It was spring, and it was not a good season for hunting, but neither was their intention to hunt, and the king rode gracefully through the outer edge of the forest on a sun-drenched path, towards the Seine, with Marie on her little horse, and the king and the others on their adult horses, and after a while the king saw that the little witch was obviously eager to speak, so he let her come to him, and after a while let her ride with him.

The forest in the eyes of the witch is completely different from the forest in the eyes of mortals - Mary showed the king a bush of mushrooms growing around the trees, and whispered to him that this is the "dance circle" of the fairy in the forest, and that mortals must not damage or step into it, and if anyone does this, Lin Xian will give him a punch, and he will definitely die when he returns, but sometimes, if someone is young and handsome, Lin Xian will dance with him until dawn comes, or death comes. Witches gather the mushrooms to dry and grind them into powder, which can be used to treat broken bones and confuse people's minds.

As they passed through the hazel tree, Mary took the opportunity to break a branch, for it was for the witch to make a wish if she could plant a branch of a living hazel tree at the full moon, and wait for it to grow over her shoulders.

The scattered gray marks on the path are the traces left by the Black Dog Demon, yes, not werewolves, they are a kind of monster that even wizards hate, they are said to have come from hell, their eyes are as red as coals of fire, and the soles of their feet feel as if they have been burned.

When they reached the swamp, there was a place where the reeds were broken by the roots, and the stumps and leaves were floating on the water, which Mary said was because of the water monster or the washerwoman.

When she saw mint on the side of the horse's hooves, Mary crumpled them in her palm, attracting a flock of wild geese that fed themselves with new sprouts and small fish.

"Quick!" Just when Louis thought she was just trying to be naughty, she tugged at the king's shoulder strap and urged, "We have roast goose to eat tonight!"

In fact, she did not need to be reminded that the king's chamberlains had already raised their muskets, and after a burst of gunfire the hounds cried out excitedly, and burrowed through the reeds and calamus, and kept retrieving their prey for their masters—and they also startled a flock of colorful pheasants, which screamed and ran in panic, but still died in the mouths of the hounds, and they were all piled up on Mary's pony, which looked like a clump of black, blue, and red vulture tails blooming on horseback.

The unexpected harvest was very exciting, and while they were deliberating whether they should go any deeper and look for deer and wild boars, one of the bishop's attendants came panting, and brought a message from the bishop of Mazarin, imploring the king to return to the castle of Enlain at once, for the Prince of Condé, whom they had been waiting for, had returned to France from Flanders and was now at the side of the Queen Mother and the Bishop for the king's holy ride.

Louis was a little surprised, because he had not heard anything about it before, and he asked some of his attendants to look after the prey and Marie, and returned as quickly as possible with the others.

——————

Prince Condé had inherited his father's title only two years earlier, having been Duke of Anghien and had joined the army in that capacity, having fought against the Spaniards in northern France at the age of twenty, Moses, commander of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1644 to 1645, and not so long before he had fought in Flanders with Gaston, Duke of Orleans.

The Prince of Condé was more of a prime ruler than a child, but given that the original Prince Condé, the cousin of Henry IV, was the first to the throne until the birth of Louis XIII in 1601, there may be no reason for this assertion, but it is also the reason why the Queen Mother Anne and Cardinal Mazarin were wary of him, and the Prince of Condé lacked loyalty and trust in the king.

But on the surface, he was still very affectionate to Louis, and he saluted the king, then affectionately took the latter's hands and kissed them, and eagerly let him see a valuable gift he had brought.

A Serbian werewolf's skin.

Louis knew at a glance why Queen Mary of England and his cousin Henriette and his royal brother Philip were not here, and it was obvious that they were not qualified to know about the inner world, or rather, England also had inner world, but this was not a good reason for strangers to find out the information.

It was only at the sight of this familiar gray-black wolf skin that Louis really wondered if it was a provocation, did the Prince of Condé not know that he had been attacked by a Serbian werewolf not long ago, or was it a deliberate act by Gaston, Duke of Orleans, in order to take advantage of the opportunity to sow discord between them and the Prince of Condé? Either way, the King, the Queen Mother, and the Bishop of Mazarin had no objection, after all, they had to rely on the Prince of Condé to suppress the mob in Paris.

The Prince of Condé thus took up residence at the Château de Enlaing, but it was evident that he was not willing to take on this difficult task, and the mob in Paris was said to have numbered nearly 100,000, with only 200 cavalry from Flanders with him.

In the end, it was Queen Mother Anne who managed to sell the last bit of jewelry (and even take off the diamonds in the crown), hire six hundred soldiers for Prince Condé's army, replace muskets, and replenish supplies, and the Prince of Condé reluctantly agreed to go to Paris.