Louis had imagined how he would say goodbye to Mary.

When he was assassinated in Dunkirk, mortally wounded and cursed, and even if he entered the inner world, he imagined what would happen if he really couldn't escape the predetermined fate.

Of course, there will still be a king in France, and his younger brother Philippe, the Duke of Anjou at the time, was also a wise and decisive child. At Louis's insistence, he did not become a deformed monster under the royal power, as the Queen Mother and Bishop Mazarin had hoped, and given the time and opportunity, he could have become a king like Louis or better, who would be secretly sent back to Paris to rest in the Basilica of Saint-Denis after a lavish funeral, as their father and grandfather had done.

Although he regretted this, it was not unacceptable.

Escaped from the threat of death and damnation, he returned to his country, his world, and he made France like a golden crown in the fire, and after being brutally burned, he revealed its original splendor. At the same time, he wondered who would be at the helm of the massive ship in the event of an accident to him—a concern that only faded when the Duke of Orleans revealed his military and political talents.

When the crown prince Louis Jr. came of age, although not as good as his father and uncle, but also calm and confident enough, perhaps after Louis XIV, a generous king like him would be a good thing for France and even the whole of Europa, and now that Louis and Queen Teresa have a second prince, and the Duke of Orleans has an heir, and the future of the kingdom does not need to worry too much - so Louis rarely thinks about the end that everyone is going to usher in.

Very occasionally, the king imagined that when he was lying in bed, with holy oil on his forehead, quietly waiting for the last moment to come, in the prayers of the priests and his family, he would order Marie Mancini to be released from her room in the Bastille, to say goodbye to her, to say sorry, and then to have the Duke of Colonna take her back to Naples— She could not be the Queen Mother of France, but she could be the Queen Mother of the Kingdom of Naples (the Italian peninsula), and she would perhaps return to Gayola to spend the rest of her life in peace surrounded by nostalgia and children.

Louis never thought that Marie Mancini would die before him? Wizards live far longer and have more youth than mortals. As for his punishment of Marie, even if Marie Mancini was a prisoner he imprisoned in the Bastille? But he didn't cut her off from the outside world, allowing her to communicate with others? Accepting a visit from someone else? He didn't treat Mary harshly as a sinner—Mary wasn't guilty of any sin—or was he? Her crime was just a thought.

It's just that sometimes, a single thought is unforgivable.

But more? As Louis hoped? As she had hoped, she stayed in the Bastille quietly, still because there was enough love between them.

When Mary realizes that her love for Louis has turned into a threat to Louis, she is going to strangle it in her infancy? Even if it's herself? She would never allow Louie to have such an enemy.

This can almost be said to be a tacit understanding between Louis and Marie, brewed from love, fermented in time and changing identities and duties, similar to the strange and deep affection between the priest and the sacrifice, Marie is the devotee? Louis was the recipient, and they thought they had seen what would happen in the next few decades – they were next to each other? But never to see each other, never to see each other at the same time? But they are attached to each other and miss each other...... Perhaps, as Louis had hoped? At the last moment of their meeting? Will they look at each other? Laughing at the sudden old age of the other person, and then there is eternal peace, one under six feet, one between the sun and the waves.

For decades between the beginning and the end, she was in her room at the Château de Bastille, and even when he was in Versailles, every day at dawn or dusk, he could feel her gaze from the distant tower. Whenever a dove or raven swept the king's hair, he thought that this was Mary's messenger.

Like all vulgar mortals, Louis XIV thought that everything would never change, never change, at least not so quickly, so suddenly.

- She should have lived a long life.

When Louis awoke, the hot blood still splattered on his cheeks—like molten lead poured on his face, and the sharp pain almost made him scream, if it weren't for the glimmer of hope he still had...... He would have cried out—wrapped in a blanket, and insisted on not leaving his chair, or he would have passed out at once (although Mary came to her senses at last and threw Louis out of the dream, which did some damage to the king), and he trembled violently, his lips blackened, and his skin was not bloody, but he could not hear that Mary was safe and sound...... At least before the news that his life is in danger, he will definitely not relax, even a little bit.

- She will save the day.

With the popularization of "wizards", it is true that the speed of information flow is much faster than before, but no matter how fast, wizards still rely on ravens and pigeons, and even with the use of crystal balls and their eyes, it still takes three hours for the fastest ravens to fly back to Paris - the letter brought by Barras's pigeon says that Marie Mancini suddenly fell into a coma four hours ago.

From the crystal ball, Vesalius could see the waves flying under the raven. Then there is the sand, the treetops and the fields.

He glanced at the king with a heavy heart.

Louis no longer had the strength to observe the eyes of the royal doctor or others, and he leaned against the Duke of Orleans, and the royal brother held his hand tightly, as if to give him courage.

- She'll suffer somewhat, but she'll be fine.

"It's almost there. Vesalius said that he saw that the scenery in the crystal ball had become clear and then colorful, and only then did he realize that day had fallen, and most of the birds could not see clearly at night, and that the wizard's ravens had been fed special nourishment and had been trained, but they still did not fly very fast at night, and now that it was dark, the speed of the ravens had increased significantly...... They could already see the glow reflected by the golden pavilion of Versailles in the distance.

- Everything will pass, and in a few decades, this night will just be a nightmare.

The raven was landing, a hand was stretched out reluctantly, the crystal ball showed Baras's sullen face, the king's heart and body sank sharply, the Duke of Orleans and the Dauphin Louis the Younger hugged him tightly, Louis stared at the picture from the raven for a moment—Ballas's expression seemed to be able to give an end, but people are always like this, with ridiculous delusions— Barras walked towards the closed door, he pushed it open, he went round the table, he lifted the curtains, he stopped in front of the four-poster bed that hung the drape, and a maid pretending to be a servant sobbed and slowly pulled open the heavy curtains.

The bed was still new, sapphire blue, with the golden Sun King's coat of arms embroidered on it by Mary herself, I don't know if it was intentional, every face set in the sunflower garland was silly, Louis had seen it, and though he had never passed the Place de la Bastille as Mary had hoped, he had seen it—the silly smiling faces that even made it feel familiar to him, especially when he looked in the mirror—and then we would forget about the day, he thought, like everyone who has been healed from misfortune.

Then he saw Mary's face.

- She deserves to be happy.

Mary lay there on her back, her hands folded over her chest, and she didn't look like she was dead, but asleep, one might say—but Louis had seen so many dead people that he knew at a glance that there was nothing but a hollow shell, a thing and not a man, with a frozen smile on its face, and skin like bad ash.

It has a wide ribbon wrapped around its neck. Mary would never use ribbons like this.

"Pull that ribbon apart. A hoarse voice said that it was for a moment for Varro Vesalius to understand that it was the king speaking, and that it was not easy to manipulate the raven at such a distance, that he let the raven fall on Mary, and swept the ribbon with his wings, and Barras understood it wonderfully, and he hesitated for a moment before telling the maid to remove the ribbon, and the maid sighed deeply and untied it.

Under the ribbon was a cracked opening, the blood had been washed away, and the blood vessels and bones could be clearly seen through the opening.

- How hard she stood.

The king stared at the rift and remained motionless, the kind of scene that even the most hard-hearted, the most indifferent to the person could not help but have sour eyes and chills—the Duke of Orleans could even feel his brother collapse directly in his arms, and a man as well as he knew the inside story and did not know the king would surely wonder how Louis could be so gaffe-like and so painful to a royal lady who had clearly lost her favor.

But in this world, Philippe would say that no one knew Louis better than him, his king and his brother—for many, the Sun King was a perfect man, but, as Louis XIV privately admitted, he had a great emotional flaw.

He has only great love.

More precisely, his personal emotions could not override his duties and authority as a king...... He had love for Mary, but more of a sense of guilt, because his love for Mary was not equal in the slightest.

But God, the Duke of Orleans cried out in his heart, if you don't want him to be Louis Dieudonnay Bourbon, then go on, don't let him suddenly become a mortal, don't let the pain and pain of mortals torment him......!

Everyone in the cabin stared at him, and they could almost predict the king's next words, whether he would order the fleet to return to Dunkirk, or Calais, or directly dock and land in a nearby port, and then fly back to Paris? There is also a more sincere and deeper mourning for Marie Mancini, the first love of the king, whom everyone knows and everyone knows......

But suddenly, the person who was being watched stopped, and his eyes were filled with tears.

Louis looked over one by one, and the people who could accompany him in this grand parade were all important ministers and nobles. Prince Conte, Count Henry (King Ludwig I of Poland, son of Grand Condé), Marquis of Loise, Duke of Luxembourg, Duke of Kirbert, Duke of Vendôme...... The people who can enter the room at this critical time are even more important, and they cast concerned and inquiring eyes, and there is no doubt that they will follow the will of Louis XIV, the Sun King.

Louis closed his eyes, and when the blue eyes were back in view, Louis Dieudonnay Bourbon left, and Louis XIV, the Sun King, returned.

At the beginning of his great parade, the loyal people of Brittany, Provence, Lorraine and Alsace, and even Flanders, and many more places were waiting, watching, speculating...... Whatever it may be, since he is alive, still standing, and able to speak—the Grand Parade must continue! and it may even lay the foundation for a victory or defeat before the inevitable Great War begins...... As a king, Louis XIV should have been prepared for the sacrifice.

- She's dead.

"The original plan remains the same. The king said. He shoved the Duke of Orleans, who did not back down, and for the first time so stubbornly rejected the king's suggestion that Louis probably did not know that his tears had crossed his cheeks and landed on the duke's hands.

"Let the Duke of Colonna return to Paris at once," the king continued, "done...... Things after that. The crowd bowed in silence, and then they watched as the Duke of Orleans returned the king to his bedchamber.

"Am I mistaken......" After everyone else had left, the Duke of Orleans and Bontang exited the room together, and the Duke looked at Bontang and said, "Brother's sideburns are ......"

"It's white," said Bontang, "and I'll dye it for him early tomorrow morning." ”

"I'm going to deal with the Bretons. The Duke of Orleans said with patience and sorrow, pressed his chest, and walked out, leaving Bontang behind. Bontang knew he should go to rest, but the churning emotions doomed him to be unable to do it, and he stared at the jumping candle flame - although Louis had said early on that he was the first to make a deal with the devil, and it was a matter of course to be counterattacked, it was impossible for Bontang to accept it so calmly!

Louis and Marley, the ill-fated little couple who grew up under the watchful eye of Bontang, are, to put it mildly, the dearest of Bontang. The rebellion and estrangement between the two had made Bang Tang feel extremely sad. Now that she is dead, Louis is almost dead, and the most vicious thing is that this curse is still used by Marie's love for Louis and Louis for Marie, except for Louis and the Duke of Orleans, the most angry person present is Bontang.

"Just wait. He said, and then extinguished the candle.