I planted the flag, ladies and gentlemen, and it seems that I can't make any guarantees in the future - a few hours ago I said that there will be twenty-five more shifts this month, and there will be no pigeons, and I was dragged to the hospital by 120 in the evening...... The friend who asked me why I didn't add a change at eight or nine o'clock in the morning...... Sorry, but I was rolling in bed at eight or nine o'clock that night...... Sad Fish ...... It was actually recommended ^^

I won't add more to the previous chapter, and the interval is too long, I'm afraid some readers won't see it......

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In the Louvre, everybody had his place, the king, and so did a lowly servant, and Louis XIII complained that there were three men in charge of the fireplace in his room, one to inform the governor that the king needed to light the fireplace, one to carry charcoal, and one to light the fireplace, and it would be quite inappropriate to let the person who lit the fireplace go and talk to the governor, and it would make the person responsible for reporting to the governor feel that he had been insulted.

And, if Louis XIV hadn't changed, his great-grandson would have been thirsty from night to morning decades later because she couldn't find the person responsible for pouring her a glass of water.

Louis XIV certainly would not allow such folly to happen in Versailles, which he built to dominate the ambitious aristocracy, to paralyze them with good food, spirits, comfortable beds and unrivalled views, to drain their energies, empty their wallets, and confuse their minds with all-night balls, increasingly extravagant dresses and jewels, gambling, hunting, and "the famous lady who brings love" – rather than pooling them together and restraining the king's.

Therefore, although the strict and clear hierarchy was still maintained in the Palace of Versailles, the dense and complicated rules were never limited to the king, on the contrary, the king had all the privileges, and he could also give privileges to anyone he liked, so to speak, the more he favored and liked the more he could behave freely, like the royal brother Philippe, the Duke of Orleans, and the children of Bourbon.

Madame Eva was obviously a figure incompatible with the splendor of Versailles, and if it were not for the king's will, she would not have had any dealings with the Grand Lord, who at first could not help but harbor the idea of care and protection for her, and she did not think that this lady, who had only received a little favor from her, would be willing to go with her to Spain - her origin was criticized by some ministers, but it was because of this origin that she was more decisive and resolute than the other noble ladies around the Great Princess— She spoke of the marriage without lamentation or pity, but like a hunter, eager to try in the face of a ferocious beast that would bring great benefits.

Her words stirred up the ambition of the Grand Lord, so much so that when she heard of the late-night visit of her father, the Duke of Orleans, she did not panic, but instead raised a fire in her heart.

The Duke of Orleans did not expect to see such a daughter, the Grand Marshire added a soft crimson velvet robe to his bed, and her long hair covered with a golden tulle in the candlelight fell to her knees, and her face was red, as if she had drunk wine, and as if she had just ridden a horse, and her eyes sparkled, reminding the Duke of Orleans of one of the bravest soldiers under his command.

Everyone knew that King Carlos II of Spain had come to Versailles with his attendants, and there were many people who supported the marriage, and it was common for the king and the Duke of Orleans to talk about political affairs during dinner, so the ladies thought that the Duke of Orléans had come to pronounce the sentence - and the result should be as one might think, Louis XIV would have had a hard time refusing the marriage, which was Spain after all.

The Grand County Lord curtsied to the Duke of Orleans, "Father." She said.

"I have something to tell you. Said the Duke of Orleans.

"That must be a very important thing," said the Grand Lord, "tell me, Father, that I am looking forward to it, like a ship waiting for the wind and waves." ”

"Sit down first," said the Duke of Orleans, as they moved to the fireplace, and the Duke found the Grand Marsy wearing only slippers and no socks, and glared reproachfully at his daughter, "Put your feet on my knees." He said that today the duke wore a heavy but soft jacquard satin coat, and the lord did not refuse her father's kindness, and her feet were soon hidden in his father's warm embrace.

The Duke of Orleans put his hand on it, "like a pair of little pigeons." He said, "I still remember when you were still an infant and the soles of your feet were not as long as my thumbs." ”

The lord looked at his father tenderly: "I have grown up, father, although I don't want to, I always have to leave you." ”

The Duke of Orleans was silent for a while, he stared at the candlelight, like a wizard, trying to divinate the future from it, "You've already met Carlos II, haven't you?"

"Yes, Father. ”

"Do you think he ...... How?"

"It is not as terrible as it is said," said the Grand Lord, "I have been to the medical school of Blois, and I have seen men with smallpox and leprosy, and he is not the most feared." ”

"But you don't have to marry smallpox or lepers. Said the Duke of Orleans. ”

"He, like most men in this world, has strengths that cannot be concealed, but also shortcomings that cannot be ignored. The lord said, "I see in his eyes that he is determined to succeed, and like Your Majesty, he is also a king, and for that alone he is superior to many." ”

"But your uncle and your majesty, our majesty, have no intention of agreeing to this marriage. "In addition to our love for you, children, and the other thing is that if you marry into Spain, Your Majesty will not be happy to see you have children." ”

"Ahh "Even when he heard such a terrible thing, the lord of the county was unmoved:" I remember that Monsieur Kirbert told us about the marriage contract between His Majesty and Queen Teresa, which, according to the results of the negotiations, was supposed to bring a dowry of 500,000 livres to France, but in fact it had been delayed from the time of Philip IV to the present day, and Spain did not look like it was able to pay the arrears, and His Majesty had not mentioned it so far, and he should have intended to veto the declaration signed by Queen Theresa when she left Spain renunciating the right to inherit the throne. ”

The Duke of Orleans nodded: "Her Majesty the Queen is pregnant, this child is most likely a boy, if it is a boy, then he is most likely to inherit the throne of Spain." ”

"That is to say, if I marry Carlos II, it will be more than worth the loss," said the Grand Lord, "and even if I had married, the Spanish Habsburgs would not have been on the side of France, but you would have to suffer for me." She paused: "But there must be many ministers in the court who support this marriage." "Louis XIV's attempt, though not impossible, was much more complicated and complicated than a marriage, and perhaps a war would ensue. If the Grand Marshire marries Carlos II and has a son, then the Bourbon blood can also gain a foothold in Spain.

"So we're going to change their minds. ”

"Change their minds?" said the Grand Lord, "it's hard. ”

"It's not very difficult," the Duke of Orleans pressed his daughter's feet: "You know, in this world, what people do, what kind of ideas they maintain, and even what they believe, in the final analysis, there is only one word, and that is interests. He continued: "I have consulted with Your Majesty that we will raise your dowry to a million livres, and add a fief of Friesland, next to Gelderland. ”

The lord was really taken aback, although some people had estimated that the lord of the county's dowry would be more than 800,000 livres, but what kind of concept was 100,000 livres? When Queen Theresa married Louis XIV, she only had a dowry of 500,000 livres, and in this way, the Spaniards have not paid this dowry until now; Louis XIV bought Lorraine from the Duke of Lorraine for exactly one million livres; the Danish king hoped that his daughter would become the crown princess, and the bargaining chip given was also a million livres; and even in order to deceive and force the Habsburgs of the Holy Roman Empire, that is, Leopold I, to remain neutral when France attacked Flanders, which belonged to Spain, Bosnia was also sold for one million livres in that ridiculous deceptionAnd the debt that Leopold I had incurred in the previous war of the General Assembly was only one and a half million livres, and jokingly, if Leopold I had a son who could marry the lord of the county, he would not have had to worry about Louis XIV coming to collect the debt.

"With this million livres," said the Duke of Orleans, "there will be a lot of people who will be tempted." "It is easy to break the union of ministers, and the Grand Princess, who is as beautiful as the first rose that blooms in the morning, is also in large part from the fact that her dowry must be incomparably rich, and that her husband must be the figure of the King and the Duke of Orleans: "And a fief in Friesland, which is close to Gelderland. ”

The Grand Lord was no longer the girl who had been so frightened that she could only cry when she heard that she was going to marry a deformed monster a few years ago, and when the Duke said this, she immediately understood the intention of His Majesty and her father: "Are you going to propose your authority over Gelderland in the marriage contract negotiations that will follow?"

"If it does come to that," said the Duke of Orleans, "then we will have to change our original plans, but for a foreign princess, a rich dowry does not mean anything, and we will ask Spain to give you Gelderland as a gift, and then you will marry into the Habsburg-Spanish crown with part of Gelderland and Frisian." ”

"Just like Queen Eleanor. The Grand Princesse muttered.

"Just like Queen Eleanor. The Duke of Orleans said, "Eleanor of Aquitaine." "The queen had been married twice, her territory was rich and vast, and it was also the dowry she brought into the French royal family first, and then into the British royal family, and in the biography, she was a noble and extremely attractive woman, but this reserve and arrogance - she was not very polite to her ex-husband Louis VII, and her later husband Henry II also respected her very much, and it was she who was also the Duchess of Aquitaine.

"You will be canonized as the Duchess of Gelderland. Said the Duke of Orleans.

The Grand County Lord raised his head, tears flashing: "Your Majesty doesn't need to do this. "Louis XIV carved up the Netherlands because France at that time urgently needed to digest the two huge prey of Flanders and the Netherlands, and did not have the spare energy to deal with the Holy Roman Empire and England, but it is impossible to say that Louis XIV would give up his ambitions for the Netherlands.

But Gelderland would be a talisman for the Grand Lord, because if the Grand Princess, of course, her domain could be inherited by the child, but if she died without a child, then her domain should be inherited by the person closest to her, that is, someone from the Bourbon family, possibly her younger brother.

The Spaniards were to be cautious about the bride if they did not want to see Gelderland fall into the hands of Bourbon.

"Of course, it is more likely that the Spaniards will not accede to this request. The Duke of Orleans said, "Then all things will be solved." ”

"Father," said the Grand Lord, who whispered softly in her ear as the Duke leaned forward, "Frederick has left me a letter," and she took his father's hand, "he went back to Brandenburg—but not to run away, not to evade, and he swore to me that he would ruin the marriage, even if he would anger his father." ”

Of course, the Duke of Orleans knew about Frederick's sudden departure, and he also knew that he had left a letter for the Grand Lord, and he even knew the contents of the letter, but he was not stupid enough to say it, and he laughed happily as the Grand Princess's expectation: "He loves you." ”

"Yes, he loves me. The lord withdrew his hands and a pair of small feet that had been warmed: "Sometimes I have to be glad that there is such a test, which is good for him and for me. She remembered that Mr. Kirbel had said that people would value something that cost them a lot, whether it was of that value or not, and conversely, if it was easily obtained, even if it was a rare treasure in the world, they would not care too much, and even if they lost it, it would only be a sigh.

As the eldest son of the Elector of Brandenburg-Prussia, Frederick was undoubtedly the pride of the heavens, and even if Versailles had dampened him a little, he was still a proud boy, and when he got along with the Grand Lord, he was no different from Carlos II, who was indeed the most likely choice for a husband of the Grand Lord.

But as soon as Carlos II appeared, this noble gentleman was panicked, he could barely maintain his demeanor and dignity in front of the Spaniards, but when he came to say goodbye to the lord tonight, his face was white, his hands were cold, and his eyes were full of rage and anxiety: "I just hope he doesn't really quarrel with the Elector." The Grand Princesse said.

"I don't think so," the Duke of Orleans was also a little happy, after all, no father-in-law would like his son-in-law too much, and he was quite happy to see that arrogant stupid boy suffer a loss: "This marriage is also expected by the Grand Duke of Brandenburg." "Especially after they raised the dowry.