The witch hunt has only been around for more than a hundred years, and although there may not be many real people among these witches, objectively speaking, when a young girl and not an old woman are accused, the audience must be very large, and the judge will be very interested, and human beings have an incomparable talent for creating beauty and destroying it.

The Count of Locin was able to satisfy the Duchess of Montpensier in both the hall and the bed, and he was destined not to be a vain fellow, although he could not compare with the works created by the artists of the French Academy of Sculpture and Painting, he also had a thin torso, slender limbs, his skin was not known to be due to panic or the light of day was as white as the wall, his legs were weak, he could not stand up, and he needed two executioners to support him.

Alas, when you see this, don't think that the Count of Lozin is cowardly by nature, although he is a villain, but being able to become the king's musketeer shows that he is not useless, he may be able to be on the battlefield, in a duel without fear of wounds or even death, but no one will not be afraid of the instruments of torture pointed out by the Duchess - although Louis XIV did not publicly abolish some torture after he came to power, only kept the five horses divided into corpses, fire, boiling water, Beheading and hanging are five punishments that can only be punished for the most serious crimes, but the instruments of torture carried from the Château de Vincennes to the Bastille have never been shelved - the king of France has too many enemies for death to deter everyone.

If a person is tortured, most of them will use a gradual method, but it is not uncommon for the Duchess to directly destroy the will of the enemy by terrible torture, and the warden of the Bastille will not refuse the Duchess's request, and in the constant cry of "O God, O God!" Count Lozin mounted his "horse" Not a living horse, of course, but a wooden block of a regular triangle in cross-section, similar in length to that of a horse, which was erected to a height greater than the distance of an ordinary man's foot to touch the ground, and the hands of the Count of Lozin were tied and hung from the beams of the house, and the sharp corners of the wedges cut between his legs. The two executioners tied lead to each of his feet.

"Hurry up. The duchess said, so the executioner added a few more pieces of lead, so that the weight of the count himself, and the weight of the lead, dragged his whole body down, and the average man would cry out in pain when he occasionally hit the lower half of his body, but now the most important masculine feature of the count was being slowly crushed, and his eyes were slowly bulging out like his balls.

Perhaps it was the duchess's look of pleasure, or perhaps the executioner's intention to show his ability in front of the two noblewomen, they seized the rope that hung from the end of the roof beam, and pulled it up one after the other, and in the screams that almost tore open the room, like the count "galloping" on horseback, the flesh and blood were blurred in a few moments, and in any case, both men and women were the most vulnerable, and the blood flowed down the sides of the triangle, black and shiny in the candlelight, and his feet swayed in the air, along with the lead below.

To the Count, perhaps centuries had passed, and he froze forward in despair, his head hanging down, and fainted.

The warden kept his eyes wide open, and the Count fainted, and then he skillfully took a flask with a long spout, handed it to the executioner, and let the Count thrust it into his mouth, "This is wine with honey, lemon, and salt." He said, "Look, and you will wake up at once." ”

The Count did wake up at once: "Forgive me," he said, as soon as he opened his eyes, with a dying breath, "Forgive me, O Virgin, forgive me." ”

The Duchess of Montpensier looked at him indifferently: "You can fool me, you can deceive me," she said, "but you should not ......" She thought for a moment here, because the Count of Lozin could not threaten Louis XIV, her cousin, the Sun King of France: "You are only a poisonous snake hidden in the dark, but I cannot forgive any rebellion, including my father, of course you cannot be an exception, dear, but you can choose, is it to die completely after days of torment?" Or do you want to say everything so that the executioner cuts your throat or breaks your neck?"

The Duchess's words gave the Count a look of despair, and he did at first think that he would be able to persuade the Duchess to ask for her mercy and thus escape, but the Duchess's calm demeanor, not even shouting, showed that she had passed the moment of her most intense and easily wavered, and perhaps she had thought it out before sending him to the Bastille.

"I can tell all things," said the Count, "but I wish to die a dignified death like the Duke of Callarence." ”

George, Duke of Clarence, was the younger brother of King Edward IV of England, who had rebelled against the king, and Edward IV drowned him in wine like the Romans. But you may think, Monsieur Count, that while you are tortured in a dark room, waiting for death to come, those who instigate you will still enjoy their glory and riches. ”

Madame de Montspan's words fell, and the Duchess of Montpensier saw that the count's eyes burst out with more hatred than before, and whatever those men had promised the Count to give him the courage to carry out this conspiracy against both the Duchess and His Majesty the King, he would not have received the slightest bit, and had even suffered so much humiliation and pain—Madame de Montspan turned sideways to say something to the Duchess of Montpensier, and the Duchess turned her head: " Don't you know that I'm ready to give you a castle, a couple of title deeds, and a nice position?"

Count Lozin had been relieved, and there was a mess between his legs, like a smashed lamb's kidney pudding, to be specific, and he could barely stay awake thanks to the constant drinking of the warden, and when he heard such words, he was even more remorseful.

The Duchess did not say anything more, but went out, and Madame de Montspan followed after a few minutes, unlike the Duchess who was covered with frost, this lady was still as beautiful as a morning star, and even the Duchess knew the inside story and could not help but hesitate for a moment—Madame de Montspan was almost as beautiful as a second Frini. The ancient Greek socialite Phrini was once brought before the Athenian court on charges of blasphemy, a crime that could have killed her, but her defender simply stripped off her robes and exposed her beautiful carcass to the public—there were five hundred and one judges in the court, and they all agreed that it was blasphemy to let such beauty disappear.

The same is true of Madame de Montspan now, even if the Duchess of Montpensier is a woman, and she cannot be jealous of her, even if she knows that Madame de Montspan is still the king's dagger—many people in the court know that this lady is a cruel man, but the affection that wells up from the depths of her heart makes the Duchess invite Madame to return to Versailles in the same carriage with her.

"How is Auguste?" asked the Duchess of Montpensier on the way back, Auguste was the son that Madame de Montspan had born to Louis XIV, but unlike the Duke of Colonna, and even the Duke of Hallepur, His Majesty was very cold and harsh on the child, and did not even see him— When the two dukes were born, the little celebrations held in the court did not fall on the child, and the king's attitude was the guiding point of the ministers and nobles, who tacitly ignored the king's newborn son, just like Madame de Montespan only went to Fontaineble for a vacation, and even the Queen Mother never mentioned it, and the name Auguste was given by Madame de Montespan herself.

"He's fine, Your Highness. Madame de Montespan said that she thought she had got everything she wanted, but after the birth of the child, an unspeakable jealousy swept over her mind and body, why? She was no worse than Marie Mancini or Madame Lavarière! She was far superior to them in terms of appearance, stature, and help to the king! But Louis XIV did not hesitate to stand by them, Madame de Montspan was not stupid enough to see Louis's intentions, Louis XIV intended to suppress the child, just to warn that she would use the power in her hands to make trouble.

"It would be nice to wait for His Majesty to return from Slovenia. The Duchess of Montpensier comforted, "I have an estate in Giverny," and she had intended to give it to the Count of Lozin: "I give it to you," she said gently, "you may have time to take Auguste with you for a while, and the scenery is beautiful." ”

"Thank you very much," said Madame de Montespan, "it is a pity that it may not be possible until His Majesty returns, if it is not necessary," she opened her fan, covering half of her face, and looked out the window: "You do not leave Versailles lately, and if you wish to go elsewhere, then do not come to Paris." ”

It seemed that Paris was about to go in another bloody storm, and the Duchess sighed, unlike Versailles, the people of Paris, as Louis put it, a group of half-hearted and ungrateful thugs, who might never be satisfied, and she knew that there had been complaints that the king would rather use foreigners (Schaumberg) and countrymen (Versailles) than Parisians, and they seemed to have completely forgotten that they had twice armed riots to drive the king out of Paris.

Louis had been as fair as he could be, and that Paris, having lost its former political position, had also received the laurels it had taken from the Netherlands—after Louis XIV had destroyed Dutch Amsterdam and rebuilt another financial center in Paris, leaving the merchants who did not want to see their securities and bills of exchange invalidated in droves to Paris, and as the stock exchange and the new central bank opened its doors, the gold and silver of Europa seemed to flow all over Paris.

At the same time, the king's four art academies in Paris established Paris as the fashion king of the whole of Europa and beyond, and some people even said that the Renaissance in Italy had been inherited by the French Paris.

Sometimes it was difficult for the Duchess to understand what these people were thinking, and perhaps the Bastille warden and executioner were busy before they began to miss the peaceful life of this time.

——————

When Louis XIV received the message from the raven, he didn't care too much, although the Dauphin Louis Jr. was not infiltrated with any ill-intentioned people, but when he was busy with the Academy, there were indeed some malicious people approaching him, but as a father, Louis has always been very cautious, they did not find an opportunity to sow discord, so they mentioned to Louis Jr. that Louis had almost become a wizard - perhaps they thought that Louis Jr. would be afraid of his father, and then alienated and smoked.

But Louis had never intended Louis Jr. to be a devout believer in the first place, and Queen Teresa was not a fool, and Louis Jr. was more curious than afraid, and for a while he was still thinking about whether he would become a wizard, "Of course not," said Louis, "and for a reason." ”

At that time, he was not yet in power, and Dunkirk was his first battle, far from Paris and Versailles, far from the bishop and the queen mother, and there were not many credible people around him - the injuries at that time were not cured by ordinary doctors.

"What's that like?" asked little Louie.

"A, a wonderful feeling," said Louis, "is not bad, my dear, it is another feeling that seems to be above all men—they are mortals, you are a wizard, you can do things that they can never do, you can fly, you can light fire with your fingers, you can manipulate animals and monsters—if I were not the king, if I were Philip and Philip was me, I think I would stay in the inner world." But not because of strength or anything...... If Philip were king, then I would have to try to subdue that strange place for him. ”

"Like uncle, and the Duke of Colonna is doing now?"

"Well," said Louis XIV, "for when a nation is divided, terrible things can happen—like the dismemberment of a great beast, which, however strong its mind and will, may only cry in vain without a body, and may even become weakened by the wounds of decay, and eventually fall down—all, all divisions, however subtle, or necessary, or for some high-sounding reason—such as faith, race, or region, rich or poor, status, etc......”

"So," said Louis, "I can forgive any enemy, even if he has tried to kill me, or who has killed those I love, but there is only one sin that I, and you will be, can never forgive, and that is anyone who dares to cut France, whatever it may be." ”