I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 582 The Last Elegy (middle)

   "Well, gentlemen," said the Duke of Orleans, "now give my brother and I some time alone."

  The three blood princes left quietly after hearing the words, the duke said before Louis had time to ask questions.

   "I'm going to die, brother."

   In one sentence, he completely suppressed Louis XIV's anger with just one sentence. It can only be said that the Duke of Orleans deserves to be the person who knows the Sun King best.

Yes, there are countless reasons that can be used to persuade the king. For example, after Carlos III officially took the lead, the French and Spaniards must have a power struggle; It is more turbulent than they imagined, and the clouds and fog locks; or else, the vampires will definitely not continue to stand on Louis XIV's side this time, and they are happy to enjoy when Louis XIV's enemies are only mortals or priests. The joy of killing, sipping hot blood, but if they were to target their own kind, unless Louis XIV was the Sabbat or the Prince of the Secret Party, only they had the power to order the vampires to kill each other.

No, the current situation is that if the Duke of Orleans fulfills his promise with Prince Uriel, he is the only descendant of Prince Uriel - even a proxy, and he can rule the whole of Morcawi, or as a future Prince Dealing with and negotiating with princes of other races, or ordering Carlos III to restore order in the dark, banish werewolves, dark wizards, and anything Louis XIV didn't want to do in the country of his youngest son .

On the contrary, Bourbon is equivalent to standing on the opposite side of Morkawi. Maybe Morkawi will be ridiculed for not being able to keep the family ancestral land, but looking at Amon, you will know that the loss of the ancestral land will certainly make the blood clan uneasy. , but it will not have a slight impact on their strength. More correctly, the impact will be more profound, because the blood clan without ancestral land will be scattered in all directions, and some guys who do not like to be restrained will take the opportunity to do whatever they want.

  Why are vampires more tricky than wizards and werewolves? Even the church has to find a way to live in peace with them? Precisely because if the blood races of the middle and lower ranks are out of control, or their princes are not in control, they will develop a large number of descendants without restriction, that is, the kind of deformed ones that the Count of D'Artagnan once encountered. Inferior species, they are just as irrational as beasts, they will not be satisfied in any case, and they do not know how to prevent their prey from being transformed. As long as there is such an inferior species, a village can be completely destroyed overnight.

To say whether such a terrible nightmare has ever come to the world, yes, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, when the Sabbat and the Secret Party held the first "Holy War", the Sabbat released a number of unrestricted Thousands of inferior species, the panic and death they brought, even forced the church, which had always avoided this matter, to admit the existence of vampires in 1484.

If Mokawi loses his ancestral land and refuses to "sanctuary" and "recognize" Spain, not only will their clansmen become crazy, but blood clans from other places will flock to this country that has lost its balance. Predation - Louis XIV had an army of wizards and priests, how could he resist such a **** wave? This is something that the most prosperous Roman church in the eleventh century could not do.

   This is a simple addition and subtraction. One plus one equals two, or even three or four; one minus one equals zero.

   But the Duke of Orleans also knew that now that his relatives and friends were leaving one by one, it was too difficult for his brother, Louis XIV, to continue to remain calm and rational, not to mention that that person was none other than him. He can only be glad that his brother is not a devout believer. The king may not give in before the interests and threats, but he will give in before his life.

   "What are you talking about?" Louis asked.

"Epilepsy." The Duke of Orleans pointed to his head: "I fell on a horse once in Lorraine, and later in Catalonia, I also fell once, but at that time I thought it was just a disease , and then, just over a year ago, when I was on tour in Orleans — I had a seizure."

  Louis believed in his younger brother, he would not lie to him, but there was still a rare confusion, "I haven't heard of it."

   "I told the wizards, priests and doctors around me that I wanted to tell you this personally."

"Impossible, you are obviously very healthy." Louis whispered, he always thought he was very lucky, obviously his father and mother are extremely close blood, but he and his brother, the descendants are still in good looks and healthy, there is no point The emergence of genetic diseases, but a voice is also saying that epilepsy is indeed one of the common diseases of children born to consanguineous marriages, and the incidence of epilepsy is not limited to children.

"The wizards may have medicines for epilepsy," the Duke of Orleans could hardly bear to continue when he saw Louis's twinkling eyes, "but your majesty, I have more than epilepsy, according to them, my brain may also be Something went wrong." He didn't want to say that as soon as Uriel saw him, he knew that his body was in big trouble, and the vampires are very sensitive to the breath of human life, "My situation will continue to deteriorate, maybe it is due to Can't see, maybe can't hear, maybe quadriplegic... maybe..."

"do not talk!"

   "Brother..." The Duke of Orleans said calmly: "Do you want me to accept that fate?"

   "I don't want to," Louie said through gritted teeth, "but I don't think this is the only way!"

   "It doesn't matter, this doesn't happen overnight, and I still have some time," the Duke of Orleans opened his hands and said in a tone that was akin to a rogue: "As you arrange."

  ————

To the surprise of the people in Versailles, the Duke of Orleans only returned to Versailles, and soon began to leave for Blois. If he was the only one, then some people might suspect that he was suspected by the king. This is normal, many people They were all waiting for this day, but then the king announced that he was going to tour the Blois Valley, and some people could not help but feel a little disappointed.

The Loire River meanders under the Paris Basin, nourishing the countless lands beside the river, and the Valois dynasty is rising from here, but when Louis XIV regarded it as the budding place of French modern medicine , people mention it again, and the Valois dynasty cannot be ranked first in the description column.

In the future, it will become a medical center that can shake the whole world, the latest equipment, the most advanced technology, the most exquisite research, the most complete clinical data... Research institutes, hospitals and sanatoriums are like pearls on a chain along the Loire. The river is scattered in the turquoise valley.

Anyone who wants to be a doctor has a yearning in his life, and that is to make a pilgrimage to the Loire Valley to see the rooms where their ancestors lived, the operating rooms and prescriptions used, the scribbled notes left behind. Wise spark.

But this came later, even though Louis XIV always attached great importance to medicine - the current medical technology and methods cannot even be described in modern times, even with the addition of wizards, in addition to herbal medicine and surgery, doctors also They are just a group of blind men groping in the dark. The only advantage is that with the help of the king, they will not be bound by religion.

   But a lot of research is not something they can continue with their eyes, fingers or ears, for example - the brain.

   Hundreds of years later, people's brains are still off-limits for doctors. Now it is even more impossible for the Duke of Orleans to recover as the king requested, and there is no guarantee that the epilepsy will not recur. As for the wizards...

"Your Majesty," Varo Vesalius said, "The Duke is not a wizard, and there is no medicine for this disease in wizards." Wizards' bodies are stronger and more perfect than mortals. Even if they are close relatives, they rarely appear. Genetic diseases or other diseases, so most of their medicines are used to detoxify, remove curses, and treat serious trauma... Of course, you can also use that kind of medicine that does not target the root cause, heals the lesion, and is only used to suppress the symptoms. , the kind of medicine the Duke calls "the cure" for epilepsy, but...

"It's like some nursing mothers mixed opium tincture in their milk to prevent their children from crying." Vesalius said with a wry smile, he also had no choice. He had known Louis XIV for many years, and his daughter still Louis gave birth to a son, so to speak, it was the first time that Louis XIV had exercised his prerogatives as king - unreasonable, but they also really had nothing to do with the Duke's illness, and almost no one among the wizards had epilepsy, certainly not Someone went to research potions and magic to cure it.

Louis turned his attention to the doctors. Little Lom took a deep breath and stood up. His father was the head of the imperial doctor who developed the protective suit. Little Lom did not have the talent of his father, but He is also a good and conscientious person. He has always been diligent and hard-working in his position. He is neither jealous of talents nor blindly stubborn. He has won the trust of the king and the royal family. In fact, the first time the Duke of Orleans had an epileptic seizure. , it was he who came for treatment.

  The king simply nodded.

"We... Your Majesty, do have some knowledge about epilepsy," he said cautiously: "We opened the heads of several patients who died of epileptic seizures, and indeed found some differences from ordinary people, and then we synthesized The old 'drilling method', Your Majesty, we made holes in the skull, and then crocheted that part of the brain of different colors and textures, so that the patient could calm down and not have seizures..."

Louie closed his eyes, "Don't talk about it." He knew that kind of treatment, it was just stealing the bell, like cutting off a wound on a finger that couldn't heal—only after the brain was destroyed , if the patient is lucky enough, it will only become extra docile and obedient, and it does appear to be "cured".

The doctors and wizards watched the king curse extremely rudely and put their hands on their head, while the Duke of Orleans beside him was calm and smiling, as if what was happening had nothing to do with him. .

   "Do you want to continue?" said the Duke.

   "Go on," Louis said, "I don't believe it - we have the most powerful and rich country in the world, you are my only brother, and even if you go to hell, I will pull you back!"

   "I'm so glad, brother," whispered the duke, "but I'm afraid you will be in vain."

Louis XIV did not return to Versailles. He handed over some government affairs to the Dauphin, Louis, and only asked him to send the most important and important things to Blois Castle. He accompanied the Duke of Orleans in the beautiful scenery. While recovering in the valley, he sent secret letters to Spain, Italy and Poland to find a cure for epilepsy, but he also thought--the Duke said, not only epilepsy, wizards and vampires said that the fire of the Duke's life was ominously beating-- The fire of life is weak in the man who has run out of oil, and the fire of life in the healthy man is strong, but both are stable, and the fire of life of the Duke is so fluctuating that he is in the midst of health and weakness. Time, like a kerosene lamp when it burns to the last bit of grease, the flame will suddenly become larger and smaller.

  In the tenth month, the Duke of Orleans suddenly invited the king to his suite: "There is something important for you to see," he said.

Louis XIV didn't notice what the duke was going to do. He watched his brother go to the window suspiciously, pulled the heavy curtain, pushed open the window, and the golden river was below. He paused for a few seconds, when the duke was like a When the lightning struck him and fell to the ground, he shouted and rushed over to hold his brother in his arms.

   Grand mal seizures are pretty scary.

The Duke of Orleans' body suddenly stood up, his arms and legs rolled back instead, his eyes turned upwards, the black part completely disappeared in his eyelids, and his throat gave out intermittent, like a beast-like cry, and it opened wide. At the limit, he even tore the corners of his mouth, and then his neck leaned forward strangely - at this time the doctor had already run over and stuffed the duke's mouth with a wooden stick wrapped in silk to prevent him from biting off the tip of his tongue.

   Someone came to help Louis, but Louis held the Duke's hand and was unwilling to let it go. "Please leave, Your Majesty," the doctor shouted, sweating profusely, "The Duke will hurt you!"

   The next moment, Louis was kicked in the shin by the Duke of Orleans. With the help of others, he stepped aside slightly, and the hand that held the Duke did not loosen. He was held tightly.

Four attendants assisted the doctor at the same time to ensure that the duke would not hurt himself in the event of a seizure - Louis looked desperately at his brother, the duke had never been so embarrassed, he had always been delicate and beautiful, but now, he His hair was disheveled, his face was twisted, his limbs and body were like a slaughtered eel that suddenly tightened and then straightened, he spasmed for dozens of seconds, or for centuries, sweat and tears soaked his shirt, pale skin Slowly turning to an ugly grey-purple...

  Doctor took down the stick, and pink foam flowed from the Duke's mouth and nose.

   What finally broke Louie was the embarrassing smell he smelled—"Your Majesty," the doctor said calmly: "Incontinence is very common after major maladies."

   "Okay!" he shouted in dismay: "Okay, I promise you, brother, I promise you!"

   (end of this chapter)