Chapter 404: Strange Sickness
Since I thought that the celebration of her arrival was something extremely important, I took extra care in dressing up for the occasion. Instead of making it a state affair, the king had opted to arrange a small dinner party for the royal family members and some prominent members of nobility instead.
"Can I ask a question?" I asked Prince Leonard while we were getting dressed.
"What is it that you want to ask about?" He asked without looking my way.
"This might sound a little strange," I said before hesitating.
"Just ask away," the prince replied encouragingly. He turned to face me, and I could tell that I had his undivided attention at that moment, which made me even more nervous to state my question.
"Didn’t they know in advance that the baby is a girl?" I asked the question that had been burning on my mind for a couple of days now.
With the technology available in this day and age, it isn’t difficult to determine the gender even if the mother is still in her early stages of pregnancy. That was why I was slightly confused that everyone seemed so shocked that the baby turned out to be a girl, as if they didn’t know anything about the child’s gender beforehand. Had they been so curious, which I undoubtedly thought that they were, then why didn’t they check in advance?
"That’s a very good question. You see, a royal baby is also a political tool, and because of that, the gender of the baby can bring about conflict that could endanger the baby and the mother. So to prevent conflict, there is a rule that prohibits checking for the baby’s gender before it is born," the prince explained smoothly.
"Oh, I never knew that," I replied softly.