I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 167 Hofburg (3)

A little unpleasantness was wiped from his face by Prince Conti in an instant, and Milady didn't seem to notice it. Come, so do you have any information that even I don't know?"

   "I can only say that I may have heard some rumors that I don't know if they are true." Milady said: "I hope they can help you."

   "Please tell me."

   "Speaking of which, the Austrians really hate the French. It is no exaggeration to say," Milady waved his hand softly. "My identity here is also from a widow in Rome, Italy."

   "Can't even your charm convince those Austrians," said Prince Conti, leaning over to fill the lady with a glass of mulled wine: "Although I know they reject almost everything in France."

"Except for the wig," Milady said, and the two of them looked at each other and laughed. Indeed, from their King Louis to their younger brother Philip, they all had beautiful, thick, fluffy hair. After putting his aesthetic to work on women, men began to have long and curly hair too, but the fad was initially disdainful and contemptuous by the Austrians, they say, This hairstyle is obviously unmanly, after all, the Austrian aesthetic still stays here in Spain at this time.

But as the only one who accepted this fashion first, Leopold I, because of hereditary diseases, the hair volume of this majesty has been quite worrying since he was a child, and when he grew up, he often wore a hat To hide his increasingly luminous forehead, his barber was always very careful to carefully fix all the hair on the entire skull with hair oil in turn, trying not to appear empty areas - with curls, the coverage of the hair is It suddenly grew bigger, not only looked a lot denser, but also made people look extraordinarily young, and in terms of current physiognomy, a head of beautiful hair can not only add color to the appearance, but also show strong vitality.

But there is also a problem with curly hair, that is, the damage to the hair is inevitable, especially when there are no chemicals and only tongs can be used to curl the hair. Soon Leopold I discovered that this was also a French conspiracy, Fortunately, his barber quickly found a solution, and that was a wig.

  So in the court of Leopold I, although there was almost nothing French, only wigs were indispensable.

   "Then do you know who first gave this advice to His Majesty Leopold I?" said Milady.

"Who?"

   "Olympia Mancini."

   "Oh," Prince Conti jumped up when he heard this, "how is that possible?!" He shouted: "That's the Countess of Soissons!"

   "Well, that's why she is qualified to be the royal wife of Leopold I."

   "But isn't that His Majesty's royal lady..." Prince Conti said angrily, because he had courted and presented the lady more than once, hoping to open a gap from her.

"That one too," said Madame Milady, "but only that one is truly beloved." Only because Leopold I feared that the sister of the Countess of Soissons, Marie Manche, would be used. Ni, the well-known royal wife of Louis XIV came to attack him, and was unwilling to have a relationship with Louis XIV at this ambiguous level, so the Countess of Soissons was also a secret, and it was the wig and curly hair. She revealed the clue that Milady should understand the psychology of the court and the men better than those noble ladies and even the "famous". As a king or emperor, if he is in power, as long as he shows a little bit, who can be in control Are those unpleasant things brought up in front of him intentionally or unintentionally?

But Leopold I wore a wig after his curly hair. If one of them said that there was no one who was articulate and eloquent, Milady would never believe it. When the lady of the royal family started to curl her hair, she was even later than the emperor, so it was impossible, so Milady arranged for a scout to be next to the emperor's groom. Sure enough, it didn't take long before they heard that the emperor often went to the distance A royal manor not far from Baden.

This practice was familiar to Milady, because this kind of behavior was not so stable and frequent three years ago, but it has become more and more regular in the past two years. They did not take the emperor to investigate when he went to the manor, but when he left Later, under the pretense of getting lost, he explored the situation inside, and the surprising thing happened. Milady not only found the Countess of Soissons inside, but also found a child, who was quite healthy and lively, with a handsome face. It has quite distinct Habsburg characteristics, that is, a square chin, but this chin is not as deformed as that of Leopold I and other members of the Habsburg, but it is slightly rigid, and it is also not suitable for a boy. Nothing bad.

Thinking that another Miss Mancini also has a king's eldest son, which makes Madame Milady horrified, she can also understand the thoughts of Leopold I, after all, the worrying health of the Habsburg members as long as they are Europas. We all know that, and that child is healthy and intelligent, it is no wonder that he is unwilling to give up this gift of God easily - but he has always been unwilling to publicly admit this child and his mother, I am afraid it is also because of his long-standing heart knot, maybe It is precisely because of this that he is apologetic to Olympia Mancini, the Countess of Soissons, who is wiser and calmer than her sister Marie. She knows very well that she should keep the emperor herself. What an attitude - so she was much happier than Marie Mancini.

But Milady will never tell Prince Conti about that child. Although an illegitimate child will never be eligible to inherit the throne, as long as it is used properly—look at Duke Don Juan, the illegitimate son of King Philip IV of Spain, he Didn't it become a dagger for the nations, causing chaos in a country that was once incomparably powerful to this day?

   "It's a bit outrageous," said Prince Conti. "The lady Mancini must have been a little aggrieved."

"To be honest, I don't think there's anything wrong with her," Milady saw through his plans at a glance, "that's not a fool, Your Highness, or, if she was really that stupid, she wouldn't be a fool at all. The emperor's sweetheart."

   "Oh, you seem to admire that Emperor very much."

   "Because that majesty has many similarities with our majesty," Milady tidied up the silk tassels of the fan: "Especially with regard to women.

   "Gentle and polite?"

"On the contrary." Milady said with a smile: "Mildness is only on the surface. In fact, they may be the most ruthless men I have ever seen. In their eyes, men and women may be the same, and there is nothing they can't take. To use it, and the things and people that can be seen by them must have something that others can’t reach.”

"You may be right about that," agreed Prince Conti, who, during his time in Vienna, had tried every means to get to know the Emperor, who, as far as he knew, was even better than them The king is more pure-hearted, except for the queen, there is only one royal lady, and this royal lady is not only a necessary decoration, but also has the important task of linking his vassals and winning over the princes, some emperors or emperors. She could do things that ministers couldn't do—now they knew there was a Countess of Soissons.

Here we also have to mention the complicated origins of the Countess of Soissons, because this title originally belonged to Louis XIII's cousin, who married the second son of the Duke of Savoy, her son Eugen Moe Rhys inherited her title and became Count of Soissons, although according to the French pronunciation, he should now be Eugène Maurice - Eugène Maurice is a natural soldier, and is now serving in the king's new army, The Countess of Soissons, who has not been in the territory for a long time, rarely pays attention to her wife, and is better at dealing with the love between men and women than her sisters, not only boldly became the lover of Leopold I, but also gave birth to him. gave birth to the eldest son, although the eldest son is still recognized as the heir to the earl - when Milady passed the news back to Paris through the raven, he knew this child, and unless Leopold I was willing to admit him, he would be afraid To be in a dilemma.

In Europa at this time, young girls must remain chaste until they give birth to the first child for their husbands. This is to uphold the unshakable primogeniture system, but it is not that no one dares to cross this bottom line. The former Mrs. Longueville That's it, but this is not only the misfortune of their husbands, but also the misfortune of their children. Just a few days ago, Milady heard that Jean-Louis Charles de Orleans, the eldest son of Anne Geneviève, had given up took his title and fortune, and became a Jesuit under the name of Abe de Orleans.

Poor Jean made the decision after hearing and confirming that he was not the child of his father, the Duke of Longueville, but the illegitimate child of his mother and his lover, the Duke of La Rochefoucault. He left it all to his younger brother. His younger brother, Charles, is a good young man, and he is also working under the king's command, but this unexpected gift will not make this upright person very happy. The Duchess of Longueville is even more so. It was grief, but fortunately she had won the king's forgiveness long ago, so Jean soon became a professor of theology at the French Academy, so that he would not be too far away from his mother, and he would not have to suffer too much.

   Just before Milady left, he was said to be refusing to see his mother, nor the Duke of La Rochefoucault, his real biological father.

   And what about the child who is also named Eugene Morris? What should he do in the future? Leopold I had his father's love for him, but he also had an emperor's plan, and his father was said to be quite valued by the king. In the subsequent battle of Flanders, he also assumed an important role. responsibility.

  Milady shook her head imperceptibly after opening the fan. These are not things she has to think about for the time being. The most important thing now is to win the neutrality of Austria for the king.

   "I want to ask something," Prince Conti asked: "I heard that you are an extraordinary lady."

   Milady glanced at him: "I have a lot of things out of the ordinary."

This sentence is really related to many aspects. Prince Conte leaned his body to make the atmosphere in the room a little more enthusiastic: "I mean, what can you do to make it easier for His Majesty the Emperor to persuade him? ?"

"If you mean those evil means," Milady said, "the king is with us, and the emperor will of course have them," otherwise Europa would have been in chaos, and the wizards and dark creatures in the world would not be so embarrassed , there are monks, bishops and wizards around the emperor - wizards often use other identities to cover up, but Milady knows only at a glance that those astrologers and alchemists are all wizards, and compared with those around the French king, They were older and more loyal, and she dared not act rashly.

   "Then we now know that there is such a lady," Prince Conti said with some disappointment: "So how can we influence Leopold I through her?"

   "You have seen Leopold I," Milady asked rhetorically: "What kind of man do you think he was?"

"Our king said a word," said Prince Conte, after pondering for a while, "if a man lacks something, he will try to show that he does not lack that thing." After a pause, he continued. He said: "When I first met him, His Majesty, he deliberately pretended to go hunting and won a big victory, but as far as I know, this emperor is not very good at and likes hunting, to be precise. He may be a little more fit than Carlos II, but definitely not as fit as our king."

"But he did it on purpose," said Milady. "He was about the same age as our king, who ruled a mighty kingdom, was the same defender of God, and even married a king's daughter, their daughter. The lover has the same last name - we can guess that, he has a strong competitive spirit, especially with our king."

   "But when it comes to Flanders and Spain, he is cautious," Prince Conte said.

   "Because it will strengthen France first, and then Austria," Milady said. "And he's probably less . . . reputation than our king."

"You mean they were supposed to be the patrons of Carlos II, forget it." Prince Conti said frivolously and meanly: "The reputation of the monarch is not there." Henry VIII was also accused of marriage. The Church of Rome was excommunicated, but no one can deny that he was a great king.

   "Our king may not care," said Milady, "but I have seen from the Countess of Soissons that her majesty is a man who desires glory and perfection."

   "Oh," said Prince Conte, and thought.

   (end of this chapter)