Do girls from mangas keep rocks in their pockets or something like that to drown that fast every damn time ?? ヽ(`Д´)ノ
okay imagine wearing 8 layers of clothes, your undergarments (underwear), the chemise (like a thin dress), your corset, then the camisole (this covers the corset, another thin dress), then the petticoat (the frilly dress part that goes underneath it), the the hoop of the skirt that makes it round and lets the skirt flail out, then another layer that covers the petticoat, then finally the actual clothes you would wear.
Then try swimming with that on, high chance you would sink and drown. Idk about the empress here because she wears simple and light looking clothes but most dresses had this type of structure
Preach ! And people didn't usually learned to swim back in time, because why would they learn it if they never actual went INTO large body of water. f you never had a swimming pool or the sea near your home and/or time to go there, why the fuck would you learn a useless skill ? (fishermen and sailors were mostly the only ones needing to swim).
Moreover if you're nobility/royalty, you've got a boat to go ON the lake, so it's cool, you've got people to swim and bring you back if you fall IN the lake, it's cool, so no need to swim.
Even nowadays some countries don't have the "policy" (kinda ? I don't know another word for it) to make children learn swimming... When I went to Lome (Togo) I was surprised to see no Togolese (man or woman) in our group knew how to swim even though we rode boats multiple times and they were anxious each time. They were also surprised to know each of us (5 french girls) had learned how to swim since childhood.
And back to square one for the umpteenth time...