The presence of a woman at the king's side always invites a lot of unnecessary scrutiny and inquiry, and although Madame d'Aubigne is cautious, even Madame Lafayette can see that she intends to disguise herself, let alone others, so she was summoned to the court by the Duchess of Orléans, who was an honorary rector, and it was not surprising that she wanted to see a brilliant teacher, and it could even be regarded as a pastime.

It was only Madame aubigne who entered the room, and the Duchess of Orleans bowed slightly to the room behind the curtains, and then silently withdrew, leaving Madame aubigne alone in the room, and a different lady might have blushed, but Madame aubigne had read all the information about the king as early as her time in Rome, and she knew Louis XIV better than most people here.

But having heard of a lion, and having seen a portrait of a lion, was a completely different feeling than seeing it with his own eyes, Louis XIV paced out from behind the crimson drapery, and habitually carried a cane in his hand, and his coat today was dark gold, which hung down to the knees, and because the woven gold garment was originally luxurious enough, there was no embroidery or embellishment, and even the buttons were only black coal spirits— Madame d'aubigne bowed, and with permission, her eyes moved from the hem of her coat to the second button, and then stopped, she had no status, but a commoner, and was not entitled to look directly at the king.

"You may be seated, ma'am. Louis XIV said. He was also observing this emissary from the Church of Rome, Madame d'Aubigne used it to disguise herself very skillfully, she first removed most of the eyebrows, everyone knows that eyebrows occupy a large proportion of human expressions and faces, a person without eyebrows must feel strange, but thinning eyebrows are a common problem for some people, and the corners of her mouth seem to droop out of habit, making her look very serious, a bit for a female officer and a teacher, a complete disadvantage for a woman, she wears a dress between gray and green and brown today, this kind of color that looks messy is even more annoying when you see it.

"So," Louis XIV twirled the grip of his cane, "which of us will ask the question first?"

"Of course it's you, Your Majesty. Madame d'Aubigne said respectfully.

"What's the matter with Madame Montespan?"

"She is the chosen one by Clement X. Madame d'aubigne said gently: "Everyone around you is under the watchful eye of the church, especially this lady, her two fathers, one is your general and minister, the other is your imperial doctor, she was born with great advantages, and she is ambitious, and most importantly, Your Majesty, she is beautiful. You have to admit it. ”

"I'll admit that her beauty is very valuable. Louis XIV said that as soon as Madame de Montespan appeared, almost everyone would think that she would be the love of the Sun King, and that what Louis could not do before would be pushed to the Madame of the Royal Family, and both ministers and generals would immediately shut up—they thought it was a wonderful thing to promote and encourage.

Madame d'aubigne covered her lips and smiled, "Indeed, Your Majesty, your bishop has been worried that you will become an unreasonable tyrant at any time and place. ”

"La Rivière?"

"It's the Lord. Madame d'aubigne bent down slightly, in a sign of respect, "Your Majesty, he thinks that there is a lack of joy in your life, and he says that you live like an ascetic, and you know, almost all ascetics are insane, and there is a problem either there or here. ”

"I will withhold his money. Louis XIV said, "How could he think that? I feel that my life is full of joy." ”

"Do you mean the joy of standing on the Church of Rome?" said Madame d'aubigne, "forgive my arrogance, your majesty, you are full of adventure. ”

"It can only be said that the kings of France have followed this tradition since Philip IV the Beautiful," said Louis XIV frankly, "and this is a matter of no choice, Madame, that you are a wise man, otherwise you would not have undertaken this dangerous work, and I say to you plainly, that if you wish to discuss with me the matter of the appointment and dismissal of bishops, I will not be able to continue the conversation with you." ”

"It seems that you are imperative. ”

"For France. "Louis XIV said that the power of bishop appointment and dismissal was for the Church to expand its religious power and obtain huge incomes, and that the financial situation of France could now be stabilized in an optimistic situation under Colbert's hard work, so Louis XIV would not compete with the Church in this regard, but the problem was that he intended to universalize primary education throughout France, and to regulate secondary or higher education— As everyone knows, almost every university was initially religious, some with clergy as professors, and later many elementary schools were opened by the Jesuits.

Louis XIV was not so great, he founded schools, from junior to senior, just to establish in the minds of the people the concept of the state and the king, like his new army, they knew very well who they were fighting for, who they should give their loyalty, even their lives, as if they were like mercenaries, as long as they had a salary to work for anyone - whether he was a foreigner or a traitor, it would never happen again.

But the Jesuit schools will undoubtedly break this notion, because for the Roman Church, their students should first respect and be faithful to the faith, in short, when the king and the church choose between the two, the students must be on the side of the church, Louis XIV of course could not tolerate it, so he had to obtain the right to appoint and dismiss the local bishop in order to ensure that his power was not divided by the church.

Madame d'Aubigne was indeed a wise man, and she immediately put down the subject, for the king had already given an answer, and it was impossible to change it, and she sorted out her thoughts, and continued: "As I said before, Madame de Montespan is the one chosen by the current Pope Clement X, and he hopes that Madame de Montespan will change your mind in some matter when she comes to you. ”

"I don't quite understand," said the puzzled king, "how can a lady turn any important situation around, and that a lady of the royal family can do what a warlike general, or a good messenger, or a wise minister, may not be able to do? ”

"In fact it is not uncommon for such a situation to occur, and Clement X's mistake was that he did not expect Madame de Montespan to be too eager and straightforward, and that she wanted the position of Madame de Royale so much that she did not hesitate to lay before you all the things she ought to have hidden," said Madame d'aubigne. ”

"Actually, I'm still a little moved, look, I gave her the position of lady of the royal family," Louis said sarcastically, "but that's why you gave up on her." ”

"My maternal grandfather was Benedetto Ottscalci," said Madame d'aubigne, "and you may not be familiar with the name, but Your Majesty, I can tell you that he is now the Prince of the Red of the Church of Rome." ”

Louis was indeed a little surprised, according to the information sent by the secret agent, Madame d'aubigne had a bad time in the first thirty years, she was indeed a beauty, but her status was low, because her father committed treason, was imprisoned, his mother was the daughter of the prison director, it is difficult to say, at that time this gentleman wanted to exchange for a more comfortable environment and treatment, but Françoise Aubigne was born in prison.

When Aubigne was three years old, he went with his exiled father and his mother and brother to live with the French colonial island of Martinique, which was a desolate and backward place at that time, and they exhausted their energy to live, Aubigne lost his parents at the age of twelve, and was raised by her uncle and aunt after returning to France, where she attended a convent school and received an extremely strict education.

But to say that her guardian cared for her or not would be pure nonsense, because we can't record what happened before Aubigne was fifteen, but the fact that she was forced to marry Paul Scarron when she was sixteen shows that the couple did not mean to hurt their niece, but they did not mean to think about her—who was Paul Scaron? He was forty-two years old when he married Françoise, and although he was a poet, he had no property, and he only flattered the nobles by gags in salons and banquets, and in order to gain money and access, to put it mildly, a joker.

In addition, Paul Scarron, who was not only old, but also often sick, and so weak that he could not stand on his own, may have had a good countenance, but because of his long illness, he looked like a skeleton wrapped in skin, with yellow and black skin, and he had to dress himself with rouge and lead powder like a woman before every banquet, so as not to be disgusted.

It's scary to think about a person like this, let alone share a bed with him.

Madame d'Aubigne's aunt and uncle chose Paul Scarron for only one reason, and that was that Scaron did not want a dowry from the woman, and Madame d'Aubigne certainly did not have a dowry, and she returned to France almost empty-handed.

For such a husband, it is not to blame Madame d'aubigne for insisting on changing her surname back to her original surname after the widowhood.

"My real grandfather came to me after my husband's death," said Madame d'Aubigne, smiling understandingly: "Although after so many years, he probably only occasionally remembered that he had a daughter in France, and that my mother was dead, but I was pleased with my performance, so I went to the court of Cosimo III, and I became a nanny and a female officer for his children, and now here I am." ”

"What did your grandfather want you to achieve? apart from the power of bishop appointments and dismissals. ”

"Clement X is eighty-four years old, he can only hold out for a year or two at most, and you know that a cardinal of France will never be elected pope. ”

"Is your grandfather sure?"

"It's great, Your Majesty, and if you have your support, it's even greater. Madame d'aubigne said, "France will need an ally." ”

"Leopold I had asked Cosimo III to sign an alliance with him, do you know what Cosimo III had to say to him?" he said. 'Your Majesty, I would love to be an ally with you, but I am afraid that before the ink on the papers has dried up, Louis XIV's army has entered Florence. I can also give this to your grandfather, Leopold I would not have just watched the Church of Rome lean in favor of France, and as soon as the so-called covenant was signed, Leopold I's army would greet the Pope in the square of St. Peter's Basilica. ”

"Alas," said Madame d'aubigne, calmly and kindly, "you remember only the world of the watch, and have you forgotten that you have another world?"

Louis was a little surprised. "Has the Church of Rome fallen to this point?" he asked.

"You should have answered this question thirty years ago, you know that your first royal lady, of course, is not public, Marie Mancini was a witch, but she was also the niece of the bishop, and of course the Church of Rome knew about it. ”

"I have been looking for someone who can give me an answer for the past thirty years," Louis looked at Madame d'Aubigne, "what kind of existence are the wizards and the Roman Church, the inner world and the outer world, and what kind of connection do they have?"

————

At a time when the King of France was asking Madame d'Aubigne, hoping that a question that had been on his mind for a long time could be answered, in Toledo, Spain, the world of the world and the world of the table overlapped at this moment.

The two kings (Isabella I and Ferdinand II), who had built countless burnings at the stake, must not have imagined that only one hundred and twenty years later, the wizards they had banished to the Low Countries would reappear in the Spanish court, almost all of them dark wizards, who were either powerful or lucky enough to refuse to obey Bosch's orders and escape from Louis XIV's grate-like pursuit.

The Queen Mother and the Prince Regent of Spain stood on either side of the king's bed, staring without saying a word at the bottle in the wizard's hand, the potion that resembled half-coagulated blood looked extremely evil, not to mention the living leeches inside, writhing happily, as if they were also honored by their sacrifice.

"Is this the one?" asked the Queen Mother uneasily, her hand subconsciously grasping the rosary on her chest, and releasing it as if it had been burned.

"This is the only one," said the wizard, who was accustomed to seeing mortals behave like this, so he was not angry: "It will make your son, the king of Spain, healthy and long-lived." ”

"How long?" asked the Regent.

"Until he can have sex with the bride. The wizard replied.

"That's enough," muttered the Regent, "take it." ”