The king's party was finally reunited with Cardinal Mazarin and his party in the afternoon of the next day, in the town of Versailles, about four fats (one fari is about four kilometres) from Paris, with its forests, hills and marshes, where Henry IV had originally built a Renaissance castle, a chapel, houses and inns while hunting, and later people gathered here to form a few small villages, but there was still only one road for horses.

Even after the expansion of Louis XIII, the number of rooms in this deserted palace was lackluster, and the king, the queen mother, the princess, the cardinals, and the royal guards filled the entire second floor, and the ground floor, which had been used as a stable, an arsenal, and a storage room for furniture, became the bedrooms of the less important people.

Even the king had to share the room with the cardinal, but the king didn't care, he sat down in his chair, and the cardinal went over and poured him a glass of hot wine, "It's a pity there is no honey, Your Majesty." He said, "But drink and warm up." ”

The king took the glass, but had no desire to drink, he felt that he needed to be sober.

"You look preoccupied. Bishop Mazarin said understandingly, and he sat down before the king, a beautiful man of good countenance, with a Louis XIII mustache (a combination of a mustache and a goatee) and long curly brown hair, a fair face, and a crimson robe that added a bit of majesty and sanctity to his look.

"We met the werewolves. ”

"Oh, Your Majesty, yes," the cardinal frowned, "Werewolves, a group of devils from Serbia, yes, we must investigate this matter." ”

"You know werewolves?" asked the king, surprised.

"I thought werewolves weren't unusual. The bishop raised his eyebrows in confusion, although the king had not yet been exposed to government affairs, there would never be a shortage of gossip in the court.

"But that's just legend...... I mean, fictional, fake, just like ......" Louis wanted to talk about fairy tales, but he wasn't sure if there was a genre of "fairy tales" at this time, after all, at this time, the concept of children was still very vague, and people saw children either as "animals" or as adults: "In short, things that do not exist in reality. ”

"Why do you think so, Your Majesty? The bishop paused, then looked inquiring, "Who made you think like this?"

Louis realized that he had made a mistake, and of course, if he had indeed been just Louis XIV, a boy born in the seventeenth century, even if he was destined to become king of France, he would not have the rational cognition that an adult who had been educated in materialism for decades would have hundreds of years later - he would only think that gods, demons, heaven, and hell existed, and werewolves were no exception.

Although the only materialist of the seventeenth century now does not know how long his rational understanding will continue without collapsing. "I've never seen a werewolf before – until a werewolf is only a centimeter away from me (a centimeter is about 325 millimeters). ”

"It was my negligence. The cardinal said, "But, your majesty, according to the opinion of the people, you are still young." In fact, neither the Queen Mother nor Ma Zaran had any intention of letting him get in touch with the outside world and political affairs too early, they were quite indulgent to him, and almost didn't say to him, go, go, have fun, let the adults do those troublesome things.

Although he was an adult, Louis never cared about it. As a five-year-old child, he was put on the throne by his mother, who, as others have criticized, seized power in France before 1642 by Cardinal Richelieu, who ruled the country in his place after Richelieu's death. But he had no ill feelings towards the Queen Mother and Bishop Mazarin, and he knew very well that beyond the thinking of young children, children and teenagers, what he needed most now was to understand and familiarize himself with this strange and dangerous world. Mazaran and the Queen Mother certainly wanted power, but without them, the hyenas around them would have probably torn the young king and his brother apart - when someone is willing to shelter you from the wind and rain, don't complain that he forgot to give you sunshine.

In the same way, Bishop Mazaran was not worried about the king's peculiar perception, his only thing was to be sure that there was something dangerous in the young ruler's ear that would affect his mind, but if that was the king's own thoughts, he would be happy. After all, in this day and age, the most people are fools who are blind and biased, and do not know or do not want to think, of course, if it is a farmer, a merchant, or even an earl, it does not matter, and the church will even want more such people, at least the clergy can spend less tongue and brain. But a king, especially the one supported and loyal by Bishop Mazarin, would rather accept an end of cold treatment and exile than work with a great fool who does not know how to think and judge.

"Still. The cardinal's tone changed: "Since this has happened today, I must also involve you in a new course in advance, Your Majesty, I didn't want you to come into contact with the other world so early, unfortunately our enemies don't think so." He sighed.

The king thought for a moment, he had a lot of questions, but tonight was obviously not a good time to ask, "You said earlier that these werewolves are from Serbia. ”

"Werewolves have their own characteristics. The bishop explained: "The clergy peeled off their skins and burned them, and their carcasses changed from wolves to human appearance, which is a sign of Bohemian or Serbian werewolves, and their fur was richer than that of the werewolves of Poland, Hungary and Mordovia, and only the werewolves of Russia could match them, but the fur of the Russian werewolves was mostly silvery-gray, heavy, and dark only in Bohemia or Serbia." ”

"So the assassination was the work of the Turks?"

"It's hard to say," said Bishop Mazarin, "maybe the English, the Austrians, the Spaniards, maybe the French." ”

"This is not news. Louis frowned in annoyance, Bourbon had many enemies, both within and outside France—and the room fell into a brief silence at the depressive answer, until the wine was cold, and the king raised a finger, "One last question...... Marie Mancini. ”

Mazaran looked at the king gently, "She is my niece," and then he said, "A witch too." ”

Although he had been prepared, the king could not help but shout: "Witch! a witch! Mr. Bishop, Innocent VIII only issued an encyclical denouncing witches in 1484!"

Ma Zaran spread his hands: "It seems that your history teacher is quite conscientious, Your Majesty, that lord does hate wizards a little. "But the more convincing reason is that both the Holy See and the kings were a bit financially strained." ”

"Yes," he continued, "this is not something that can be openly discussed. Your Majesty, many people think that our relationship with wizards is like fire and water, but the history books of the Holy See always contain some secrets that cannot be seen by unrelated people, etc., although for a long time, apart from war, I do not know how to describe our struggle with these infidels. But you can't just call it a war...... We are indeed mortal enemies of each other, but there are times when we have to dance with the devil, even if it is the devil...... Especially...... (Here again, he gives the king a meaningful glance), at a time when we must face a great crisis together, no one who has not been in contact with it can never imagine how intense and complex the situation between the three can be. ”

He looked at the fire in the fireplace, "A wise man will know that he needs angels and devils, and a stupid person who does not let him see how powerful the devil is, he will definitely throw the angels aside, sometimes we are helpless, but this is the reality." ”

"But...... She is your niece, that is, your sister...... No, don't tell me you're a wizard too. ”

"The power of wizards is deeply ingrained in Italy, but my family is only mortal, no, no, no, Your Majesty, the Holy See has not yet fallen to this point. "It was my sister's husband, who was thought to be a wealthy merchant, but in fact, he came from an old wizarding family, and in the wizarding world, his family was both powerful and powerful, and I must admit, and I was greatly benefited by it......," he stood up and lit the fire in the fireplace for the king: "For some reason, Marie had to leave her parents and come to me, but I promise she can be trusted, and I believe she has proven it, hasn't she?"

Louis nodded, he had mistakenly thought that Bishop Mazaran had let her ride with the king and queen mother in order to protect his niece, but in fact the opposite, or to be more precise, was only one of the reasons: "Did you expect us to be sniped by werewolves?"

"At first I wasn't sure, but we had a rule that while there were bishops and wizards in every court, in general, extraordinary powers would not appear in earthly battles. But when I found that the werewolves in the suburbs of Paris had suddenly disappeared......" Bishop Mazaran stared at the flames: "The werewolf race has a strong exclusivity, and the alien werewolves will be hated and expelled, but if the outsider is stronger or has helpers, then the original race will be wiped out." He made a terrible gesture: "They have crossed the line, Your Majesty, and I have to let you know something at an inopportune time that should not have been exposed to you for the time being." I suspect it's going to get worse in the future – so I hate unruly people. ”

————————————

Apparently, Mr. Cardinal thought that this conversation of only ten minutes was enough for a young king, after all, it contained a wealth of information that could drive an ordinary man crazy. He departed, and Louie had lost his sleepiness altogether, and his spirit was as active as morphine compared to his exhausted body.

What's worse than finding out you're Louis XIV when you're still an infant?

Of course there is, for example, it's a magical version.

But that's life.