They ran through the square courtyard and into the corridor, and the maid screamed and giggled in fright, and the queen mother's female officer led a group of people, "Oh, it seems that we can't go to the market." The king said that they had agreed to go to the market after a light lunch, "and that my mother must have asked me for something." "Generally speaking, the Queen Mother rarely goes back to disturb the king's games and entertainment, but if she does, it must be for something very important - in the early days of the regency, the king also needed to sit on a chair as an ornament and symbol, and now officials can even report directly to the Queen Mother to wait for the Queen Mother and the Regent to decide, and the king can do what he likes.

Before leaving, the king caught a glimpse of one of his little friends with a look of displeasure, and he walked over and reached out and patted him on the shoulder: "I promised you that the chessboard would be given to you, don't worry, wait for me to return." ”

The young man opened his mouth to say something, for he did not want any chessboard at all, and the king had no such agreement with him, and he was annoyed that the queen mother and the regents had always kept the king out of political affairs, consciously or unconsciously, and only allowed the king to appear when the foreign minister or envoy came, and even then the king was not "advised" to say anything more - neither could he, for the king could not understand or speak any language other than German.

But the king stopped him with a gentle look, the king was twelve years old this year, and in the court the children always grew up very quickly, and he knew that only two or three of his friends were loyal enough to him, and the others were either the grass on the wall or the eyes and ears that watched over him—of course, in the case of the Queen Mother and the Regent, there was a better way to say it.

The king turned away, and the lad, in disgust, threw away the invitations of the others, and left the palace of the Three Crowns alone.

——————

When the king entered the queen mother's drawing-room, he was surprised to find a group of envoys waiting for him, the leader of whom was dressed in a sapphire blue silk satin coat, and a rich sable fur cloak adorned with sparkling gems, the pin of the cloak was a delicate gold lily, and a huge hat in his hand, which he waved at the sight of him and made an intricate and elegant bow, as did the people behind him, and the more Spanish style of dress in the Swedish court—mainly black and brown— In comparison, they were like a flock of heat-bred birds (the king had seen them in his picture book) falling into a flock of crows, so brilliant that it was hard to look at.

Prince Conte smiled and stood up with permission, and when he saw Karl XI, his first reaction was to make a comparison with the boyhood of their king, Louis XIV, who ...... The same vigor and bright-eyedness, if anything, the King of France at that time was more akin to a wise scholar, while the King of Sweden was like a young warrior, too, at the age of twelve, their king had read every book in his study, even the holy texts written in Latin, and this king, who was said to be not very good at reading and writing.

Karl XI swept lightly over the crowd of Frenchmen, stepped forward and kissed the Queen Mother's hand, and saluted the regents: "Oh, my child," said the Queen Mother, "please also salute these distinguished gentlemen, for they have brought us great good news on behalf of God and the King of France." ”

Karl XI had a vague guess, but he couldn't be sure until the squires brought in a huge picture framed by an indescribable blue velvet like the deep sea or the night sky.

The royal blue velvet quilt slowly opened, just like the former Duke of Orleans, which was also the work of Louis's royal painter Charles LeBron, LeBron's paintings have been criticized by later generations as too mediocre, but in Louis's opinion, he just didn't want to be too out of line - beyond the aesthetics of mortals at most like Rembrandt to attract the anger and reproach of his employer, beyond the aesthetics of a king, then he is likely to completely lose his honor, credibility, plummet- Especially now, the king's prestige radiates like the sun, radiating from Paris to every corner of France, and it is difficult for the king to be regarded as a deviant and difficult to gain the admiration of other nobles.

Knowing that the painter had such concerns, Louis naturally tried to comfort them, and he never thought that concealment and moodiness would be the proper demeanor of a king—he freely made his preferences and preferences public, and of course this would attract a great crowd of flattering villains, but there were also some, some opponents, who had to expose themselves unless they were willing to rebel against their faith and soul—and if so, they could not claim to be an upright man, because they had lied first.

With the king's clear instructions, LeBron's talent can be fully revealed, he is not the kind of person who likes to use kitkat to get the attention of others, which is exactly what the king wants, his style gradually changes from the rigor (or rigidity) at the beginning to gentleness and lightness, his paintings, the colors are more and more soft, and the gestures and expressions of the characters are no longer so stiff.

It stands to reason that in a portrait like this, the protagonist will always only take a slightly sideways position, but in the posture of facing the audience, the princess may be allowed to lead a toy bed - sometimes with dolls in it, implying that she can be a good mother in the future, but compared to the face and arms, people's eyes will inevitably fall on the hem of her dress, because it seems that this is the main body of the princess, the silks, ribbons, and precious stones that occupy almost a third of the picture...... The rest doesn't care so much.

But Louis - Louis succumbed to his ambitions, but also wanted his daughter, who was now only five years old, to be happy, he said, not as a queen, but as a loved one, and from the very beginning he vetoed LeBron's sketch in his letter, so that Carl XI and the Queen Mother saw a happy and innocent little girl bathed in the sun - not in the background of a room, nor a colonnade, but a rich rose bush, large pink, The white roses were hidden in the dark green foliage, and the magnificent royal blue curtain poured down from the rose bushes until the little girl was under her, dressed in an ivory silk satin dress, and knelt on the golden lily, which symbolized the French royal family, and the sun coat of arms, as if she were being held up by these two powerful beings at the same time, and she tilted her head slightly, holding a crown of roses in both hands, and tried to wear it on her head, as if she were crowning herself.

The sunlight cast a dappled shadow at the base of her ears through the lace hanging on the snow-white little arm, and the round and lovely little face was as clean and silky as cream, like pink from the rose, from the corners of her eyes to her cheeks, and the eyes drooped slightly, so that the blue eyes inherited from her father looked like a lake under the shadow of a tree, sparkling and deep and bright.

After a while, with the praise of the Queen Mother, the people moved like a group of puppets who had been suddenly removed and fitted with silk threads, "How is it, my child," the Queen Mother asked with a smile, "This is your future wife, Princess Elisabeth, the eldest daughter of the King of France." ”

Karl XI knew of course that his future wife would have to be a princess, or, like his mother and grandmother, the daughter of a powerful duke or an elector, but as a normal teenager, he was also worried about his mother's choice of a Habsburg daughter for him, or a similar person— He didn't mean to object or fight, but he had heard that Habsburg daughters were ugly, especially the huge jaws, which they were said to have to rest on the table to bear the weight during their meals - of course, this is too harsh to say, but who wants to be in front of such a face every day and every night?

Princess Elisabeth's mother was in fact a Habsburg princess, but her daughter, fortunately, did not inherit any shortcomings from the maternal line, and her chin was the first place of attention of Karl XI, so small that even with baby fat, it could be seen that it was shaped like a delicate wine glass, "Our princess is more like her father." Prince Conte said, while recovering the frame with his own hands, the portrait was soon moved to the Swedish king's room, and also signaled the establishment of the marriage, but his words quickly made some people smile, because the beauty of King Louis of France is also well known, and it is also a good thing for a girl to be able to resemble her father in contrast to the mediocrity of the French queen.

After this process, Karl XI also retired with interest, and everyone sent him off, and then there were more tedious and important negotiations- Princess Elizabeth of the King of France is only five years old, and Karl XI is only twelve years old, to officially get married, for Karl XI, it will not be until he is fifteen years old after he officially ascends the throne, and for Princess Elizabeth, it will be until she reaches the age of fourteen, that is, at least nine years later, and King Louis of France is willing to send an envoy at this time in order to destroy the anti-French alliance that the Roman Church and the Holy Roman Empire are forming.

Even the Queen Mother of Sweden had to say that the King of France was really generous, especially when he promised that he would carve out a territory from the Flanders region as a dowry for the princess - Just look at the map, Sweden seems to be vast, there are many ports, but these ports are in the Baltic Sea, Sweden is wrapped by Norway, Denmark is choked, the only access to the sea is only in the Skagerrak Strait, and this strait is also being controlled by Norway and Denmark at the same time, Sweden was independent from Denmark more than a hundred years ago, but Norway still belongs to Denmark, so it is equivalent to being firmly imprisoned by Denmark.

But the Flanders region is under the Netherlands, so to speak, even if the marriage contract is made and Princess Elizabeth takes this territory into Sweden, it will be an enclave, but for Sweden, they have another outlet to the sea that is not hostage to Denmark.

This also swayed the Queen Mother of Sweden, and the other regents she used to convince the other regents - among the five regents, the only person who was loyal and talented enough was probably the generalissimo Carl Gustav Wrangel, the problem was that the commander-in-chief of the Swedish army was loyal to the queen mother and not to the king, and the other ministers were either good at fighting for power or exploiting the people, and they were almost pro-British.

The present relationship between England and France was very strange, their governments were hostile to each other, and their kings had a very deep friendship, but the Regent of Sweden was of course inclined to the British government.

So from the very beginning, Sweden was willing to join the anti-French alliance, but the sincerity of the French king Louis XIV, or the bait, was too tempting, even if someone objected, it was difficult to get the corresponding bargaining chips, so they could only say that the French king may not be able to conquer Flanders, but this sentence was just out, the Queen Mother of Sweden laughed, and the same was true of some others, everyone could see that the Spaniards could now only retreat in Brussels and Mons, with the number of 8,000 against 50,000, even if there was a fortified fortress, so whatThe might of French artillery was already evident to every agent in Lille, and Sweden was no exception, and although the emissaries of the Holy Roman Empire were so skillful, they could not explain why Leopold I was reluctant to send troops to the aid of his relatives......

Of course, they wouldn't know that Leopold I was paying the price for his greed, but it was almost the deadliest part— About a week after the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (August 15), the former Queen of Sweden, Lady Christina, agreed to become a nun in a convent in Florence, and at the same time, the portrait of King Carl XI of Sweden was sent to Paris, and from that year onwards, every year the King of Sweden and Princess Elisabeth of France had to paint a personal portrait and send it to each other's countries.

The portrait of Karl XI was erected in front of the Queen Mother and Queen of France, and there was a five-year-old Princess Elisabeth beside them, although she knew that it was inevitable, Queen Theresa couldn't help but clench her hands, and after seeing the portrait of a healthy-upright boy, she breathed a sigh of relief, no matter what, it was better than Carlos II of Spain- Although the portraits were embellished, the painters of the time did not degenerate into a change of face as the people of later generations did, not to mention that some Habsburgs would regard this deformity as a symbol of noble blood, and they would be proud, let alone cover it, and they would prefer to display it thoroughly.

"But," Queen Theresa said, looking at the King's letter to herself and the Queen Mother with some bewilderment, "what does this mean?"

Queen Anne glanced at the queen meaningfully, this niece of hers is so lucky, she married and had such a good husband, many times, it was Louis who accommodated her, not the other way around, so she didn't know how much she suffered less, an outsider, a foreign queen, coming to a strange place, it was like facing a war alone, but if she could gain the trust of her husband, that is, the king, she would get twice the result with half the effort.

The information they received was that King Karl XI of Sweden was almost a blank slate in calculations, writing and reading, in foreign languages, and that he was now relying on his companions, who would in the future become his courtiers, but what if his queen could do the same? Even better, better, and more trustworthy than those people, when the king would tell the queen in everything, asking for her help, would it be difficult for the queen to gain a foothold in the court or even in the court?

"Celestia's education is about to be arranged. Queen Anne said.