The former Queen of Sweden, Lady Christina, had wanted to return to her home in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, but since she had revealed her ambitions for the throne, the Queen Mother, who had become disgusted with her, instructed her courtiers to seize her residence in Sweden, and she returned to Rome to live in a convent, where she waited for her pagan friends (which was also one of her crimes, because the Jews at that time, even though they had wealth, were not qualified to sit on an equal footing with the nobles) to raise money for her to continue to squander without scruples。

But before she could wait for her friend, a beautiful lady entered the convent, and when the lady Christina heard that someone wanted to see her, she was astonished, for Pope Alexander VII at this time did not welcome her— In addition to her previous public claim that she had executed her lover Monaldehi in private, it was the peachy news between her and Cardinal Azzolino, which was also ridiculous, that the cardinal at that time could have a lover and have children, but if the lover was a woman of honorable status, it was another scandal, and the pope's dissatisfaction with Cristina extended to the people, so that her friends in Rome did not dare to visit her often.

When she took off her hood and revealed her neatly combed bun, it was as if an Athena in a golden helmet had descended into the monastery, and the dim courtyard could not help but shine brightly, and Lady Christina, who sat on the edge of the fountain and fed small fish and pigeons with crumbs, was also refreshed, she hated marriage, but longed for love, and this love did not seem to be limited to gender, and it is no wonder that it was rumored that the queen had feminine and masculine features, a deformed monster.

"Ah," she cried intimately, "isn't this Miledi, my dear friend, are you here on pilgrimage, or are you here to pray, to celebrate?" she paused, "or is it for me?"

"For you, honorable lady. Madame Milady's voice was still like a plucked string, with a slight tremor, echoing, "I have come for you." She glanced at the people around her, "Let them go elsewhere, Your Highness, I have something to say to you alone." ”

"Then sit down next to me. Lady Christina said that she sat in an extremely wide chair, but at this time the woman's skirt was so swollen that it was almost impossible to pass through the door, and the two of them sat together, even if they were separated by clothes, it was too intimate, but Miledi did not care about this, she smiled, lifted the hem of her skirt, and sat down beside the former queen in a graceful manner.

"Oh, that's what I love the most, you're never as shy and frightened as those cute little birds. Lady Christina reached out and took Lady Miledi's arm, Lady Christina, though pampered, was over forty years old, and she looked younger than a mortal woman of her age, but could not compare with Miledi, who was a witch, and the difference was even more pronounced when their wrists were intertwined, "Look at the skin," said Lady Christina, envious and admiring, "You are Helen, Madeala, or Heber." (All three are legendary and mythical beauties)

Madame Milady also looked at the lady, to say this lady, she did not have much bad feelings, what must be said, as the king said, as a woman, a person, what she did did did not have much to blame, sometimes, she was even envied, and she was not without shining points, but the problem was that she did not have the consciousness that a king must have- Those innocuous defects in ordinary people are fatal in a king, not only fatal, but these mistakes can even overturn a country - just before Miledi received this task, the king said that the best decision Cristina made was to give up the throne, and the worst decision to make was to rekindle the desire for the throne.

If she can use the more than ten years under the protection of the King of France to repent of her past mistakes, change her anxious heart, maintain her sanity and magnanimity like a real king, or at least know how to endure like Charles II, the king will not give up on her easily, but it is a pity that ...... Madame Milady saw the girl in her twenties, reckless and unscrupulous...... Some people think that a king is a representative of doing whatever he wants, no, he is very wrong, as a king, he is more restrained, more cautious, and more ...... than mortals Pain, personal selfish desires will always be placed behind the royal family, the country and the people, but this is something that the lady in front of her can never do.

Lady Christina looked again at the wooden box that Madame Milady had brought with her, about two feet square, the size of a folded tunic set, and she raised her chin with great interest, and gestured with her gaze: "Why, is this your gift to me?"

"No," said Madame Milady, smiling, "this is what His Majesty the King has asked me to pass on to you." ”

Speaking of His Majesty, the smile on Madame Christina's face suddenly disappeared, she had fantasized about that king, no, no, no, not about marriage or love, but the fantasy of a prominent and kind king, but her disappointment was greater than hope, although Louis XIV sheltered her, his mind was more rigid and boring than any king or gentleman Cristina had ever seen, and he reminded Christina of her cousin, who would later be Karl X, and it was in order to escape her marriage with Karl X that she resolutely renounced the Swedish throne and left her own palace, her country and her people。

A sense of foreboding came over Lady Christina, and if it was only Miledi, she could have imagined that the other party had only come for Christina, but if she had been the King's messenger at the same time, the king would never have done anything without a purpose: "What's in there?" she asked.

Madame Milady shook her hand, rose from her side, walked over to open the box, and held it in this way, presenting the contents to the former queen.

It was a nun's costume.

Ms. Christina stared at the black-and-white dress and the turban placed on it, and she seemed to smile contemptuously, but the smile shrank before it could mature, or rather, was taken out of place by irrepressible panic, her eyebrows furrowed in pain, her eyes wide open, her thin masculine lips twisted, her breathing grew from light to heavy, and finally a dull growl, more like a sob, burst from deep in her throat.

She was not a stupid person, she knew what it meant, the King of France was signaling, no, to order her to be a nun, which was the best ending that a man of extreme dignity could get.

She wanted to cry out in anger, and she wanted to pull out the dagger at her waist and lift the humiliation to the ground and step into the mud, but she could not control the panic in her heart, for it meant that the King of France had decided to take back the protection granted to her, or rather, to the former Queen of Sweden, and that she could continue to enjoy the privileges bestowed upon her by the king as an honorable abbot until her death.

Until death.

The voice kept echoing in her head, and Ms. Christina finally raised her hands and covered her face: "He can't, ma'am, he can't!"

"Your Highness......"

Madame Christina suddenly lowered her hand, her face flushed, but her eyes became unusually determined: "I am going to see him, madam, although I don't know why he changed his mind, but I will make His Majesty change his mind! Madame, I am going to see the king!"

"Your Highness!"

"Madame Milady!" replied Lady Christina, in a louder voice, "I will help me, I will leave Rome at once, I will, yes, give me the horse, I will ride, I will not have a carriage, and my clothes—let my maid come, and I will change into a riding costume! I will travel day and night, and Your Majesty will change his mind as long as he sees me!

She grabbed Madame Milady's hand, and if Madame Milady's were an ordinary woman, her wrist would have been broken by this lady, but as a witch, Madame Milady, not only did she not show the slightest expression of pain, she could not even move the box in her hand, she just looked at Madame Christina calmly and pityingly, watching her go from disbelief, to anger and panic, to almost madness—when she found that no matter how much she shouted, there were no maids, nuns, or attendants who came to watch.

"Your Highness," said Madame Miledi, "don't struggle in vain, this ...... It will only make you more ...... faux pas, and disappointing...... Since Your Majesty has made a decision, it is impossible for others to change it at will, and I thought you would have known this. ”

"Why?" said Ms. Christina sadly, "I thought he would be the one I could rely on the most." ”

"It used to be. Madame Milady said that, as one of the king's secret chiefs, she knew of course that the king had paid a great price for the protection of the lady.

"Just because I killed Monaldehi?" cried Cristina, who had hardly seen Louis XIV since she had left Fontainebleau, and she did not know whether it was guilt or weakness, "just because I would not follow Father Lebel's advice to make the Santinelli brothers the scapegoats?"

"You weren't a queen then. ”

"I was just angry. ”

The king was also angry at that time, "a dishonorable murder happened in his palace, and there were not a few ridicules and ridicules in the open and in the dark, especially Christina's behavior, which greatly damaged her reputation, and made the king's plan almost stillborn, Madame Milady's thought of this, and could not help sighing, it should be said now that it had been a complete failure, and the king asked her to come, just to recover the last bit of loss."

"I wouldn't make a wish to be a nun. Lady Christina said categorically: "Let me talk to Your Majesty, I still have ......"

"What else do you have?" Madame Milady's indifference interrupted her, "without Your Majesty, you don't even get the taxes of your own domain, you have only sycophants around you, not even the slightest more useful people, only actors, heretics, and idle second and third sons, who are eager to take advantage of you, and who will only scatter when you need help......"

"I ......"

"You're in heavy debt...... You've bought a lot of art, decorations, nightly feasts, and masses, but they're not good for you or your business. ”

"Mr. Bishop Azzolino promised me ......"

"What was promised? Was it on visible paper, or was it made before God?" If it were someone else, he might hesitate, but it is no exaggeration to say that the loopholes around this lady Christina were as dense as fishnets, and every letter between her and Mr. Bishop had been read by Madame Milady, and Ms. Christina was affectionate, and the bishop did not even leave a trace in the letter, and his letter was full of calm and wise persuasion, without a trace of personal affection, and these letters, even if they were taken before the most pious religious judge, he had nothing to say.

"As long as I go back to Sweden......" Christina stubbornly held her shoulders.

"Your residence in Stockholm has not been repossessed, let alone the royal palace, and you have not been able to return since the day you left, Your Highness. Madame Miladydi bowed her head and said the cruelest of words: "And no matter what kind of people are willing to support you, it is a thing of the past, Your Highness, you are forty years old, you are not married, you have no children, even if you have to return to the throne, you have no heir, in this case-"

She straightened up, took the headscarf from the box, and gently placed it on the head of Ms. Christina, who was kneeling on the ground at some point: "We, they, and you, why bother?"

——————

Stockholm, Palace of the Three Crowns.

Young Karl XI was returning from outside, and his attendants were all young men about his age, and because they had been with the king for a long time, they knew that he was a generous man, so they quarreled and laughed along the way, and filled the whole palace with vigor and vigor— The King was only twelve years old, not yet a minor, but he had grown tall enough, about five feet and an inch, to imagine that he would continue to grow taller and be a great king to look up to (in every sense of the word), which was what his mother and the five regents expected of him.