Louis XIV walked a few steps around the portrait in silence, and suddenly smiled: "A beautiful child indeed." ”

This may sound like a compliment, but even if you don't estimate the irony (given that the Bourbons from Louis XIV down to Louis XIV have an incomparably beautiful face, a long and straight body, and a smart and agile mind), it is a bit excessive, because Maria Theresa was the half-sister of Carlos II, who was the same as Louis XIV, but who ruled mighty Spain, and Louis XIV should not have judged a king in this way, even if he was seeking Louis XIV's niece.

"It is too important for me to give my answer at once," Louis XIV said to the Spanish envoy, "and I will give you my reply in three days." In a calm tone, unable to hear whether he was annoyed or rejoiced, the attendant stepped forward, put the velvet curtain back on the portrait, and moved it down, Juan Patinho bowed wordlessly, he had done everything he could, and then he could only pray to God that God would bless Spain through this catastrophe.

As he walked past the Grand Lord, Louis handed the nectarine in his hand to the Grand Lord.

For the French, it is of course a good thing to be able to marry the Spanish royal family, but how can it not be for the Spaniards? Flanders was originally a Spanish dependency, and the war between France and Flanders was also the war between France and Spain, and in this war, the Spaniards did not even send their own troops, which suddenly made France and other countries see the weakness inside this behemoth. Not to mention that the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I was of the same Habsburg blood as Spain, and when the French invaded Flanders and Leopold I reacted with surprising sluggishness, the Spaniards guessed that the French must have preemptively made a secret agreement with Leopold I.

In addition, as Carlos II finally reached the age of ten, the expelled Queen Mother of Spain and her supporters could not help but be ready to move, after all, illegitimate children will never have all the appeal of an orthodox heir, even if this legitimacy is simply like a disgusting joke - Louis XIV was originally against consanguineous marriage, and his marriage to Queen Teresa was a last resort, and fortunately their children were not cursed by the consanguineous blood, while the Habsburg bloodline intermarried more than once in order to hold the power and territory in his hands, Carlos II had four or five brothers, all of whom died young, and Philip IV actually married the fiancée of the original eldest son, Anna of Austria, who was also his niece, regardless of ethics, status, and age.

According to the calculations and speculations of later generations, if the consequences of consanguineous marriage will be 0.25 percent disability, then Philip IV has increased this probability to ten times, that is, 2.5 percent, such a high rate, it is a miracle that Carlos II was born and raised.

But Louis XIV, the Duke of Orleans, or anyone who loved the Grand Duchess would not have wanted the Grand Duchess to have anything to do with this "miracle", but the ministers and nobles of the French court seemed to have made decisions in the place of Louis, and they even began to drill around trying to get a foot in the bridal procession, because the marrying ministers were usually rewarded by the king, or knighthood, or official position. But they probably didn't know that there was probably no wedding procession, but there were rooms in the Bastille, and the Duke of Orleans was ready to use the handle in his hands to keep these bastards in the Bastille until the end came.

There was only one person who made the Duke of Orleans hesitate, and one thing was his royal brother.

The king could only see more clearly than they did, but the Duke of Orleans could not help trembling at the thought that his daughter, whom he had held for less than a few years, would be married to such an abominable monster, and since the Spanish envoy had mentioned this marriage, he had refused to attend all banquets and balls, casinos and hunting, listening to music, and watching plays.

He was in his daughter's room every day, staying with her until she fell asleep, and then tossing and turning in the next room.

More painful than him was the Duchess of Orleans, she used to worry that the Duke of Orleans did not like her, and then did not like her and his children, this kind of thing is not uncommon in political marriages, fortunately, under the persuasion of Louis, the Duke of Orleans still took on the responsibilities of father and husband, but now, she hopes that the Duke of Orleans does not love their daughter, she is also anxious, but she can only cry for her young son, she does not dare to let the Duke of Orleans find out, she has always been worried that the Duke will rely on the king's favor for him, and ask the king to refuse the marriage。

In just two days, there were many tormented people in the court, and when the Duke of Orleans was summoned to the king's reception room, he was relieved that he had decided that he would try to destroy the marriage no matter what the cost, although this might form an irreparable rift between the king and him—the thought of this made his heart feel like it was being pulled on a saw, but he was ready to bear the king's distrust, alienation, and indifference, and decided to compensate his brother with everything he had— The Duke of Orleans was still very wealthy.

The Duke of Orleans could not help but feel lucky when he saw that Bonton had not taken him to the chamber where the king usually received his ministers, but to a small room closer to the king's bedchamber, and that perhaps Louis would only be angry with him for a few years, and then he would be able to be forgiven and return to Versailles? The loose linen shirt and the velvet coat of royal blue were different from what the king showed to the people and ministers, and the king in private did not like to enjoy it too much, such as the buttons on the coat, which were only polished from shells, and although shiny, they could never compare with precious stones or pearls.

Louis often laughed at himself for being a wooden and boring man, because he had to devote all his energy to the affairs of the state, his private feelings had been withdrawn countless times, and he had to put the interests of France first at all times—some might accuse him of being ruthless, but there would never be a Duke of Orleans in it.

Another terrible thought came to him, that they were still meeting in this room, and that Louis had done so on purpose, and that he wanted to change his mind with their affection? The Duke of Orleans confessed that he was indeed wavering, and that he was desperate to kill himself at the thought of the brother being contemptuous of him, or simply ignoring him.

When Louis saw Philippe coming, he raised his hand and asked him to sit down in front of him, and without saying anything more, he casually slipped a document into the hands of the Duke of Orleans.

The Duke of Orleans subconsciously opened it, the first time he thought it was because he was too painful and entangled, the second time he thought it might be that he had misunderstood the meaning of the letter, the third time he even thought it was a bad joke, and it was not until the fourth time that he came out of his trance, he looked at the king, and for a while he didn't even know what to say......

"What's the matter," the Duke of Orleans heard a familiar voice coming from a long distance, "aren't you upset?"

The Duke of Orleans raised his head and saw Brother Wang's bright eyes: "I'm still thinking about how to delay for a few more days, but fortunately ......"

He could not finish what he had said, for the Duke of Orleans had already pounced on him and hugged him tightly.

——————

Bontang waved his hand and asked the waiter outside the door to leave, after all, the Duke and the King of Orleans were not a three-year-old, a five-year-old child, and the scene of two sturdy adult men hugging each other tightly was not beautiful enough, not to mention that the Duke of Orleans was still in tears, constantly muttering that I thought my brother was going to be angry with me, and Louis XIV could only prop himself on the back of his chair with difficulty, and stroked each other's hair and back comfortingly with the other, not knowing what to say in his mouth - his eyes stared helplessly at the ceiling.

The Duke of Orleans must have remembered that he was six feet and one inch, and weighed one hundred and fifty pounds, and that he was almost twenty years from the age of coquettishness, and Bontang did not know whether he should have gone over and reminded Monsieur Duke—he should have done so, for just a few seconds later an ominous click sounded from under the king's buttocks, and the slender legs of a swan's neck were indeed lovely, but it seemed that it could not withstand the crushing of a pair of strong men with only two of them......

It broke, and the two noblest men of France were thrown to the ground together, and if it weren't for the thick carpet on the floor, the banquet would have been better the day after tomorrow.

Bontang walked over and tried to make his smile look less than gloating, but happy for the Grand Lord—he dragged the King out from under the Duke of Orleans's elbow, and then helped the Duke of Orleans break free from under the table he had been brought down, and the Duke of Orleans held the document as if he were holding his daughter's happiness, "So......" As soon as he crawled out from under the table, he said eagerly, "May I go and summon the ministers?"

"Go ahead, no, wait. Louis rarely ignored his image, bared his teeth and said, "Bontang, you call Varo Vesalius first, and ask him to bring some potions." "There were many places on his body that hurt badly, and the Duke of Orleans was no exception - when he fell, the Duke of Orleans was obviously above him, but at the last moment he tried to block between him and the ground, although he was not completely successful, but he also fell to the ground hard, and was smashed by the heavy table—the table at this time was all solid hardwood, and it was no different in weight and hardness from metal.

There are enough rumors in the court, and there is really no need to add the unsettling rumors of brothers fighting each other until their noses are blue and their faces are swollen.

Varo Vesalius arrived quickly, and in view of his status, his room was small, but it was very close to the king, and he examined the king's wounds carefully, and then showed a false smile: "Merlin testifies," said the abominable potions master, "Your Majesty, your wounds are worse today than you have suffered on the battlefield." ”

Louis gave him a roll of the eye.

Seriously, although Varro has also been preventing his daughter from entering the court, Madame de Montespan's understanding of the king is really thanks to him and the Duke of Motmar for their "admonition", the standard backfires, Louis does not know whether to thank them or be angry, and Varro Vesalius and the Duke of Motmar seem to be aware of this, so they rarely appear in front of him lately.

But Mrs. Montespan ...... Thinking of this, the king sighed, "You have to thank Madame Montespan, she got this document." ”

The Duke of Orleans nodded slightly, but he also knew that this document would definitely not appear here so quickly without the king's order, or even forcible request.

"Brother......" he murmured, tears streaming down again, but not tears of pain, but joy and relief. Louis rudely stretched out his sleeve and wiped his tears from his eyes, relieved to find that the Duke of Orleans had not powdered his face today.

"Remember the night we hunted at Versailles?" Louis said lightly, "I am the king, brother, and I promised that as long as you are loyal to me, I will protect you until the last moment of your life." ”

——————

The ministers entered the king's chamber, and in a short time they came out in a stream, all of them not very good-looking, but not very bad either.

The document that Madame de Montespan had obtained was of little importance, except a case that was kept strictly secret, but it had the signature of the Spanish archbishop, and several weighty witnesses—from Don Juan José's safe, which the regent had undoubtedly prepared for himself—and the case clearly stated that Carlos II's shengzhi organs were mutilated, that it was difficult to excrete, and that he was unable to have sex with a woman, let alone have offspring.

He's a ...... Celestial gelding.

In the marriage between countries, whether the husband and wife have successfully intercourse is one of the important contents of the marriage contract to be recognized by God and the law, not to mention that when Louis XII of France wanted to marry Anna of Brittany, he asked the Pope to invalidate the marriage contract on the grounds that he had not succeeded in having sex with his first wife, Jeanne of France, and he also succeeded- Therefore, even if the Grand Marsal and Carlos II entered into a marriage contract, as long as the Duke of Don Juan had such a document in hand, either Spain and France were willing to endure the duke's blackmail, or the marriage contract would have to be recognized as null and void.

The ministers and nobles of France are willing to let the lord of Spain make sacrifices to be rewarded, if the lord of France cannot give birth to an heir to Spain, and may not be able to get the love of her husband, this marriage contract will be invalid at any time, they will go crazy to send the lord to Spain.

In a few moments, the Duke of Orleans walked into the king's chamber with the lord of Orleans, who threw himself at the king's feet, and was overwhelmed with gratitude.

That night, there was a little joke, that is, the lord of the county actually ate the nectarine, which the king had given and had kept for several days—although the nectarine, because of its thick skin, did not rot quickly, but it was not fresh, and the Duke of Orleans had to go to the royal doctor, and the lord of the county lay in bed for days before he could get up and get out of bed.