I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 253 Hairy Heart

When His Majesty the King was in the Limoges neighborhood of Versailles, in the real Limoges, a lady as charming and charming as a rose in midsummer was sitting in front of her dresser, lightly drenched with her plump lips. Lightly biting the goose feathers of the quill, carefully choosing the words, the letter on the table has only one beginning - the venerable grand dame Montpensier, my dearest friend, my lord, your faithful little pigeon Greetings from Limoges…

Obviously, this letter was written to the Duchess of Montpensier. Although the Duchess of Montpensier was far away in Paris and she was still in Limoges, judging from the title and intimacy at the beginning, this letter The relationship between this lady and the Duchess of Montpensier has gone beyond the usual acquaintances - probably no one would have thought that, in fact, they had only met once, when the Duchess of Montpensier occasionally left Paris for Bagnot. The Duchess met her by "accidental" in a salon while she was treating her asthma in Erle (the spa resort), and of course, the Duchess immediately understood when she saw her, after all, as she was, even The stunner that women will fall for will never be buried for too long.

Recommending beautiful women to His Majesty the King has always been the duty of nobles and important ministers, and sometimes even cardinals. Now people say that Marie Mancini was sent to the king by Bishop Mazarin, and that Louise Madame Lavalier was the British princess Henrietta, the Duchess of Orleans, who led her to the king in order to consolidate her position in the French court. In this case, the Duchess of Montpensier did not. Exceptions, or in other words, the vast majority of French nobles and courtiers are planning to find a Frenchman to replace Madame Lavalier—she is not only a foreigner, but also the maid of the Duchess of Orleans. This relationship is really dreadful.

The Duchess of Montpensier showed kindness to her immediately, and she was even more delighted when she heard that she was the daughter of the Duke of Mortemar and the daughter of the Grand Seigne family, because the Duke of Mortemar was Roche A branch of the Chouart family, the history of the Roche Chouart family even surpasses that of Capet, and Grand Seigne is also a big family that can be traced back more than 500 years. The Duchess admits that she hopes to see these two in Paris. Heirs of an ancient family, and since then, although the Duchess of Montpensier hastily returned to Paris, they have not seen each other again, but they have continued to correspond.

   A letter was sent by the envoy of the Duchess of Montpensier, in which the Duchess invited her to Versailles. If she wanted, she could become one of the female companions of the Duchess.

   Of course she would. It can even be said that she has longed for this invitation for twenty years.

She was the Marquise of Montespan, and before she was married, her name was Françoise Artenais de Mottemar—a little earlier, she was just Artenais Vesalius .

How fast time flies, Madame Montespan sighed in her heart, the day twenty years ago was still in front of her, the young king was standing in front of her, and the distance between them was only three steps. At that time, she wanted to touch the boy who was like a scorching sun, but the youngest daughter of the Mancini family was standing beside him. She had heard of this name and seen her. She and she were completely Different, Marie Mancini thought she could get what she wanted, but Artenais knew early on that in this world, you have to pay for what you want, no, it should be said , Sometimes, even if you pay, you still get nothing.

   is like her biological father, Varo Vesalius.

If Varo Vesalius has anything in common with her stepfather, Duke of Mortmar, there may only be one point, and that is that they have the same will to refuse to let her enter the court. Ambition has the same deep understanding - the Duke of Mortmar is because he loves their mother deeply and does not allow her to go wrong - the Duke of Mortmar told her plainly that the king is not the kind of person who would People who are bewitched by beauty, his three royal ladies who are either recognized or not recognized, all have political purposes, or because of the value brought by their own talents, one is only beautiful. A woman, the king will also look at it a little, just like admiring a painting, a flower, but he will not put her by his side.

And Varo Vesalius, it can be said that he finally managed to seek a position of imperial physician by the king's side after spending all his resources. As he understood the king, he did not want his daughter to become another royal lady. "You must admit," he said in the letter, "that it is of course a sad thing not to be loved by a king, but to be loved by him, you will fall into utter despair - he has a hair that has grown heart of."

The heart with hair, this is a legend among the wizards, the mother once told this story to Artenais - the protagonist of the story is a handsome and arrogant male wizard, whenever he sees someone falling in love. In the whirlpool, he laughed at the other party for being a fool, and his friends said that one day he would sink into the quagmire of love and marriage. The wizard was furious and swore that he would never fall into such a predicament. So he took out his heart and hid it in a glass cover.

   From then on, he was neither sad nor happy, always so sensible and calm, he became stronger, richer, and almost omnipotent.

Finally one day, a beautiful witch fell in love with him, she poured out her love to him, but he said he would not love, he took the witch to see the heart, the heart was not only black, shrunken , with black hair like a beast - the witch was not afraid, but insisted that he put the heart back on his chest and did so.

But the heart was completely broken. Driven by the heart, he tore open the witch's chest and took out the fresh, bright red heart. How beautiful it was, the wizard wanted to share his heart Exchange—but his heart was determined not to, so he cut open his chest and dug out the hairy heart.

   He fell on the witch and died.

"If that's the case," muttered Madame Montespan, "that's not a bad thing." She inserted the quill into the ink-pot, dipped it in ink, and began to write back, she was definitely going to Paris, But even though her two fathers and her husband were qualified to meet the king, they were unwilling to bring her to the king, but they didn't know that as long as she wanted to, she could destroy all the defenses they had set up— as long as she wants.

She finished writing the letter quickly, and sprinkled some sand on the letter to let the ink dry as soon as possible, so as not to cause smudges after folding the letter, while placing her hand on the rattle, she was ready to let her personal maid take it out and give it to her. Her loyal servant, immediately sent to Paris, to the Duchess of Montpensier.

But the maid just came in, and one person recklessly pushed the door open and walked in. The maid turned her back to the door, and quickly tucked the letter into her bra, then turned around and bowed. Madam Montespan's expression suddenly changed. Gloomy, because it was one of her obstacles, her husband, the Marquis of Montespan.

   "Why did you come to Limoges?" asked Madame Montespan, displeased. "Shouldn't you be in Flanders?"

   "I told the Marquis of Lois to leave," the Marquis smiled grimly: "If I don't come back, I will hold a funeral for my wife."

Mrs. Montespan turned away, "Is such a senseless curse interesting, sir?" She stared at herself in the mirror. The witch's aging rate was slower than that of mortals. She inherited part of her mother's blood. Twenty-seven years old, with two children, but still as delicate as a young girl, "I just want to go to Paris." As for how her husband knew, Madame Montespan didn't bother to pay attention to it. There were many eyes and ears in the court. Some are for power, some are for money, and some are for love. She is surrounded by her husband's eyeliner. He knows that he has met the Duchess of Montpensier, and the two exchange letters frequently - at this moment again It was a good time - Madame Lavalier was pregnant and could not serve the king, and the Duchess of Colonna, for some reason, angered the king and was expelled from Versailles... And because the king had conquered Flanders and Holland in a row, In recent years, he will not go to the army again in person, isn't it an opportunity to push newcomers?

"Because I know that as long as you enter the court, as long as you see the king, I will lose my wife forever." The marquis laughed hoarsely, he came all the way from Flanders: "If that's the case, shouldn't I be mourning my wife?"

   "Looks like you're either drinking too much or you're having a high fever, and you start talking nonsense like that." Mrs. Montespan said indifferently, and threw an ivory comb on the table.

   "Don't go, don't leave me."

"You know it's impossible," said Madame Montespan kindly, though her words pierced her husband's heart like a dagger: "I decided to be the king's lover when I was a child. "

The Marquis    stared at her, "child, ah, child!" He cried out in grief: "You still mention the child, you haven't forgotten your child, then what about you and my child?!"

"They've grown up and don't need a mother anymore," said Madame Montespan, who grew up in a monastery and married the Marquis of Montespan shortly after she came out of the monastery. She accepted this arrangement , because the royal lady can't be an unmarried girl, and she kept herself safe after marriage, and gave birth to a son and a daughter for her husband. She believed that she had fulfilled her duties, and then she should get her own power.

   "How can you treat me like this!" the Marquis couldn't help shouting: "I am your husband!"

"A jealous husband is a source of ridicule." Madame Montespan stood up, perhaps just wanting to walk, or sit on the couch by the window, but the Marquis rushed up, tightly He hugged her tightly: "Don't go! Darling, don't go!"

"Don't do that, Louis," cried Madame Montespan softly, the marquis' name was also Louis, and when she called him that, his heart was full of tenderness, but since he knew she was calling for another Louie, every time he hears this name, it's like being bitten by a poisonous snake! Almost subconsciously, he pushed Mrs. Montespan with disgust, causing her to stagger a few steps and fall on the chair.

   Mrs. Montespan shook her head, "Why? I'm not loyal, but at least I'm honest. As for you, you're not loyal or honest enough. You have your own lover, so why should you interfere in my love?"

   "That's just..."

"We are no different, are you worried that someone will laugh at you? You don't have to, sir, Louis XIV is your master, morally and legally, you have the right and obligation to dedicate your wife to him. It is a sacrifice and allegiance to the king, of course, you can also get power and money, which is what you deserve in return, just like Madame Lavalier's husband." Madame Montespan persuaded, but only Looking at the Marquis's face, she knew that her words should have been said in vain.

   "If you are going to Versailles," said the marquis through gritted teeth, "I will go to the king in a black mourning garb in a carriage with antlers!"

Madame Montespan finally stopped talking. If the Marquis really made a desperate attempt to do so, he would certainly become the laughing stock of Versailles, and the king would never accept her again. The two fathers took turns to persuade Madame Montespan, not There is no effect, for example, now the lady knows a lot of certain taboos of Louis XIV that cannot be broken.

"I see," said Madame Montespan, "you don't love me, you just treat me like a beautiful ornament, like a private property, you don't allow me to go to Versailles, you don't allow me to appear before the king, yes Because you feel his threat to you, you know that I will never love you, so you would rather destroy me than get my wish."

   "If you insist, so be it," said the Marquis coldly.

   "You can't."

   "I can!" cried the Marquis angrily and bitterly: "After you have treated me like this, your benefactor!"

   "Benefactor?" Mrs. Montespan raised her eyebrows.

"Isn't it? Do you think no one else knows? Your mother is not the daughter of Grancenès! She is only the wife of an apothecary, whom the Duke of Mortmar snatched from his husband and made her a Duchess, and she, her daughter, you and your two sisters, are but stepdaughters of the duke! There is no blood in you to be proud of! It is I, lady, who promised the engagement, You have such a high status because I fell in love with you as soon as I saw you!"

   "Ah," to the surprise of the Marquis, Madame Montespan not only was not angry or frightened, but showed a mocking smile: "That's what you thought."

   "Isn't that true?"

   "It's true," said Mrs. Montespan, "so do you think that the king does not know that I am only the daughter of an apothecary?"

She got up from her chair and took a step forward: "So, you say you love me in your words, but your heart keeps despising me," she said, taking another step forward, "you therefore I think that you are my benefactor, and our marriage is your reward to me." He took a step forward: "I am only a commoner's daughter in your heart, and there is no noble blood in my body, nor is my surname. It's just the mercy of the Duke of Mortmar." In the last step, she almost touched the Marquis's chest, but this time, the Marquis took a step back.

Mrs. Montespan chuckled: "Then why am I here begging you for a small favor? Since you have spoken your heart, then you think what you have given me can be better than the king's. How much?" She raised her hand and placed it on the Marquis' chest, "No, you are not even qualified to be on a par with my majesty, sir, forever, ever, ever!"

   She gave a slight push and the Marquis fell.

he died.

   (end of this chapter)