The Royal Dilemma 4  

Translator: Cinder Translations

...

Northwest Bay? 

"That shouldn't be a problem," the foreign minister said casually.

"The lords of the northwest have always been compliant with the royal government. I believe they will cooperate with the kingdom's strategy to blockade Giles, and they will restrain the merchants under their rule."

The Minister of Military Affairs suggested, "We should procure more steel and military supplies from Northwest Bay; the products there are cheap and practical, which can save funds and compensate for some of the losses in Northwest Bay."

The king nodded in agreement, "Then it's settled."

The finance minister continued, "The Misty Mountain Range also produces tea and precious wood. We should support the industries there to balance out the product shortages caused by the blockade of Giles."

One by one, the suggestions were recorded by the scribe, as the kingdom's higher-ups prepared a tight net for Giles.

The meeting eventually returned to the unavoidable topic it started with—how to settle the southern nobility at this stage.

The king sighed helplessly, "I plan to allocate a portion of land from the royal territory to grant to them."

The attending ministers were taken aback.

Rupert hurriedly advised, "Your Majesty, that won't work. Based on the number of families among those southern nobles, the royal territory would hardly be larger than a duchy after the allocations."

The king explained to everyone, "I'm thinking of only selecting a portion of the more influential families to grant territories, and they cannot have armed forces. Well... let's take the top third based on influence."

The land in the royal territory is much more fertile than in the south, and he didn't believe that portion of nobles would refuse it.

"For the middle third of the families, we can arrange a position for the adult males in military or governmental departments, giving them something to do, but we should slightly increase their current allowances," he said.

"The remaining third of the lesser nobles... sigh... let them fend for themselves."

...

After leaving the council chamber, Catherine walked dejectedly through the palace corridor, planning to go to the garden to clear her mind.

As she passed a corner, a hurried figure collided with her.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch..."

A charming figure, holding her head, crouched down on the ground.

"Seriously!"

Catherine helplessly helped the person before her up.

"Eileen, you're so careless! Where's the demeanor of a royal princess?"

She chided her younger sister.

Since Eileen's trip to Northwest Bay, she had become a bit too carefree.

Catherine looked her sister up and down. "Did you just come back from school?"

At that moment, Eileen was not dressed in court attire but in a simple, gender-neutral outfit, her platinum hair tied back in a ponytail behind her head.

She had dressed like this when she ran to school.

It was her own school; she had chosen the location, designed the building, and hired the teachers, doing everything personally.

Curiously, all the students came from commoner families, and a significant proportion of the younger children were abandoned orphans. It could be said that the school also functioned as an orphanage—it was like a monastery that didn't teach theology.

Running such a school was not cheap, but as a royal princess, Eileen had her own fief, and the harvest from there could cover most of the expenses. Her group of friends also occasionally donated to the school.

"Don't worry about etiquette or school! Sister, sister, I need to see Father immediately."

At that moment, Eileen looked like a lively canary, her face a mix of guilt and anxiety.

Catherine put on a stern face, hands on her hips, and frowned, "What happened that has you so flustered? Tell me first—did you get into trouble again?"

Seeing her sister's misunderstanding, Eileen shook her head vigorously. "No, no! Sigh, my dear sister, I can't explain it in a few words. Here's a letter; you can read it for yourself. It's from a friend of mine in Northwest Bay."

Catherine took the paper from her sister's hand.

"My dear friend Betty..."

She quickly skimmed through the opening greetings.

Betty—Catherine recognized this name as the one Eileen used while in Northwest Bay.

The following content piqued her interest.

"During a meeting last week while writing this letter, the statistical committee, led by Earl Ganard, compiled a disturbing piece of data: the maternal mortality rate in Northwest Bay four years ago was as high as over twenty percent! This data might not be accurate since the statistical committee had not yet been established at that time. The statistics were gathered through visits to families with living children, but they should be pretty close to the truth."

"When I first encountered this data, I was stunned; this meant that out of every five women about to become mothers, one would lose her life forever. It's truly terrifying. The statistical committee recorded the family backgrounds of the sampled—what they called the interviewees—and the data showed that regardless of wealth or poverty, nobility or commoners, the maternal mortality rate was alarmingly high. Families with better conditions might have slightly lower rates than poorer families, but overall, the difference isn't significant."

"If you ask a midwife, you'll find that women who have just given birth often suffer from a deadly condition—puerperal fever. Many mothers experience high fevers, chills, unbearable lower abdominal pain, and agonizing cries, ultimately tragically leaving this world. This is the terrible price humanity has had to pay for reproduction in the past."

"However, the statistical committee's data indicates that in recent years, the maternal mortality rate has begun to decline year by year. Do you know what the dividing line is between these two situations? I believe you're smart enough to guess it quickly."

"Yes, it's that little booklet we compiled together, the one used for promoting hygiene. It records various disinfection measures proposed by Earl Grayman, and, corroborated by microscopy, these measures are indeed effective. Now, through the statistics on maternal mortality rates, we can infer that the so-called puerperal fever is also caused by infections from microorganisms that can only be observed under a microscope. When you think about it, women who have just given birth are no different from soldiers injured on the battlefield. In various battles of the Alden Army, similar disinfection measures greatly reduce the fever rates of the wounded, so they should also be effective for mothers."

"Earl Grayman has been using administrative power in his territory to promote the New Life Movement in recent years, and doctors in various regions have been forced to familiarize themselves with the contents of that booklet. I believe this should be the primary reason for the decline in maternal mortality rates."

"Dear Betty, I hope you can leverage your influence in the noble circles of the royal capital…"

(End of the Chapter)

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