Empress of Another World

Epilogue 3.2

Bina ordered her maids to help Liliana clean up. With new makeup and Bina’s own jewelry, Liliana looked gorgeous. Bina told her to keep her jewelry as a pregnancy gift and make sure to tell her husband about this great news when she returned home. Liliana blushed and thanked her shyly.

Liliana decided to have dinner with Bina before leaving. Before the meal, when Bina started to bath the baby princess, Liliana gaped in shock.

“Y, you wash her yourself?”

The maids standing nearby flinched. Bathing a baby was a job for servants, not even for maids and certainly not for an empress.

Bina smiled and explained quickly before Liliana misunderstood the situation.

“Oh, the maids insisted on doing it themselves, but I love bathing her. When Luc is with me, he helps too.”

“T, the emperor helps?!”

Liliana couldn’t believe it. The emperor of this kingdom bathing a child was shocking.

Bina answered casually, “In my homeland, even the highest born parents usually have a very hands-on approach to their child rearing.”

“R, really?”

“Yes. You bath your baby a few times a day, breastfeed her, and make sure to spend a lot of time with your baby. That’s the best way to create a strong bond. This is very common in my land.”

Liliana was surprised again. “You wash your baby a few times a day?”

Bina nodded. Liliana would become a mother soon, so Bina decided it was best to tell her as much as possible.

“Yes. Frequent bath is the key. Drying thoroughly after is also very important. There was a queen in my neighboring country where the queen had sixteen children and ten of them grew up to be adults.”

Bina remembered reading about the 18th-century Austrian female ruler Maria Theresa who managed to successfully raise an unusual number of children despite the high newborn mortality rate at the time.

One of the main reasons for this success was the strict hygiene protocol. At the time, it was considered radical, but Maria strongly believed in keeping herself and her children clean.

When her accomplishment became widely known, this practice started to spread throughout Europe.

Liliana’s eyes shined with interest.

“Ten children?”

She looked surprised and Bina nodded. “Yes. It was a long time ago, but it apparently worked very well.”

“Just frequent bath is enough?”

“Yes. I heard that washing with water can prevent sicknesses.”

Bina didn’t think explaining about germs and infection would be helpful. It was best to simplify so people here could understand. As long as the result was good, it wouldn’t matter the understanding of the reason behind it.

She continued, “Of course, you also need to make sure the people around the children keep clean as well. Their hands need to be clean when dealing with the baby. Baby’s plates and bowls also need to be cleaned with hot water. We follow these rules in my land and many more newborns survive there.”

Liliana listened carefully. She seemed to have forgotten her anxiety and instead, she was acting like a mother already. Bina continued to giver her helpful basic bits of advice.

She also started to breastfeed Beatrice in front of Liliana and added, “And you don’t have to feed directly, but breast milk can be very good for the babies.”