I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 71 The Lucky D'Artagnan and the Unfortunate Queen of Sweden

   The beautiful head rolled on the ground until it touched D'Artagnan's feet, and D'Artagnan watched as it turned to black ashes beside his boots.

The monsters that surround them are also seized by the darkness, which they once gladly saw, because it was a sign of fat blood, and now it is their shroud, which once made D'Artagnan The terrified monster that fought with Colbert died without a single howl, and died in agony, disappeared, leaving no trace, and D'Artagnan swore that he had heard a strange word, similar to that of the English. "Coward" or "Coward", but there is a slight difference, or because the person who pronounced the word is really elegant and gentle, not like a rude Englishman.

This conjecture was corroborated in the next moment, because the man who came out of the dark... No, he was not even a man, he was also a vampire, and his red eyes were like a business card to indicate his identity, and he did not show the scorpion Fang did not show his teeth and claws, but the sense of oppression brought to D'Artagnan was far stronger than that of the enthusiastic proprietress.

   "Good evening, gentlemen," he said, looking at the sky, "It's a good day for swimming today."

"You are right, monsieur," said D'Artagnan, admiring himself: "although it is not what we wished, it is quite pleasant to swim in the river in this weather--you think we should go down. Take a walk? Or no, or should we thank you?"

The vampire glanced at d'Artagnan, and he realized that not only the young king, but also many wonderful people around him: "No, my dear friend, I don't need to watch you go down and swim, and there is no reason for you to do so. need, but I hope you can thank me."

   "As long as I can."

   "You can," said the vampire, "I want you to apologize to your majesty on my behalf."

   "What have you done that requires the king to forgive you?"

   "A visit that was too reckless." The vampire said: "I admit that I was too impulsive at the time, but fortunately someone stopped me."

   "I can only tell you." D'Artagnan said: "Only the king can decide whether to forgive you or not."

"Bold boy!" said the vampire in surprise and delight, "I'm going to like you." Just when D'Artagnan couldn't understand this sentence, a pair of cold hands were placed on his neck On, he immediately thought of how the hand had easily broken the neck that seemed to be wrapped in thick cowhide - D'Artagnan still remembered how hard it was for him to pierce the dagger into the opponent's chest, he Immediately froze: "Tell your king, Amon greets him," the vampire's voice sounded in his ear, "Please allow me to express my sincere apologies to him, tell him, tell your majesty, Amon, and the Zmish family are always at his call."

After speaking, he let go of D'Artagnan's neck, as if in a split second, the vampire had returned to its original position, as if he had never left, he stood up straight, his collar in the black night wind Flipping up and down like moth wings, this was the last image he had left in D'Artagnan's eyes, and then he disappeared.

D'Artagnan and Colbert stayed in place for a while before they could move. It was a very colorful night, they all thought, but since they were still alive, it was a good thing. D'Artagnan found someone. The vines tied his shirt, so that at least he didn't have to walk in front of people naked in some places that would be shielded, and Colbert, who was relatively neatly dressed, tightened his clothes - he also only had a pair of pants, and he could only feel wronged. D'Artagnan was soaking wet, and the wind was blowing cold, and Colbert sneezed constantly, thinking that he would have a fever the next day.

  ———

  Amon didn't go too far.

He could even watch D'Artagnan and Colbert move slowly away, the moon pushing away the clouds and casting a silvery light, but it was quickly blocked by a dense swarm after swarm of little dark shadows, bats They landed in front of Amon and turned into three vampires. They respectfully saluted Amon, their prince, "Do you know which group it is?" He asked, "Revno or Assamai?"

   "Revnor." The vampire added: "Old Levnor."

"I think so too, Assamai doesn't bother to deal with a mortal." Amon said, "and even Levnor wouldn't make offspring so casually. It's very close to Paris. Go and tell Theoderic that there are Vampires are making pariahs, and that's under his jurisdiction."

As a member of the demon party in the blood family, Amon never cares whether there are vampires who create untouchables on a large scale - but the leader of the secret party, Prince Vandra, Theoderic will definitely be very concerned about this, because untouchables are often an extremely difficult existence. .

In vampires, untouchables are vampires who do not belong to any clan, who were either banished from their own clan, or were created without the permission of the prince, or who were just created by their "father" or It was the "mother" who had an accident, or abandoned them on purpose (this is often done by members of the Demon Party), and sometimes they also took revenge - for example, hurting the priests of the vampires or their descendants, the priest's Relatives and lovers, etc., the vampires will intentionally kiss them, and then watch each other in a painful dilemma - but in any case, they are some beasts who have not received any teaching, like tonight's assassin, she is one A pariah from Levno.

She doesn't even know the correct way to kiss. It's very possible that she directly made people drink her own blood, so there are these monsters, but these monsters are just some useless maggots - Amon thought, "Know who it is. Did you hire her?"

   "Duke Gaston of Orleans," said the prince's servant.

   "I think so too." Amon clapped his hands happily, "It's wonderful, it's not worth my time following them, now we have to wait..."

   "To Paris?" said one of the servants boldly.

"Maybe, for the time being... not going." Amon said regretfully: "Theoderic will definitely try to clean up the entire Paris Basin after knowing this. It will become very noisy here. I hate noise, so we..." He circled his fingers in the air and paused for a while: "Oh, no, wait, I think... I think, we should go to Paris!" He screamed, "Yes, Paris! "

  His servants were used to Amon's neurotic changes, and were not surprised that he had changed his mind in a matter of seconds, so they just cheered—of course they preferred Paris!

  The clouds swept across the moon, maybe for a moment, but in that moment, the shadows turned into thousands of bats, flapping their wings, rushing into the air, towards Paris.

  ————

  The people of Paris are also waiting.

They are waiting for the Queen of Sweden, or the Queen of Sweden who has abdicated, Christina Augusta, but she can still be called Madame because she also owns Norrkoping, Gotland, and Ossel. , Pomerania and other places, and the King of Sweden, her cousin still has to pay her a certain amount, so she is still a rich and powerful woman except that she no longer owns Sweden.

But for some people in Paris, Christina's arrival has another profound meaning, because for the king and the bishop of Mazarin, their three greatest enemies, the Prince of Condé, the Duke of Gaston and the High Court They have all succumbed to their seats, the king is an adult, but Mr. Bishop is also in his prime, so now the question arises, whether Mr. Bishop is willing to give up the power in his hand, and whether the king is willing to continue his authority in the hands of others where?

The arrival of the former Queen of Sweden has become the best litmus test. If Christina goes to Paris and the first person she sees is the king, then it shows that the king has won the war. If she goes to see the bishop first, it shows that Mr. Bishop remains unshakable, so their winds will also turn.

This is what troubles Christina Augusta, or rather, Christina Alexandra (whose surname she changed after converting from Protestantism to Catholicism), who came to Paris according to etiquette and tradition , should go to see the king as soon as possible, but the letter from the protagonist to her that he intends to make her queen of Naples makes Christina hesitant - of course, as a worshiper of Alexander the Great, even taking his surname as a surname For a woman who is not a woman, Christina did not intend to give up the Swedish throne, but was forced to do it under the triple oppression of the Protestant church, bankers and businessmen in her country, and the lords. Her ambition has not been extinguished. , on the contrary, it burned more and more vigorously.

The problem is that she also needs the support of the French king. Since she has only left Sweden for a long time, the income of the territory and the cost promised by the current Swedish king have been reduced to a terrible point. Her attendants even need to split the wooden door to make a fire to keep warm. , she herself has had a rather embarrassing time, she needs the French king to mediate from it - and if she wants to become the queen of Naples, she also needs to bribe nobles, raise officials and prepare troops, all of which require money, and a lot of money money.

   In the end, it was Mr. Bishop who helped her solve the problem. A messenger arrived on Pegasus before she entered Paris and delivered a letter from Mr. Bishop.

   Bishop Mazarin asked her to go to see the king first.

   (end of this chapter)