I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 581 The Last Elegy (Part 1)

"Tomorrow Philip will be in Paris," said Louis to Bontang. "Send a messenger and tell him to let him rest in Fontainebleau or the Louvre for a few days before coming back. Don't think you are a young man. Always getting carried away riding horses for days on end, gambling or dancing all night, it's time for him to cultivate himself."

"If Your Highness hears you say that," Bang Tang hides a smile, "he will complain resentfully, he always thinks what you said, go to bed before ten o'clock, wake up at seven o'clock, eat vegetables and drink less alcohol every day. It should be something someone of the age of the Viscount Turenne or the Duke of Vendôme should do.”

"But even the Duke of Vendôme and the Viscount Turenne are not obedient," said Louis, looking up from the stacks of documents, and he was a little helpless. In this era, people are afraid of death, and they are also afraid that they are destined to bring The aging that comes to die, whether it is a commoner or a prince, the older people are, the more they want to indulge in joy and indulgence, as if this can drive away the **** of death.

Also because Louis XIV was the Sun King, he would not be criticized for his temperate and regular life. If he were an ordinary person, he would be ridiculed like an ascetic, and people would think that he was impersonal and eccentric. .

"Then, Bontang," said Louis, "if he returns to Versailles at once, and if he stays in Fontainebleau or the Louvre, you must watch him for me, and don't let him throw a ball." He He raised his quill and pressed his chin: "No, wait, let the messenger tell him that he has been gone for so many days, and I miss him very much. Let him take the carriage back to Versailles."

   To the king's rare renegade, Bontang smiled knowingly, bowed and stepped back.

  ———

   "You have a good brother."

The Duke of Orleans turned his head and looked at the uninvited guest beside him. The carriage was galloping, and the moonlight was pouring in from the window, but he never caught the other's face, not even a finger: "It's not for this reason," he said softly. "Did you choose me?"

"Yeah..." The visitor said, "But this is not the only reason. Your Highness, you have the same ability and talent as your brother. If it was not Louis but Philip who was born in 1938, France might not be the same. It's worse now."

"You are very wrong to say that," said the Duke of Orleans, his eyes as cold as winter's swords: "if it were me, sir, you would not be here—I have no brother's forbearance, nor his Courage, for you..." He paused: "The unsettling factor, I will do my best to remove you from my world."

"You are very bold in this sentence alone," said the visitor, "but we have a common root system with human beings. We are two fruits on one branch, Your Highness, unless you kill all of them, Possibly destroying the descendants of Cain, you should know that, and so does your brother—although your brother is almost already the master of Europa, and people call him Caesar, like the first Caesar, who failed to But we, your brother is no exception, we will coexist with your permanent residence, even after a thousand years."

   "Therefore I compromise with you," said the Duke of Orleans.

   "What I am worried about now is whether your brother is willing to compromise with us." The visitor said, "But I have invited Prince Theoderic and Prince Amon to witness."

   "Yeah, after all, you are the same clan."

  The visitor glanced at the Duke of Orleans, but he still didn't say that.

  ————

The carriage drove into Versailles, it was already dark at this time, the Duke of Orleans looked up and stared at the full moon, he didn't know if his decision was a mistake, but sometimes, there are things you know are wrong, you still have to do it , even his brother Louis XIV, the sun king of Europa, could not avoid it, let alone him.

   "Is brother still in the study?" He could already see that the lights were still on.

"His Majesty has been busy recently with the official arrival of His Royal Highness Charles in Toledo." Bontang said in a low voice, "And Madrid also needs to form a strong administrative agency." To occupy quickly, if it is only for power and profit, it is fine, but if the remaining power of the Habsburgs is a very difficult problem.

"Yeah," the Duke of Orleans sighed strangely, letting Bontang look at it as if he was relieved: "The war is over, there is no doubt about the legitimacy of Carlos III - Spain should also be put on the right track. already."

   "It will be a long road," said Bontang, "but our little prince is still young, and he has a strong father and a trustworthy uncle."

   "So my brother should agree?" said the Duke of Orleans, "Bontang, I want to go to Toledo."

   Bontang looked up in surprise, but the Duke of Orleans was already striding towards the king's study: "Bring a pot of coffee! Bontang!"

Ten o'clock is only an hour away, Bontang whimpered in his heart, but the Duke of Orleans, his younger brother Philippe has always been special to His Majesty the King. Sure enough, when Bontang brought a large pot of coffee in, His Majesty was already there with the Duke. Under the service, he packed up his papers, wiped his face, and moved from the back chair behind the desk to a more comfortable armchair. It seemed that he was going to have a long conversation with the Duke.

   But Bontang can't remember when the duke became interested in Toledo, maybe when he was in Catalonia? He wasn't sure, especially when the duke suddenly turned his head and said apologetically, "Sorry, Bontang, you can't stay here."

   Bontang looked at His Majesty the King, Louis nodded, and Bontang withdrew.

After Bontang left, Louis looked at the Duke of Orleans. His brother and the embassy led by Eugene went through three consecutive coronation ceremonies and two funerals. They circled more than half of Europa and walked no less than twenty cities. He hadn't seen each other for a year, and he was eager to see his younger brother, but as the Duke of Orleans, he was the first to break Louis' convention, which was really unusual—even though Louis never changed his attitude towards Philip, The Duke has also been careful not to let any rumors and reckless behavior damage his relationship with Louis.

   "Your Majesty," after a period of silence, the Duke spoke first: "When do you plan to send Little Charles to Toledo?"

"You're going to talk about that," Louis said. The duke did mention it before. If possible, he wanted to accompany Charles to Toledo to be his navy or war minister, because of his status as the Duke of Orleans. , even the most stubborn Spaniard can't compete with him for this position, "I thought about it, but brother, I still want you to stay in Paris and Versailles."

Louis stared at the Duke's face. Philip still looked a bit like him, but he was more beautiful than handsome. They were both middle-aged now, but time was lenient to Louis and not so cruel to Philip—perhaps because In the past few months, the Duke has lost a little weight. The original soft facial contour has become clear, and there are some fine lines around the corners of his mouth and eyes, but this did not make him ugly, but took out Those parts that are too feminine make his temperament more awe-inspiring and sharp.

"Maybe at the age of eighty, someone will still fall for you, brother," Louis couldn't help saying: "I know you have big ambitions, but you have proved yourself more than once on the battlefield and at court. If you still want to Power, then I can give you Calais, or Nantes, or wherever you want, but Toledo..." He shook his head: "You may still be able to take it easy, but those cumbersome, I don't want to see my brother lose his beauty and longevity because of complicated, tiresome affairs that will make you work hard and damage your foundation, and Philip, especially my ministers, can do it for me."

The Duke pursed his lips, as if about to smile, but also as if about to cry, and then he said, "I'm sorry, brother, I've made a promise, and it's a very harsh oath, and I'm not going to break it."

The cup that the king put on his lips stopped, and with a soft click, it was put back in its place: "Who? Who is entitled to your promise, and make you swear? Those Catalans. "

The Duke    looked at his brother for a long time, "Your Majesty," he said, "You said before that your minister can solve all your troubles for you, but... that's only in this world, what about in another world?"

The air suddenly condensed, Louis looked at the Duke of Orleans, as if he didn't understand what he was talking about, the room was deadly silent, only the clock in the corner was still ticking, if not for the slight breathing, people You would have thought that the king and the duke had turned into frozen statues in an instant.

  I don't know how long it took before Louis shouted in a low voice, "Servant!"

This sentence is not for those mortals. He is calling for the wizards and priests who serve the king in turn. They are always patrolling in places that mortals can't see, and promise to be like Mary Mancini. , and even worse things will not happen again, they did save the king from many dangerous curses and murders - but tonight, at this moment, none of them appeared, silently, as if they didn't exist at all.

  Louis lowered his head and thought for a while, ignoring the Duke's pleading eyes for the first time: "Prince Theoderic!"

A chuckle came from the shadows that the moonlight couldn't reflect: "Look," said the voice, "Theoderic, do you regret it now? If you hadn't stopped me then... We have one now. A leader who can truly fight against humans."

  Amon appeared in front of the king, and he was still the beautiful boy with a smile. Time is lenient enough to Louis and Philip, but always favors, or curses, the blood family.

Thirty years is enough to turn a baby into a strong man or a plump woman, and it can turn them into a gray-haired, old-fashioned woman, but for him, rightly, for the blood That said, it was just a snap of the finger.

  Theodoric appeared next to Amon, and unlike Amon's ease and comfort, he looked worried and a little dazed.

  Louis's heart sank suddenly, not only sinking, but also sinking into a bottomless vortex, unable to find a place to focus.

If you want to talk about the other world, that is, the inner world, Louis must say that after Elarius, Gayola's wizards gave the key to master this mysterious power, he could control and persuade wizards and priests Yes, but in the inner world, there are also things that wizards have to fear and fear, and that is the blood race.

Unlike wizards and priests, vampires are a very special kind of existence. They are transformed from humans, but they feed on humans. The long time and undamaged bodies allow them to learn and exercise for a long time, so that they can even occasionally. They will lag behind humans, and they will catch up quickly. The most dangerous thing is that they can pick out the best among humans, transform him, and use the abilities of the blood race to ask him to surrender and serve the blood race. The thirst is also almost doomed that once transformed, the unfortunate human can no longer return to the human camp...

Amon has always longed for Louis. It is precisely because of Louis' noble blood, smart mind, and beautiful appearance that although the church in the outer world has made an agreement with the blood race in the inner world, Amon is a member of the Demon Party and disdains this kind of strict rules; Second, at that time, France was in a very chaotic moment. A child who was still underage died, and even if he was a king, it might not have caused much disturbance...

   Besides, he has a younger brother.

   "Why didn't I think of it?" Amon said, but he quickly pouted, "Maybe it's because I didn't like this guy very much from the beginning." He stared at the Duke of Orleans and said.

   "Then I'm the exact opposite, Prince Amon," said an elegant, cold, vaguely melancholy voice.

Unlike Amon, Theoderic, and even most blood princes, Prince Uriel of Mokawi is more like an elves and angels imagined by people, rather than a terrible vampire. He is walking with a delicate wind lamp. The moonlight passed through the glass and entered the room. There were transparent steps in the air. Every step he took was light and precise. His long silver hair swayed gently behind him, and the tiny bright spots like luminous dust kept falling.

His posture was even lower than that of Amon or Theoderic, and as soon as he fell to the ground, he turned to Louis, straight, without any compromise, and bowed him without the slightest hesitation, his head almost reaching Down to the chest, for a blood prince, it is simply unimaginable.

   But Amon and Theoderic did not show any surprises at all.

Louis didn't need to look any further to know that although these two blood princes were on his side, in front of the same family, they must still be on the blood family's side. There was horror and fear on his younger brother's face, but he only saw guilt.

   "No," said Louis.

   (end of this chapter)