous ladies were selected from the capital, the number of males would outweigh that of the females, resulting in the decline of birth rate.
It will then affect the future of the empire, since revenue would also decline.
And so, it was decided that the court-lady selection will involve the whole nation uniformly.
Similarly, there was also a period in Ancient China when the court lady selection was held as a means of abducting beautiful ladies; later on, it was banned due to the harmful repercussions.
'Regardless, what kind of lecherous emperor is he that he would go so far as to recruit women from remote villages?'
Yui Mei was sorely disappointed in the emperor, though he was her father (possibly).
The gist of the village chief's story was that they did not wish to send their maidens, and they were diplomatically getting rid of Yui Mei, who was an outsider living alone in the outskirts of the village.
Considering Yui Mei's background, one might say that the palace was a place that she probably would want to avoid at all costs. As to why, it was only natural, since it was the place that drove her mother out.
Although Yui Mei's mother was a concubine, she also had the status of a beauty*--or so they said.
A beauty had the lowest status among the empress and the imperial wives. Moreover, she originally entered the palace as a court lady. She was only favored because of her hair, which caught the eye of the emperor despite her plainness. By the way, Yui Mei's hair color was inherited from her mother.
Indeed, the place called inner palace was hell swirling with the grudges and hatred of women.
Nevertheless, it was also a fact that Yui Mei was somewhat interested. The inner palace was a world that she obsessively stared at on the computer screen in her previous world, after all.
Aside from that interest, she also planned to leave this remote area sooner or later.
"I understand. I'll go."
"Is that so!? You really agree!"
The village chief raised his hands in happiness upon hearing Yui Mei's decision.
'There's no way someone as plain as me will be able to make a splash in the inner palace, right?.'
Yui Mei thought optimistically. She already lost against her desire to see a real life imperial harem.
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