I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 556 Farewell, Mrs. Montespan (middle)

Mrs. Montespan prided herself on the fact that she knew the king very well, she denied all the charges read by Barras, and that Father Anselmo had no real proof that she knew the whole ceremony well—even if the latter was true. . But even if she admits that she knows the content of the mass, the accusation she gets will not kill her. As I said before, the priest presides over the mass. In order to ensure the sense of mystery and gain the trust of the noble lady, he intentionally makes this process The rendering is extremely cumbersome, mysterious and unpredictable, and all the materials are also prepared by him and the deacon.

Fortunately, Paris now has patrols and spies in both the outer world and the inner world. Compared with the outer world, the police and soldiers in the inner world are more vigilant and tired, because compared to the outer world, the thugs only target people's pockets. If the wizards commit crimes, there may be nothing left of a person, please note, a whole person, not a person's "body".

   But the king never stingy with his money and power in this regard, the wizards of the inner world can even face Nofele with his support, not to mention the dark wizards who are empty and have no place to live. In the ten years after the king came into power, the world of Paris was completely cleared. In addition, the slums were also banned, the street lights were always on, and everyone (including those tourists) had to register their identity as soon as they entered Paris. Guarantors are also needed. The rampant crimes in the past have gradually disappeared, so that today's young people, when they hear their parents say that the people of the past can't wait to hide in their homes as soon as the sun goes down, so as not to be killed. amazed.

Under such severe crackdown, even doctors can't buy corpses for medical research privately from others. Although their original intentions are good, there are always people who take risks for money, especially the fresher the corpse, the more valuable it is. Under these circumstances, no one knows whether a corpse with a broken head and a strangled neck really fell or killed itself in pain and despair.

Therefore, even Father Anselmo, the only charges he has to bear are three charges of desecrating a body, invading a private residence (cemetery), stealing and polluting other people's belongings (he stole the cross and altar from the church). These three charges The counts, even if added together, would not have killed him—Mrs. Montespan was right that black mass was not illegal in the king's code.

When Father Anselmo heard the verdict, he was soft to the ground. It was not fear, but joy. He was going to serve ten years of hard labor in the mines of Lorraine. This was also one of the usual punishments for these inhumans. After all, Lorraine It may be the area with the highest concentration of wizards in the port cities after Paris, Versailles, and Calais. A group of wizards who don't like war stay there, and together with scholars, they contribute to the king's inner library and let them come. Supervising wizards, werewolves, and criminals of vampires couldn't be better.

The physique of wizards has always been higher than that of mortals, and so is the life expectancy. Father Anselmo is only forty or fifty years old now. After ten years of hard labor, he can still find a quiet little village to spend the rest of his life—seriously, if he hadn’t come to find him His person is Madame Montespan, and he may not make such a big bet. France is the most friendly country to wizards.

Father Anselmo's servants and aides were also sentenced to varying degrees. They all showed joyful expressions. When they finally looked at each other with the priest, they all saw comfort in each other's eyes. How lucky they were to arrive. In the end, still no one has the courage to kill people, or they would definitely be...

When several people looked at Mrs. Montespan again, they couldn't help but take a little pity. Mrs. Montespan sneered and didn't even look at them - of course what she wanted was not just another child, but the Black Mass also The people outside rushed in before the end, and for this reason, they didn't know—even if they did, they didn't have any credentials.

"The evidence of your crime is conclusive," said Ballas, "even if you know nothing about the materials of the Black Mass, Madame, you are lying in the family burial place of Prince Conti and His Majesty Ludwig I. "The best place to hold a black mass is St. Denis Cathedral, where the royal cemetery is located. The problem is that the Cathedral of St. Denis now has more than a dozen members of Era's family. They are grateful for the king's care for the family and naturally do their best. Not to mention a few ascetic monks inside.

So Mrs. Montespan had to settle for the next best thing and changed it to the domain of the Condé family... The surname of Bourbon came from the Prince of Condé (Henry IV was originally the Prince of Condé, and later moved to Valois. Royal family), the Condé family can be as early as 1487, so the history of this cemetery is older than the Bourbon in Paris.

  Prince Conti, even if it was absurd, would not want Madame Montespan to go to her family's cemetery and chapel to hold a black mass, so it must be a crime.

And because the blood of the baby was taken out by Mrs. Montespan, the desecration of the corpse could not escape. Mrs. Montespan nodded expressionlessly and admitted it, but what does it matter, she is the daughter of the duke , such charges can be redeemed with ransom.

"Next, ma'am," Ballas glanced at the file again, as if to ensure that what he saw was true: "You are accused of attempting to murder the Duke of Vendôme and Mademoiselle Angelique Lucelle. "

Madame Montespan raised her chin slightly: "I don't know what you're talking about, why would I murder them? The Duke of Vendôme is my best friend, we get along very well, often walking and talking in the courtyard of Versailles. , and that... Angelique, I don't know her at all."

"Because the Duke of Vendôme wants to propose a newcomer to the king." Prince Conti said, he is the Bourbon, second only to the Duke of Orleans, the closest person to the king, and a master of flowers, no matter what People are excluded, and they will not forget him - when he knew that someone was poisoning the Duke of Vendome, he was afraid for a while. He was originally the Duke of Vendome, but who made him too romantic Well, they really wanted to choose a flawless lady for His Majesty. "It's the daughter of Count Luselle, one of the targets of your murder."

Madame Montespan rolled her eyes, not her neck or body—looking at him, Prince Conti couldn't help shuddering. "Didn't the king reject her," she said, "why should I treat her? start?"

"What a young girl that is." A voice sounded, and people couldn't help but be surprised when they looked over. It turned out that this person was the royal doctor by the king's side, Varo Vesalius, although Mrs. Montespan told him Has done very cruel things, but as a father, he never complained or held grudges - and always gave as much as he could.

He has healed and rescued many people around the king, so when Mrs. Montespan came to the king, many people (guards and servants) used this to reciprocate and love the house and Wu, but Mrs. Montespan always thought that this It is because of his own charm that he never takes it to heart.

   But everyone else knew that Vesalius loved his daughter.

"How young she is," said Varro, his eyes full of pain: "you may still be beautiful, child, but you are old, and your soul grows old in vanity and turbulence, and this oldness grows out of your body Seems from the depths, it can't be undone by any medicine or magic, I've seen how you stare at those young girls, you humiliate them, torture them, drive them away from the king, even if you know your majesty I won't want them - but Angelique is different, she was officially pushed before the king, with the support of the Bourbons behind her, and even the queen has agreed to make her her maid..."

   He lowered his head slightly: "Your Majesty did refuse once, but does that mean he won't accept it? We will believe it, but you won't. You are trembling with fear, and trembling with hatred... You..."

   "So you include the Duke of Vendôme," said the Duke of Mortmar wearily. "Although you know that the Duke is just a representative, you can't hold back your hatred."

   "You're so smart," Vesalius continued, "It wasn't this crime, my daughter, I didn't even know you inherited my talent."

Louie's eyes couldn't help but fall on the information in his hand - Mrs. Montespan has never shown a talent for potions or an interest in medicine, but now it seems that her talent is not inferior to that of her father who was abandoned by her, When she poisoned the Duke of Vendôme and Angelique, she used a material that did not belong to the inner world, but was also very fresh in the outer world - nicotine.

Nicotine is a toxin quenched from tobacco, and tobacco was first grown by Indians. Immigrants and adventurers learned to smoke pipes from the Indians and brought tobacco back to Europa in the last ten years. It was not fatal to smoke tobacco in a pipe, or even chew it in the mouth. Vesalius wondered how Mrs. Montespan could find an accomplice in such a seemingly innocuous thing.

He didn't know about nicotine, but since the hunting of Fontainebleau, Madame Montespan has been stared at by hundreds of pairs of eyes, and no matter what she does, it will not succeed - but know this kind of thing Afterwards, people could not help but let out a cold sweat.

Three ounces of nicotine had been added to the Duke of Vendôme's nightcap, and at least five ounces had been added to Mademoiselle Angelique's cream—judging from the remaining drugs in the bottles recovered by the valet, the smoke Alkali is an almost translucent oily liquid with almost no smell or taste. Even if there is, the Duke of Vendome is a rum with honey added, and the strong sweetness is enough to mask any odor.

  Because Angelique was expected to be the king's lover by the family early in the morning, of course, the care for the skin is bloody, and nicotine can be absorbed through the skin. Vesalius experimented and found that just one ounce of nicotine was enough to kill. Its symptoms are again headache, vomiting and confusion, the Duke of Vendôme drinking before going to bed, Miss Angelique rubbing cream all over before going to bed - there is little chance of recovery - it takes just to figure out if they are sick or poisoned Not a short time.

Mrs. Montespan heard that they were all right, and couldn't help showing a grim look, but it was fleeting, and she smiled again: "I don't understand what you are talking about, I don't know what nicotine is, maybe someone You want to testify against me, but Your Majesty." She looked at Louis XIV defiantly: "You can ask them, did I say that this is poison, do you want them to be murderers?"

   "No." Louis replied calmly.

Mrs. Montespan was not her mother, and she wasn't attractive enough to cost her the most important life, and she told those people that it was just some potion that would make you go to bed earlier and get a rash all over the body - the former is not good for her. The Duke of Vendôme, the latter to Mademoiselle Angelique, because she was going to win back the heart of His Majesty the King that night, for fear of being disturbed.

Those people were greedy for a huge payment promised by Mrs. Montespan, and they also tried the medicine—they didn’t even think that the effect of the medicine was closely related to the dose, seeing that the animals used for the experiment were only Falling asleep, they agreed.

   But then, now they don't have the most important testimony, and like Father Anselmo, they can't prove that Mrs. Montespan knew that nicotine was deadly.

   Mrs. Montespan smiled smugly: "You want justice, Your Majesty, it's just a little joke. If you insist, I'm willing to apologize to them."

She knew that she would never be able to return to Versailles, so she was so mad, as if it could make Louis XIV angry, and she would be happy, but the king just looked at the Duke of Mortmar, and the Duke bowed silently and went to the door. Going out, Mrs. Montespan felt a trace of unease in her heart, she encouraged herself, it's okay, it's okay, she was very careful and didn't leave any evidence.

The Duke of Mortmar came back soon, and the jailer helped him move a skeletonized corpse and put it on a table that had also been brought in. Vesalius stepped forward and lifted the skeleton covered with the skeleton. Linen cloth, and then poured a bottle of medicine on it, and the purple smoke rose suddenly, spreading from top to bottom—clearly from the mouth to the throat, then the stomach and intestines, and finally spread to the whole body.

   "Once you know what it is, it's easier to be sure." Vesalius said, not looking at Madame Montespan's vicious eyes.

   "This is your husband, Marquis de Montespan," said Louis. "We didn't notice it at the time—the timing of his death was too coincidental."

   "...evidence..." Mrs. Montespan said after a moment of silence.

   "There is no proof that you killed him." Louie said before Mrs. Montespan laughed, "But we have witnesses."

   "They saw you put poison in your husband's cup."

   (end of this chapter)