Printing Money with an OB/GYN (1)
Printing Money with an OB/GYN (1)
The world I have possessed, where the villainess is good at revolution, is a romance fantasy world.
One where nobles flaunt all kinds of luxury—no, a world where they must flaunt luxury just to survive.
If you compare it to Earth's history, it's similar to right before the French Revolution.
"Flora."
"Yes, Baron-nim."
"Out of the blue, what do you think about childbirth?"
In the 21st century, asking a woman what she thinks about childbirth could itself be sexual harassment, and could potentially ruin a politician's career in an instant, but...
This is a romance fantasy world where the concept of sexual harassment itself doesn't exist.
So if a noble sees a peasant woman and says, "Oh, you have big breasts. May I measure them?" the issue isn't that he sexually harassed the woman, but that the noble is being a frivolous jerk—that's the kind of world this is.
If he made a similar remark toward a noble young lady, the problem wouldn't be "sexual harassment of the young lady," but rather that he insulted the family she belongs to, and he'd be punished accordingly.
Given this social climate, simply asking about childbirth isn't a problem at all.
"It is the most sacred thing God has granted us, but also a dangerous task that requires risking one's life..."
In the 21st century, people often say childbirth is a life-threatening ordeal for women, but from a statistical perspective, that's not entirely accurate.
Because the probability of a Korean mother dying while giving birth in the 21st century is only 0.01%.
But in this romance fantasy world, the probability of a mother dying while giving birth is about 1-3%, and for noblewomen, the maternal mortality rate reaches 10-13%.
Considering that the mortality rate for soldiers who fought in World War I and II is roughly around that level...
'It's truly a life-risking act.'
However, what makes childbirth for noble ladies particularly troublesome in this romance fantasy world—one that reminds me of pre-Revolutionary France—isn't just the high mortality rate.
"No, not that. From a noble lady's perspective, what do you think about having so many people watch when she gives birth?"
Upon hearing my words, Flora bit her lip tightly.
Then she turned her head and answered heavily.
"It can't be helped... That's just how the custom is."
Ever since the era of absolute monarchy began in France, when the empress's labor started, invitations were sent to countless nobles.
'Come watch the empress give birth.'
Then the scene of a woman giving birth would be broadcast live—well, watched live—on the spot.
The justification was a single one: to prevent the baby born to the empress from being swapped by someone else.
In this romance fantasy novel's setting, just like in the era of French absolute monarchy, the nobles watch the empress give birth in real time. Furthermore, even among the nobility, there is a custom where vassals attend the childbirth of a nobleman's legal wife until she gives birth to the legitimate heir.
It's something everyone does, so they have no choice but to do it too. But what mother-to-be in this world would want to show herself giving birth to people she doesn't want to show?
"Yes, it can't be helped. But what if it's proven that this practice is actually absurdly dangerous... would noble ladies still want to give birth in front of others then?"
"Who in this world would want to suffer such a humiliating spectacle in front of everyone? No one can deny that childbirth is a sacred blessing from God, but showing the sight of a woman bleeding while giving birth is a bit..."
"Not 'a bit'—it's downright disgusting."
A similar culture was popular once before.
That is, the husband entering the delivery room with the mother.
At one time, in the case of natural childbirth, it was fairly common for the husband to go into the delivery room with the obstetrician to watch.
But that culture has now disappeared without a trace.
"No one can deny that a woman giving birth is a noble act. However, aside from that, during the process of childbirth, the mother feels immense pain, and blood splatters everywhere."
Because the men who wanted to share in the sacred moment of childbirth watched the entire process, witnessed the woman's noble sacrifice with their own eyes, and then quite frequently found themselves unable to feel any sexual attraction toward their wives.
If they lose sexual attraction, of course they can't maintain the sexual relations necessary to sustain the marriage.
Many men who watched the birth ended up having strained relationships with their wives, leading to sexless marriages and even divorce.
That's why that trend disappeared without a word within no time.
Although the nobles in this romance fantasy world are quite barbaric in some respects compared to modern people, they aren't perverts who enjoy watching blood splatter and mothers moaning in pain...
"The reason this custom persists even now is partly due to the nobles' sense of authority, but also because of the justification that childbirth is sacred, so it's fine to show it to everyone."
"That's right...?"
"Then what if we create a justification so that there's no need to show childbirth to everyone?"
Upon hearing my words, Flora's eyes lit up.
"That would be wonderful. But is there a way to do that?"
"I heard that the peasants living on my territory rarely die while giving birth. So I gathered the midwives and roughly learned their secret..."
In early modern Europe, when women gave birth in hospitals, about 14% of mothers died, whereas among peasant women who gave birth at home, the maternal mortality rate was only about 1-2%.
The reason was that hospitals were dirty, making mothers susceptible to puerperal fever, while those who gave birth at home tried their utmost to maintain cleanliness.
So I thought of creating a makeshift obstetrics clinic in this romance fantasy world, modeled after modern obstetrics and gynecology.
Flora listened to my entire story and said with a confident expression.
"Baron-nim, this is bound to succeed...!"
Even Flora, the person closest to me and a former noble lady, says so, so it must be true.
This is absolutely going to work out.
But the nobles aren't fools, so they won't abandon the methods they've always used and listen to my new proposal for childbirth methods without a fight...
So I immediately decided to buy land in a slum near the capital and start an obstetrics clinic there.
**
An obstetrics clinic built by tearing down part of a slum near the capital.
I'm personally supervising the facilities, cleanliness, and such here.
For an Imperial Baron—equivalent to a hereditary member of parliament in Korean terms—to personally intervene in hospital operations is a ridiculous thing, but...
"Make sure the cleaning is more thorough."
Upon hearing my words, the cleaner tilted his head.
"Please tell me which part is problematic, and I will fix it."
If this were my mansion, I would have admitted that this level of cleanliness was sufficient.
The floor didn't even have a speck of dust, and the blankets laid on the beds where pregnant women would lie were not visibly dirty either.
However, this is a place where mothers, whose immunity becomes extremely weak right after childbirth, stay, and where newborns who could die from even a minor cold are hospitalized.
"Didn't I tell you to wash the blankets on the beds, boil them in hot water once, and then dry them well in the sun? But this one looks like it wasn't boiled after washing. Go boil these blankets again right away."
"Yes, understood."
The cleaner made a discontented expression and went to rewash the blankets.
I don't know much about the medical side, but I do know one thing well:
That in hospitals—especially obstetrics clinics—you absolutely must pay special attention to cleanliness.
After thoroughly supervising the facilities, I went outside.
The slum dwellers had come to see the place.
They saw me, a Baron, coming out, and immediately tried to kneel, but...
"This is a place called an obstetrics clinic. It's a hospital for women who are about to give birth or who have recently given birth."
A 21st-century politician cannot be a commercial model.
But in this romance fantasy world, being a noble means boasting a status higher than a top-tier celebrity, and they are also models and idols who lead social trends.
Items used by the Emperor are immediately bought up by nobles at high prices, and items that nobles spend large sums to buy become coveted by the wealthy.
Of course, the poor are always admiring the nobility too...
'If I advertise it myself, positive effects will appear immediately.'
Furthermore, nobles have a habit of keeping their word, even if they have to take out usurious loans, just to protect their honor—for instance, if they drunkenly joke, "I like you, so I'll give you a billion," they'll borrow from loan sharks to make good on it...
My credibility is already very clear simply because I have the status of a noble.
Of course, the moment a noble does something like this, it would be an act that throws noble dignity to the ground...
But once the real efficacy of the obstetrics clinic is proven, the evaluation will turn around.
"I'll run it for free for the next month."
Most of the poor are people who can't even afford to call a midwife because they have no money.
It's like not being able to call an obstetrician because you lack a mere 100,000 or 200,000 won, and having to watch your wife die.
They may be poor, but they are still human—how sorrowful must that be?
"This is a clinic run under my name, Mikhail von Kreuz, Baron. If you have any pregnant women approaching childbirth, feel free to bring them without hesitation."