I Am Louis XIV

This letter surprised Teresa, and she was a little unspeakably happy. She never thought that her fiancée would write a letter to her—what was written in it? When she opened the letter, she saw lines of neat and powerful handwriting. She couldn't help but compare them with other people's handwritten letters that she had seen before. The young king's handwriting was correct, and the letters were large but very strong. Fingers can even feel the indentation of the metal pen tip piercing the parchment. There is only a faint smell of myrrh on the letter paper. It must not be intentionally sprinkled with perfume. of.

After skimming the letter paper roughly like this, Her Royal Highness read the letter seriously, word by word. The letter was not written in Latin, which is advocated by the nobles today, but in French. It was a bit difficult for Teresa to read, but fortunately the content was very simple. In the letter, the king expressed his attitude towards this marriage. He said that although they were married in accordance with the will of God and the country, he hoped that there would be a relationship between them. Still able to have a sincere relationship, instead of being disgusted or indifferent to each other - Seeing this, Teresa couldn't help smiling, Louis was the same age as her, but as she estimated, boys always She matured later than the girl. She knew that her appearance was mediocre, so she never expected love, and she valued her husband's respect and piety more than illusory emotions. The former would not embarrass her, and the latter would not hurt her. She and her children—as for love, there is a tradition of "royal ladies" in the French court, and her father also has many lovers. As for other monarchs, no, it should be said that they are husbands, their eyes almost never fall on On his own wife, or rather, if they did, it would be unconventional and ridiculous.

What's more, as those maids said, if Louis was half as handsome as in the portrait, she would not expect her husband's loyalty to her even more. Even if he is not a king, there will be countless lovely girls who will follow him.

But if Louis XIV was as mild as he was said to be, she might look forward to making him a friend. Teresa thought, and then read on, and then there are some suggestions from Louis XIV. For example, he hoped that she could consolidate her learning of French, especially the spoken language, because in the French court, people use French more than French. It is not Latin, but in an unfamiliar environment, it is very important to be able to ensure that you will not become deaf and dumb, after all, she is from Spain-Here Louis said kindly, his mother, the king of France Queen Mother Anne is also from Spain. She suffered more than 20 years of torture before giving birth to Louis. Among them, her inability to communicate with others in French became one of her biggest failures. After all, whether it is a good thing or a Bad things, if you don’t understand and can’t say them, you don’t know whether to accept or reject them, and you can’t even put on an appropriate look.

Given the months-long negotiations between Spain and France, Teresa calculated that she could do it with a targeted surprise - she needed a French teacher, oh wait, in In the king's letter, it was also mentioned that if she needed a French teacher, then Prince Condé should be honored to take up the position. Although some Spanish courtiers would be dissatisfied, Teresa rarely boldly thought that she would go to France It's not them, but her. Although she can decline Louis XIV's suggestion, as a wife, it is disrespectful to her husband, and it also fails the kindness of a king. My own husband is tired of me...

Also, Teresa had the idea that she might be able to find an ally for herself before setting foot in Paris, like the Medici Queen Mary who had allied herself with Bishop Richelieu, and then Austria (Spain) Queen Anne and Bishop Mazarin formed an alliance, so she is not alone in the French court, but has the French king thought of this? Perhaps, she folded the parchment into tiny pieces, hid them in her reliquary, and told her maids to see if His Majesty had time to see her so she could make her request.

Although Philip IV was dissatisfied with his daughter's preference for the French before she got married, considering the current situation, he still agreed, or he might try to see if he could bring Prince Condé back to the Spanish army. ...

—————

A few months passed quickly like this. After signing a formal peace treaty—that is, the Pyrenees Peace Treaty, Spain ceded the established territory to France, and then there was an orderly wedding process, the wedding of the king and the princess It is not so much a grand banquet as a continuation of the peace treaty. The whole process is like an extremely solemn handover ceremony—according to tradition and etiquette, as well as the terms of the peace treaty, King Louis XIV of France wants to Departing for the Isle of Fessan in the Bidasoa River, so does King Philip IV of Spain, Her Royal Highness the Princess will meet her husband for the first time in the company of Philip IV and the entire Spanish court, and then he will be accompanied by Philip IV. handed over to Louis.

The same is true for Louis, he wants to take the entire French court to Fessant Island, and his brother must accompany him, and Queen Mother Anne stays in Paris-such a big event makes the whole of Paris vaguely boil, it is said that the cloth and The perfume has been multiplied several times, and the musketeers, dragoons, and guards who may accompany the king to the border are constantly coming in and out of the tailors, blacksmiths, and jewelers, trying to dress themselves up as brightly as possible, Before I knew it, there were even more ladies on Tuileries Avenue, and they all came to see these imposing young men.

The king's ministers and relatives inevitably spent a lot of money to ensure that they are as magnificent as peacocks, so as not to lose their dignity in front of the Spaniards, but the most proud of them is the familiar Cole Bell, after Fouquet was arrested and imprisoned, everyone knew that he would become the new treasurer-he was invited by Bontang himself to the king's study, and then the king told him that he would have the honor to witness this. A very prestigious marriage.

Such an honor made Colbert both honored and terrified. He was full of joy at one moment, and was so worried at the other, that his father thought he was bewitched.

However, there are quite a few cases like Colbert. People in the court and court either participated in the rebellion of Prince Condé or Duke Gaston, or worked for Cardinal Mazarin, and the king forgives him. Prince Condé was killed, and the subordinates of Bishop Gaston and Mazarin were not pursued, but they did not have much confidence in whether they could gain the trust of the king. Appearing in front of the king, whether it is flattery or doing things, the implementation of Louis's recent decree is indeed much faster and easier.

His Royal Highness, Duke Philip, finally got rid of those muddy sewers, and he could finally appear in front of Brother Wang dressed up beautifully.

"Is there anything urgent?" Louis glanced at the clock, it was almost twelve o'clock in the evening, and now there was no dance or gambling, Philip hadn't gone back to rest yet? "We are leaving early tomorrow morning, Philip, and are you going to take a nap in my carriage again?"

"I came here when I saw that your window was lighted from down there," said Philip confidently, and it was obvious that he meant... just don't laugh at half a hundred steps, he can still doze in the carriage, and Louis wants people to see his face, and those who send off the king will be disappointed if they don't see the king-of course the king can ignore their perception, but Philip knows that Louis will not do that.

"I just received a message." Louis said, pressing his forehead.

"Can I know?"

"There's nothing we can't say." Louis put a piece of parchment on the candle and lit it: "Mary's condition is not very good recently, and the child in her belly has been determined to be a boy."

"A wizard's method?"

"Wizard's method," said Louis.

"Then he..." Philip didn't even mention Mary. Mary grew up with them. Philip didn't dislike her, but the friendship he had accumulated when he was young was already because she had nothing for Louis. Exhausted by coercion, Philip will always remember what the king brother said before killing Felipe, yes, they can love anyone, regardless of gender, high or low, or age, but the premise must be that they are willing, not by being Louis would never accept that his brother was being manipulated, and neither would Philip.

"If he is a healthy child, I will give him a title, whether in the inner world or the outer world." Louis said wearily, Mary wanted to see him, but Louis... at least for now, he will not enter the inner world , a world that he could not control at all.

Philip nodded. This is the treatment of the king's illegitimate child. Mary may have realized that she was cheated—by Louis and her family, but it was also her own choice. Louis made it clear from the beginning She said that she could only become a "royal wife", not a queen. No, it should be said that Mary was better than other royal ladies, because at least in the other world, her marriage contract with Louis was recognized.

Her and Louis' child would become Duke of Colonna. Become the link between Louis and the inner world, or a sharp knife for the French king to cut into the inner world.

———

The French king's caravan left Paris and went to the Bidassoa River. The Bidassoa River is on the new border. This island is Feisan Island. The amazing thing is that the distance between this island and Spain or France is almost equal. Two bridges were built, and the armies of the two kings arrived first, setting up flags and drums on the banks of the river, and then came the kings surrounded by messengers, ministers, and royal nobles.

In the hall of the palace, an exquisite small table has already been set up. On the table are two identical contracts. The French cardinal, La Riviere, and the Spanish cardinal, who is also the prime minister, serve as witnesses People are standing behind the two kings. Behind Philip IV is Her Royal Highness Princess Mary Teresa, and behind Louis is Prince Philip. Louis is dressed extravagantly today, with a red coat, feathers on his hat and exquisite gold-rimmed cuts. Even the garters are decorated with fluffy lace. He and Philip IV happily shook hands after signing the peace treaty.

The younger brother Philip is looking at his future sister-in-law calmly. Today's Princess Teresa is wearing an ivory white satin dress. Neatly, and then with a beautiful diamond hairpin.

After the ceremony, there were only young people. With the help of the Spanish noble ladies, Princess Teresa took off all the things that belonged to Spain—except her body, everything from pins to robes. Staying in the territory of Spain, the noble ladies of the French court changed her into a complete set of French costumes, and the king prepared a set of jewelry for her to wear. This is not a humiliation, but a necessary procedure. Although Teresa knows , but she was still tortured, she had to be naked for several minutes, although there was a fireplace in the room, but the weather in November was still too cold, and there were those eyes cast on her.

A noblewoman known as the Grand Princess—Teresa knew that she was the Duchess of Montpensier, and wrapped her in a large cloak in the process, hanging from her shoulders to her ankles, It made her feel better. This Highness also proposed marriage to Louis XIV, but it failed. This made Teresa even more grateful. The Duchess of Montpensier is not so kind. Come, don't embarrass the poor bride too much.

Louis has long thought about abolishing such vulgar customs, but he still puts his energy and time in more critical places, not to mention Teresa, even when he was waiting outside, he felt weird, and it made him even more unacceptable The most important thing is that after the wedding, there will be a public consummation ceremony, and yes, they will have a husband and wife relationship under the eyes of witnesses, which is completely unacceptable to Louis, so with the help of the Queen Mother and Cardinal La Riviere Next, they held the wedding directly in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, a small town only a few miles away from Fessant Island, and then directly completed the subsequent procedures. The ministers complained about this, but Larivet The Cardinal of El insisted that he, as well as the Prince de Condé and his brother Philip, were witnesses to the ceremony.

Although in fact they didn't see anything.