I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 583 The Last Elegy (Part 2)

When the Duke of Orleans woke up, there was a smell of anisette with opium tincture in his mouth. This is a wizard's wine. Although it can't cure epilepsy, it can relieve the pain and paralysis after a big attack. He turned his head slightly and saw In front of the window, the king and brother with their hands behind their backs.

When Louis XIV heard the sound, he turned around, walked to the bed, put his arms around his brother's shoulders, and watched the doctor measure his temperature, pulse, and tongue coating. It was rare for the duke to be obedient. After passing it off, when it was only him and the king, he laughed: "Brother, you are angry, right?"

"Why don't you make me angry like this?" As soon as the duke's situation stabilized, Louis XIV's rationality returned, and as soon as the connection was made and inferred, the king realized the mystery: "Prince Uriel, who was at the end of Carvey, I tried to kidnap and transform you on your way back from Catalonia, but Amon and Theodoric stopped me. At that time, I thought that the waves caused by Marcawi might not calm down so quickly, especially in the In Spain, people's perception of the Inquisition became worse after the evil incident of Carlos II broke out. Many priests were expelled or questioned. The dark wizards, bloods, and even monsters in the world should have A period of carnival is just right."

Louis waved his hand: "But no, my army and officials still want to quell the intermittent, large and small riots, but the world is still calm like a pool of stagnant water, then I thought, there must be a force controlling them, but Before I could do it, you gave me the answer - Philip, when you were in Catalonia, you reached an agreement with Marcawi, they suppressed the Spanish world for you, and you accepted their transformation."

The Duke    smiled and didn't say a word, he knew he wouldn't be able to hide it for long.

"I don't know how you originally planned to convince me, but you have epilepsy," Louis choked, "Maybe others will be struck by lightning, but it's a good opportunity for you, you know... you know, He suppressed the anger in his heart and said: "You know that now, I can accept any loss, but I can't lose you. I will do my best to restore it and break your agreement with Mokawi, so you use your life to come." Blackmail me!"

He suddenly withdrew his hand behind his brother, stood up, and took a few quick steps in the room: "Seeing that I was still reluctant to give up, you deliberately used the flash of the river to trigger a big attack, and you used your Pain and ugliness to persecute me and punish me! You know I can't watch you suffer!"

   "But why can't you have pity on your brother! I'm not Abel, I don't need to shed the blood of my relatives, I don't need to send my loved ones to the altar! Even if it is dedicated to God!"

   he whispered, pale with anger, looking more worrying than the Duke of Orleans lying on the bed.

   The Duke of Orleans was silent for a while, then he laughed. "But, Your Majesty," he said, "you are wrong."

   "You should trust your brother, I will not be a sacrifice, I will not leave my fate at the mercy of anyone," he whispered, with a sudden flash of light.

  The dull rumbling sound came immediately, and Louis was startled for a moment, and immediately ran over to pull up all the window curtains, lest the light of the lightning would trigger the Duke's attack again. The duke's smile deepened when he saw him do this: "It's been decades," he murmured, "and only you have never changed, Louis." Then he raised his voice slightly: "Is it going to rain? "

   "Yes." Louis said, covering his uneasiness. Lightning rolled in with dark clouds, and thunder cheered them up. This seemed to be the beginning of a tragedy.

   "What time is it?"

   "It's seven o'clock in the evening, are you hungry?"

   "I'm not hungry," said the duke, "but now this scene reminds me of when we were still in German-en-Laye."

Hearing that, Louis looked around, the room with the doors and windows closed, the candles flickering, only them, indeed, the two brothers were often together at that time. Philip was a sensitive and intelligent child since he was a child. To Louis, they spent more time together at the Château de Germain-en-Laye, and it was also at that time that Philip realized that the Queen Mother and the Bishop of Mazarin probably did not want him to compete with his brother in any way, and even deliberately used despicable names. Means - he is still three or four years old, but he is still wearing a skirt and dressed like a girl. Generally speaking, when he is six or seven years old, he should do the "trousers ceremony", but they have not mentioned it. .

So he avoided the attendant and ran to his brother. He wasn't sure if his brother would help him. If Louis didn't want to, or didn't understand, he would just say "listen to the queen and the bishop" in an understatement. , after all, even the king had to listen to these two people at that time.

But Louis didn't. Even if his brother didn't have any power, he still tried his best to win Philip the treatment he deserved. He didn't care that this kindness might become a sharp knife to his back in the future. .

   "You still remember, brother," the Duke patted the pillow beside him: "It seems that we haven't slept in the same bed for a long time."

"That's when we're not old enough to be crammed into one bed," Louie said, complaining that he hasn't showered yet, and the bedding will have to be changed, etc., while taking off his coat and boots and putting on his shirt. Lying down beside the duke with trousers, the duke just changed his shirt, they leaned together, pulling the blanket to their chin, "Don't think that I'll forget what you did to me." Louis muttered: "And I You can still regret it.”

"Do you know?"

"what?"

   "You've got a big bad habit," said the Duke. "You always think too well of some people that they're just as hampered by morals and emotions as you are. But it's not like that."

"Isn't that the case?" Louis laughed: "Do you still have to tell me that everything you did for me before was fake, disguised, and for your own benefit?" But what can be better than a crown? Is it worthwhile, don't you see that for this noble position, the father can kill the son, the elder sister can imprison the younger sister, and the brothers, uncles and nephews can fight each other at any time? People say he loves the Duke of Orleans too much, but who knows that those are less than a ten thousandth of the loyalty that the Duke of Orleans gave him? If Philip hadn't kept his childhood oath, let alone the Sun King, Louis XIV would have been "died" long ago when he was assassinated in Dunkirk.

"But I have ambition and selfishness." The duke closed his eyes and said, "I know that you have always held 120,000 trust in me, precisely because I rejected the position of king regent, but brother, at that time I'm just scared, I'm scared, I don't think I can take on such a heavy responsibility, I'm just a prudent coward, not a brave and steadfast knight like you and the people make me think."

He shook Louis's hand and did not let the king interrupt him: "This time I decided to accept the transformation and become a blood family, Your Majesty, yes, epilepsy is just an excuse, I have not yet feared death, fear of the ugly state of disease brought about to give up To the point of human power, but not as you think, for Bourbon-Spain and my little nephew, at least not all-although we would encounter some dangers and difficulties without Marcawi, but now France can fully support these losses."

   He turned his head and looked at Louis quietly: "Look, I understand."

   "Then why..."

"I want to try it too, brother." The duke said, "Speaking of which, it's all your fault. You let me and you receive the king's education, participate in important political affairs, and make great achievements on the battlefield," his voice said. Gradually became illusory: "People bowed to me with fear and respect, and not from my identity - from the king's brother, but from me, from Philip Bourbon..."

   "I still believe in you."

"But sometimes I get jealous, and I also fantasize. Even in my fantasies, I still can't stand by your side, but I also think, is this what I've been doing all my life? As your subordinate? The king's brother, the Duke of Orleans , a loyal general and minister? If only we were three hundred years ago, you would be a wise king, I would be an excellent lord, if there was a war, I would die for you, Without war, I exercise my power as a master on my fief."

"But this is not allowed by you," continued the duke, "not to mention the lord, now even a sailor in the port of Marseille will say that he is a Frenchman, a son of the king, and his master is only you, It can only be you—how well your priests and teachers have done, they have etched this thought into everyone's heart." He sighed: "No no no, Your Majesty, you deserve it , I don't feel unacceptable or sad, but sometimes, I can't help but feel a little dazed."

   "Then," he moved his body and got closer to Louis: "I feel that you not only want to cast your brilliance into every corner of the watch world - the world is also the territory you desire to capture."

   "It will take a long time."

"Yeah, it's very long, so long that we can't see it, our son and grandson may not be able to see it, we are not only facing wizards, but also blood races that have existed longer than them, but neither you nor I can Be sure, do our descendants have such courage and perseverance?" The duke shook his head slightly: "Let's not say anything else, my little Philip, and your little Louis, it is probably difficult for them to have the courage to face them. "People" like Amon and Uriel, even with your entrustment, will slowly give up their search for the inner world, and gradually stay away from and ignore them - as long as the inner world does not interfere with the outer world."

"But how can we indulge the breeding of poisonous flowers? Pin our hopes on the promises of others?" Louis said softly: "You can't completely destroy them, at least you have to be able to control them, or you will suffer from all kinds of backlash. Now France is glorious. , but there may not be times of weakness...especially when they have tasted the sweet taste of power." The Sun King could convince them - but perhaps only the Sun King - he paused: "Unless their fear can be maintained until further into the future."

   "Further?" the Duke asked curiously, "How far?"

"Technology as far as humans can make them invisible and lethal," Louie said, "but... yes, it's too far, brother, as you say, our grandson You may not even be able to witness such a scene.”

The Duke chewed the word "technology" secretly, "It's hard to imagine, but I think there should be such a day." Think about it, how many years has it taken for people to go from throwing stones to bows and arrows, and from bows and arrows to muskets? ? Maybe in a few hundred years, vampires and humans will swap the places of prey and hunter, "but not yet, right," he said, "so I want to try, brother, let me try, are you Sun, can I use your brilliance to become the moon that everyone looks up to in the dark?"

   "...What do you want to do?" Louis asked: "You know that once you accept the transformation, you will be exiled or even executed if you kill your relatives."

   "But I'm different, I'm your brother," said the duke grimly, "The parents of Makawi must accept this condition."

  Louis was silent for a while.

   "I will be the master of Morcawi," said the Duke of Orleans, "but it will not be my end, brother, Bourbon has no less than three crowns in the world, why can't there be one in the world?"

  ——

   News of the sudden death of the Duke of Orleans due to a seizure came to Paris a week later, and it was said that it rained heavily that night.

From the queen to the humblest fishmonger in Paris, in addition to being surprised and sad, they are all worried about whether His Majesty the King will be too sad and hurt his body because of the sudden death of his only younger brother - it is not that they do not love the brave and handsome Duke, but compared with the Duke, the well-being of the Sun King is obviously more important.

   "I think I can understand Philip's mood." Louis said bitterly to Bontang.

He might rejoice, as the duke said, if he were a fool and incompetent, like the son of the Duke of Vendôme; Hi, spend this life in chaos.

It was Louis who let him avoid such an unbearable fate. For this reason, he tried his best, only hoping to become a person who could stand by his brother. He almost did it, but at the same time, a subtle unwillingness was slowly slowing down. breed.

   He loves his brother, the country and the people, and he is unwilling to destroy everything now because of his ambition - but there is always something surging in his veins like lava.

  The Duke of Orleans knew he had to find an outlet for his lust.

  Prince Uriel of Mokawi thought he had just chosen a new prince who was impeccable in every way for the Clan before he went to sleep. He didn't know what kind of beast he had unleashed.

   Tomorrow's finale.

   (end of this chapter)