It is not surprising that Frederick had such a strong curiosity and an infinitely close affection to the Grand Lord, although the Grand Princess's face was beautiful, but as the son of the Archduke of Brandenburg-Prussia, Frederick had seen many beauties, and there were a few who were better than the Grand Princesses in terms of beauty alone—but the Grand Princesses had something that most women of this era did not have, that is, confidence and love for themselves, which we can often see in men, but it is very rare in women.

In the time of Louis XIV, women were seen as mature but mentally imperfect pseudo-adults, who had to make sacrifices at all times, becoming a wife, a mother, in order to be considered "perfect", or to be dedicated to God, but this can also be understood as a marriage, the nuns were the brides of Christ, they served God as wives to their husbands, to ensure their piety, chastity and poverty.

Of course, we know that the ambition and yuwang of women are in fact not inferior to those of any gentleman, not to mention the former Mancini, not to mention the queen mother and queen, but to the Duchess of Longueville, who constantly contended to fight her brother for the throne with Louis XIV, and even did not hesitate to sacrifice her husband and lover, was it only because she was tired of embroidering and having children?

In the beginning, Frederick also believed that Louis XIV's eldest princess and grand princess were also such figures, and the Sun King educated and guided them, like some treacherous monarchs, they married not a daughter, but a spies, and sometimes they did the same to their own sons, by manipulating their husbands and wives, so that their own families could get rich profits, and even annex another country, which is not uncommon in the history of Europa.

But as he got to know the Grand Lord, Frederick realized that Louis XIV's expectations for his daughters and nieces might not stop there, and that he intended to let them occupy a place in the palace of victory when only men held almost all the power and voice in the world. Frederick could imagine that once he married the Grand Duke, the Grand Princess, who would undoubtedly take over some of the power of the Grand Duke (or the King of Prussia), would not obediently succumb to the inner palace and live by fertility and "love".

Perhaps, not only Frederick, but even the envoys of Brandenburg went through three painful phases of disapproval-approval-disapproval, the earliest of which he disapproved of the marriage, exactly as the Electors of Brandenburg thought that they could not provoke the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, and later he chose to approve because he saw how the king of France favored this niece, and learned of the dowry of the great lord of the county. The dowry of the Grand Princess, which may be between 800,000 and 1,000,000 livres, is far greater than that of a princess, and the Duke of Orleans intends to give her a foreign territory (not in France), and she may also have an army with her, which is a blessing in disguise for Brandenburg-Prussia, which is bound to expand outward, and, as Frederick said, sometimes you can ask for something that others do not give, but why did he not approve of it in the end? Again, the Grand Princesses were not the kind of queens expected from the people of Brandenburg-Prussia.

Just look at Louis XIV's mother and wife, they don't even allow the king and queen to be sincere, if the king is unwilling to accept the "royal lady" and have an illegitimate child with the royal lady, they can spread rumors that the king has problems with childbirth, and then wonder whether the queen and the king's concubine are of pure blood— Don't laugh, Louis XIII was not the kind of king who was keen on women, he preferred to hunt and play cards with gentlemen, so the gossip that those kings were likely to prefer same-sex couples was like wildfire, and Louis XIII had to find a "royal lady" first, and then he had sex with the queen, with Louis XIV and the Duke of Orleans, even so, before and after Louis ascended the throne, there were still rumors that Louis XIV had his own biological father......

This is still based on the premise that the queen mother rarely interferes in government affairs.

Once the Grand Princesses marry into Brandenburg-Prussia, she will inevitably become the king's wise man, or a "minister in a skirt", and the nobles can tolerate a "royal lady" of their own country signing the king's papers, but they will not tolerate the queen pointing fingers at them, and even God may not be able to estimate what terrible conflicts will arise - In particular, the Grand Duchess was favored by the King of France and the Duke of Orleans, a double-edged sword, and everyone would cheer on Brandenburg-Prussia when she needed support, but if the Grand Duchess was bullied or even hurt in Brandenburg, it might have been the best excuse for the King of France to go to war against Brandenburg.

"You know," the envoy reminded worriedly, "if your marriage is consummated—you have such a strong wife, you may not be so happy in many places?"

Frederick had been in Paris for several months, and in addition to going out with the Grand Mars, he and the Grand Marses sometimes referred to him as "Monsieur William". The exchange of letters in the name of "Madame Marie", discussing some of the things they encountered, or the aftermath of certain books—unlike the dates he had had, Frederick felt like studying at another open university, busy, trivial, heavy, and with an indescribable sense of fulfillment.

It was of course much more arduous to be with the Grand Princesses than Frederick's usual balls, dinners, shopping, or gambling, especially when he realized that if he and the Grand Princesses became husband and wife, such a situation would become the norm - Frederick would not like it, or it could not bear it, but as the future Grand Duke of Brandenburg-Prussia, more likely, - the King, and he was happy with it.

He admits that there is a cowardice and pleasure-seeking part of his nature, and it is precisely because he knows that he has such a weakness that he needs a wife like the Grand Princess.

"And," he added, "I think we have all overlooked one thing, sir," said the young son of the Grand Duke, touching his chin, who had grown a little beard when he was in Prussia, but had all shaved it clean when he came to Paris, for the French all looked to their king without beards: "My marriage to the Grand Princess, has not yet been settled." ”

"Is there any other suitable candidate besides you?" said the envoy disapprovingly.

"Really," Frederick remembered some of the rumors he had heard, "Carlos II, for example." ”

——————

"How is that possible!" shouted the Archbishop of Toledo.

"It really can't be," Juan Patiño said that under external pressure, Don Juan José, the illegitimate son of the late king Philip IV, had to perform a love repertoire with Carlos II's mother, Queen Maria, who was now expelled by him, although Juan Patinho was a subordinate of Duke Don Juan, but no one could deny his loyalty to Spain and Carlos II, so after a period of tug-of-war, he returned from Paris and was promoted to Minister of the Navy, this position is needless to say how important it is in the Spanish court, and at the same time he is also in charge of foreign affairs, so to speak, it can be said that half of the prime minister.

Now the "half prime minister" is also about to be overwhelmed, perhaps because France seems to be satisfied after swallowing Flanders and the Netherlands, or maybe the Holy Roman Empire is busy dealing with the Ottoman Turks, and the British are also busy dealing with the Roman Church and Louis XIV, who has once again turned from an ally to an enemy...... There were waves between the Duke of Don Juan and Queen Maria, and on several occasions their musketeers and guards fought directly in the streets, causing panic.

If this is just a relapse, then Juan is also their king Carlos II, as we all know, the consequences of the Habsburg blood too strong all fell on Carlos II, he is even inferior to Alfonso VI of Portugal, Alfonso VI is only physically disabled, but his mind is clear, Carlos II is just a wild beast that can only scream and roar.

Juan Patinho also succumbed to an illegitimate son because he tasted the bitterness of defeat again and again from this king, who always seemed to be immersed in another world (perhaps hell), unable to understand and be understood, Juan knew early on that Carlos II would not be able to fulfill his obligations and use his power.

But the situation changed suddenly, and one day, of course, not to mention the darkest and most evil things in the world, before Juan and those who were bound to oppose knew it, Carlos II was poured a potion made by the devil's servants, and the Duke and Queen Mother Maria did not consider themselves to be at fault, a potion that was said to prolong the life of a terminally ill man and make him look like a strong young man.

Thinking of the marriage contract that Carlos II had made not long ago, they may have planned to ask the Habsburg princess to have sex with him as soon as she turned twelve – maybe they would have a healthy son?

Juan did not deny that he had such thoughts, after all, they had been increasingly worried over the years, Carlos II was the last person in the Spanish Habsburgs, and if he died without his own son, then the son born to his sister would be eligible to inherit the throne of Spain - given that the two sons born to Leopold I by Marguerite of Spain had died, most likely Louis the Younger, born to her sister for King Louis XIV of France.

The thought of a Bourbon becoming a co-lord of France and Spain would have made all nations tremble - so that Louis XIV would have had a territory larger than Flanders and the Netherlands combined, and a longer coastline without a single soldier, and his crown prince had married the daughter of the King of Portugal, and although the princess would have sworn to renounce her inheritance to Portugal before the marriage - but Louis XIV's Queen Theresa had not sworn an oath?

There was such a threat, under the first cut of the Duke of Don Juan and Queen Mother Maria, even the Archbishop of Toledo had to endure this breath, let alone others, but fortunately, God forbid, their king is indeed recovering, and the doctor also said after examination that the king's four body fluids have been balanced, especially the precious yellow bile, which means that the king's manhood is increasing, and the king's personal attendant also said that the balls that have been empty since the king's birth have become weighty...... This was good news for all Spaniards, and given that Carlos II was thirteen years old, it was also suggested that a few suitable "ladies" should accompany the king.

Queen Mary and Don Juan, however, were a rare unanimity, and they refused such a request, even if it aroused suspicion.

Only Juan Patinho and the Archbishop of Toledo know why they did this – because Carlos II recovered more than just his body – and his mind finally returned to this body thirteen years later.

Carlos II regained his senses, but because he had spent the previous thirteen years in a state of confusion, he was like a baby who had just come into the world, he was interested in everything, he would try with great interest, and he would imitate people in what they said and did, and he might have been ignored at first, but soon loyal squires were rewarded to the Archbishop of Toledo and the Admiral of Patinho— One of them was a supporter of the Queen Mother and the other was a supporter of Duke Don Juan, but the wonderful thing was that they were more loyal to the King, and of course they wanted to...... It was hoped that the king would be able to make up for the missing thirteen years as soon as possible, but both Queen Mary and Duke Don Juan maintained a cold and ambiguous attitude.

They did not want Carlos II to have a mind of his own at all - because then the power in their hands would be taken away from the king.

Although the Archbishop of Toledo and Juan Patiño repeatedly persuaded them, it was in their own interests, and these two not very smart superiors were quite resolute - the Archbishop of Toledo and Patiño had to secretly do something, as if Juan had sent his niece to be the king's handmaiden- His niece was a wise and learned girl, and the archbishop sent his disciple, who was only ten years old, he was of unknown origin, but only the son of a church gardener, and it was for this reason that he was able to remain with the king, but he was able to become a disciple of the archbishop, which doomed him to be gifted, and with his company, Carlos II was already infinitely close to a normal person.

But even if Carlos II was able to become a healthy man, it would be impossible to deny his previous marriage to the Habsburg princess and renegotiate with France, and if Carlos had no problems, then the daughter of the Duke of Orleans would not be so qualified.