I Am Louis XIV

"I don't love you," said Madame Montespan frankly.

"I don't think you need love." This is the second sentence she said: "Or, love will only bring you countless troubles."

"What makes you dare to speculate on a king's heart like this?" The Duke of Orleans asked unkindly, although this woman can be said to have saved his wife's life, but her aggressive attitude, especially in front of the king, really made him He is dissatisfied.

"My mother, and my father. My two fathers." Mrs. Montespan said with a charming smile, her eyes remained on the king's face, and she had to admit that Louis XIV had a handsome face and a good figure Tall, although over 30 years old, is still as strong and powerful as a young man in his twenties, and his twenty years of political career have made him extremely majestic - when they first met, the young king was still immature The feeling has completely disappeared. This is what Mrs. Montespan could not see in any male before. This is the brilliant existence created by his own excellence, external authority, and inner confidence. He calls himself the Sun King , no one will think that the name is not worthy of the name, they will only feel that this title really complements the person.

"Do you remember the first time we met, when you were a teenager and I was a child, but I've learned that love is a drug that doesn't work, that it can be exciting, exhilarating, and Feel like I can do it all, but pills can do it as much as alcohol, and the latter is cheap, the former is expensive, especially, the numbing effect it produces unknowingly pays too much they can't afford, after a binge The moment of sobriety brought them endless remorse."

"It was the same with my father, Vesalius, and so was my guardian, the Duke of Mortemare," Madame Montespan continued, "Don't say they still have love for my mother, Your Majesty, that's not love, that's the monster's." The blood works on them, and I know that I should not despise them, because I benefit from it, and I have no right to pity them, because without them, I am just a lowly slave." She opened her eyes wide, " But how can I trust them? I will never trust them. I believe in love. I grew up in a monastery, but I saw no less love than those in court, especially in monasteries. , they germinate with difficulty and grow in the shadows, they should be tougher than those ordinary loves, but anything, money, power, even just food and water, can easily destroy them, just like my father and mother The ones that were destroyed, like me and my husband."

"If I'm not mistaken," said the Duke of Orléans impatiently, "I see that you are wearing a black mourning dress."

"Oh, that's one of my tests," Madame Montespan replied tenderly: "My stepfather didn't want anyone but him to steal my mother's eye, so my sister and I were in the convent. Growing up, I don't want to blame anyone, we were well educated there, and when I came of age and went back to the castle of the Duke of Mortmar, the Duke told me that he would choose a husband for me, Although I hoped to be able to enter the court, my mother thought differently from us-she believed that I should have a love, a husband's love."

"Doesn't the Marquis de Montespan love you?" asked Louis.

"Love, it is because he loves me that I have further confirmed how boring and inferior love is." Mrs. Montespan said: "I have tried to refine and distinguish the ingredients of love countless times, just Like my father Vesalius worked on potions, so when you strip away that gorgeous and sweet thing on the surface, what's inside? It's desire, love, possessiveness and destructiveness - whether it's Vesalius This is true for the Duke of Mortmar, or my husband. Even if Vesalius didn’t understand at first, doesn’t he know what he should do after we came to the watch world? Duke of Mortmar My mother was not even allowed to keep us with me, and my husband imprisoned me in his castle, who took pleasure from me and did not allow me to be happy."

"If he really loves you, then jealousy is justifiable." The Duke of Orleans couldn't help but said.

"But doesn't the greatness of love lie in sacrifice?" Mrs. Montespan said coldly: "This is a paradox, Mr. Duke, human beings are born selfish. Although feelings seem to be elusive, they are as volatile as money. Accounting, but if a person keeps giving for his love, or if he insists on giving, then his account book must also be constantly thickening. Once the balance between the two years cannot be maintained, then surely One party is going to fall into the abyss, but if you want to say, who can give equal love forever, and how to give in a balanced way? One person can never peek into another person's heart, and you think it is enough, but the other person can only I think you're ungrateful."

This sentence made Louis slightly bask in the sun.

"Your Majesty suffers from it, and must understand what I mean," said Madame Montespan. "Gentlemen, my mother tried to teach me how to be in love, and my father, I mean my two fathers, they both taught me How to get what I want."

"Well," Louis said, "I believe that both Vesalius and Duke Mortemare are trying to prevent you from entering the court, let alone becoming a royal lady."

"Exactly, but one of them is your imperial physician and the other is your minister. There is no doubt that they know you better than others. I have seen from their letters and narrations that love makes you Worry, and I have one of the greatest advantages, that is, I don't need love, Your Majesty, if you remember when we first met, I want to exchange my beauty and wisdom for power."

"You say that, so I dare not hand over the position of the royal wife to you, you are ambitious."

"When my purpose is the same as yours, my ambition is not an ambition, but a guarantee." Mrs. Montespan said: "I am glad that I am not a man, Your Majesty, and I am not a real duke's daughter. , the road to the pinnacle of my power can only be provided by you, without you, I will immediately fall from the throne, I will never betray you, there is nothing more reliable than the covenant brought by benefits."

"How did you do it?" The Duke of Orleans pointed to the letters, keys and diamond powder on the small table.

"When I was very young, someone came to look for my father, I mean Varo Vesalius, and Vesalius rejected them, but I didn't." Mrs. Montespan said: "Your mi Mrs. Laidi has developed well in Gayola Island, but she and you both support the Mancini family, so you will not be able to gain the approval of their enemies. You don't think that after you enter the inner world, no one will think of rebelling Those big families."

"Milady did mention it to me." Louis said calmly, but Mrs. Montespan could sense the hidden turbulent undercurrent: "Then are you contributing to Mary's madness?"

Mrs. Montespan was silent for a moment: "It's not me."

"But you know."

"When I heard the news, I was really glad," said Mrs. Montespan, "but not for me, but for you, Your Majesty, you are very tolerant of Marie Mancini, and maybe you think you have some respect for her." Owned, but it is not the case - on the contrary, the Mancini family has threatened you, and even almost put it into practice, so why do you still choose the Mancini family as your spokesperson in the inner world? Can you say Is there no reason for Mary Mancini in it? As an ambitious king, no matter what you do, you can't put your feelings first-you always keep this in mind, but you still A mortal, you have tender feelings for her, but you hide it in your authority, and she is foolish enough to ignore it."

Speaking of this, Mrs. Montespan shook her head lightly: "You see, your feelings, even the little Duke of Colonna, who is only twelve years old, can see it, so he never complained with his mother Or hated you, he was all on your side - you brought him up very well, and his accident shocked those people - but from what I learned later, it is not surprising that Mary has always thinks her affection is not reciprocated, she thinks no differently than my husband who will imprison me and even kill me for my pursuit of power he cannot give, and the Duchess of Colonna will not care about her Will your behavior force you to face a more dangerous and difficult situation... With all due respect, the Spaniards may have no reason to attack you and France, but if your queen, your crown prince encountered an accident, they It will surely be a reason to go to war with joy."

Mrs. Montespan paused here for a moment, without revealing the deeper reason - Queen Teresa's dowry of half a million livres has not yet reached France, and everyone from the king to the common people seems to have forgotten But... isn't it because the five hundred thousand livres are the reward for Queen Teresa's renunciation of the Spanish throne?

Therefore, once Mary showed hostility towards Queen Teresa and the crown prince, even if it was her child, the Duke of Colonna would have to pull out his wand, and the king would have to imprison her.

"There's no way I'm going to let someone who hurt my child get away with it," Louie said.

"I will put their heads in front of you, not a few of them," said Mrs. Montespan, and then she smiled and looked at the king with a little provocation: "And the Mancini family—you should no longer Need them."

"Your words are really disgusting," said the Duke of Orleans. "Then how did you find out about the plot of the Duke of York?"

"I'm also thinking about why my spies have such omissions." Louis said softly. Compared with the spy network of Richelieu and Mazarin, he also added spies to ministers and generals——Dada Commanded by the Count of Nians, to the spies of the nobles--the Duke of Orléans--to the Inner World, that is, Madame Milady, and to the Church--Cardinal La Rivière and Elario.

"I must say that I did not intend it," said Madame Montespan; "I only surmised from some indications that you might be interested in Naples."

These words made the Duke of Orleans glance around subconsciously.

"The island of Gajola is not that important," said Mrs. Montespan, "otherwise you would not have led the wizards to Calais, and I have also heard that the Orleans area will also be set by you as a wizard and ordinary human beings." It is a mixed residence, but you still value Gayola Island very much. An empty island is very important to wizards, but to you, a person who owns the whole of France and most of the lowlands, what is it worth? Its biggest The value lies in the location, facing Naples, between Sardinia ruled by Habsburg Austria and Sicily ruled by Habsburg Spain, when I looked at the map, I was thinking, An island hidden by wizards, an island that can hide at least 100,000 soldiers, is such a sharp dagger."

"Then what?"

"I just kept thinking about it, Your Majesty, when I was in the monastery, when I was in the castle, I had a lot of free time - I thought, what would I do if I were you? I would choose one for the Duke of Colonna My wife is in Italy, but there are not many options, so I tried to install a few people with the Grand Duke of Tuscany and the Duke of Modena - better than nothing, but my eyeliner is occasionally in Cosimo III, which is The Grand Duke of Tuscany found something, you should remember that the wife of Cosimo III is the eldest daughter of your uncle, the Duke of Gaston and the sister of the Duke of Lorraine."

"Margaret."

"It's her, who has a double hatred with you. Her father was exiled by you, and finally died in pain and unwillingness. Her uncle, the former Duke of Lorraine, died in the civil war in Lorraine, but everyone knows Your handwriting."

"She didn't have a good relationship with Cosimo III. When she heard that Cosimo III was planning to marry her daughter to an illegitimate son, the Duke of Colonna, she was furious, so she and Leo Pod I and the Duke of Modena have contacted. It is said that as long as the Duke of York destroys the Anglo-French alliance, Leopold I will support him to fight for the British throne-of course, the Duke of Modena would prefer to have a British king as his son-in-law, and the Duke of York would have And full of hatred for Princess Henrietta - after that it's easy, Your Majesty."

Louis glanced at Philip. Here, Mrs. Montespan is not telling the truth, but thinking that this may be a hole card she prepared for herself-it is nothing to worry about.

Letters, diamond dust, and keys are indeed, as Mrs. Montespan said, just a job application.

"You say you don't love me," said Louis at last, "and I will say that I don't like you either."

Madame Montespan held her breath.

"But I accept your gift," Louis said blankly, "I accept you too, ma'am, please stand up, you have won this position."

—————

The moment the carriage door closed, Mrs. Montespan collapsed on the seat.

Of course, she is also willing to use her beauty and talent to get what she wants like her mother, but if she wants to control the fate of herself and others instead of continuing to be manipulated at will, the whole of France, no, the whole world, maybe only Louis X Si can do it, and how could he be a prey?

It is undoubtedly an extremely risky thing to expose all the evil and darkness to the other party, especially though the other party is an undoubted dictator, but he also has a just and benevolent heart. Mrs. Montespan can only gamble once, Her value can be greater than her sins—just like Mrs. Milady and Mary Mancini, they are not clean and innocent people. If the king can tolerate them, then he can tolerate himself.

"Tomorrow..." she murmured, tomorrow.

Tomorrow she will be the royal wife of Louis XIV.