I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 465 Scarlet City (middle)

   Father Clarice sighed.

"One more thing," said the priest, "honored sir, it stands to reason that we should have a valet for you, but now Roussillon, a young and strong Catalan may be drafted into the army at any moment, Such a person will not only fail to serve you to the fullest, but will attract extra attention - so we can only arrange a maid for you."

The Duke of Orleans has always been pampered except during the riots of the Fronds, but a man who has been on the battlefield will not be picky when necessary. He even came to Roussillon alone and incognito. Would he still care about serving Is the person male or female?

   But the priest still has to apologize, after all, for the nobles, the maids should stay in the kitchen and laundry room where no one can see, and only male servants are allowed to enter and leave the hall.

  The maid entered the room after the priest had left. She was a young girl in her twenties. After the Duke glanced at her, he looked sideways for a while - because the attitude of the other party was a bit unexpected. We all know that King Louis XIV of France is as dazzling as his title, the Sun King. And his brother, the Duke of Orleans, is called the bright moon, and his beauty is even more than that of his brother. People are more afraid of his brother, but admire this brother.

  If an ordinary person, being able to serve this duke closely would be considered a blessing in three lifetimes, if the duke intends to get close, I am afraid that no one will be able to resist.

   But the girl named Gemma looked at him as if she was looking at a piece of furniture or a vessel, without admiration, fear, or even curiosity.

   "Gemma," said the Duke.

   She came over, bowed her knees, and did not speak.

"Why don't you speak? Do you speak French?" Near the Pyrenees, there are not many Catalans who can speak French. After all, their businessmen have been doing business with the French in Provence for a long time: "Or should I speak Spanish?"

Gemma smiled, but the smile wasn't from the heart, it was just a... polite or mechanical feedback, she raised her hand, lifted the scarf, and showed the duke a knife mark on her neck, the scar like It was an ugly bug crawling on the girl's delicate skin. When the duke saw it, he knew that the wound under the scar might have hurt the opponent's throat. , but there are not a few people who lose their voice due to vocal cord rupture.

   "What can you do for me?" asked the duke, also testing, those Catalans have some sincerity towards France.

   Gemma pointed to her lips, pulled up her clothes again, looked at the bed, and took out an embroidered money bag.

   "I see." The duke gave her a silver peso. The silver peso is the currency of the Spaniards. It is not impossible for a young girl like Gemma to appear.

She took the duke's reward, and went back to her work - boiled drinking water, cheese in a wooden box, a shabby cloak, a few pieces of linen, a felt blanket, all of which would not cause too much trouble. Pay more attention to the daily necessities, but everything is extremely clean and fresh - it seems that the Catalans have also carefully understood the duke's preferences.

   When the duke went to the copper basin, soaked the linen with warm water, and began to wipe his face and neck, Gemma quietly stepped back, clutching the silver peso tightly in her hand.

  ————

  In an underground wine cellar not far from this chapel, the leaders of the resistance forces of Roussillon gathered together.

Apart from Tamarit, the most powerful speaker here is Father Clarice, who was arguing with the crowd when Gemma came to the door: whether the Duke of Orleans should be involved in the subsequent riot; and whether they should continue their original plan.

The plan after    can be put on hold for the time being. After all, Roussillon is still in the hands of the Spaniards. They have to take the first step before they can take the second step, but some people say that at least they should respect the duke more.

Father    was silent for a while: "That gentleman is not a person who cares about these little things."

   "There are many good girls in Roussillon," said a dark-skinned middle-aged man, "why let a devil accompany the nobles around, if he knew about... those things, maybe he would think it was a shame."

   "You mean the sins of Gemma," said the priest, "but it is for this reason that Gemma is the most appropriate."

He stared at each other: "Roussillon does have a lot of good girls, but the problem is, you have also seen the Duke of Orleans, tell me, everyone, if such a beautiful and noble person from Paris and Versailles is willing to show warmth and affection , even made a promise—or a promise that is likely to be fulfilled. After all, we all know that the duke’s assets even exceed the treasury of France. Can your good girl control herself and not defect?” He smiled strangely: “ Maybe that's what you want?"

Several people avoided the attention of the priest, and the people here are also nobles in Catalonia, but how do the nobles in Catalonia compare with the nobles in Madrid, Toledo, and the nobles in Versailles? Did have some thoughts...especially considering what happened after the expulsion of the Castilians from Catalonia...

"Get rid of those superfluous thoughts," said the priest, "if you wish, we can think about it after success." He had to appease his restless colleagues first: "Is a proper marriage better than a sneaky marriage? Is it a good thing to have an affair?" He patiently said: "If you have such an idea, Gemma is also the most suitable person, not to mention the Duke, would she have such unrealistic expectations?"

   "How can we know what a devil thinks," someone muttered: "She is under your protection, and some people say that you treat her like a daughter, so there is no guarantee that she will not have any strange thoughts."

   "I promise not to." The priest said calmly: "She had Gallic disease before. In order to avoid festering and infection, we had to use a soldering iron. She is no longer qualified to be a woman."

   Everyone in the room could not help but let out a soft snort.

So when Gemma came in, most people uncharacteristically did not show disgust and hatred in their eyes, just as if she didn't exist - some people looked at the priest, they once thought that the priest took Gemma because he was too merciful, but Now it seems…

Gemma gestured to tell the priest that the Duke of Orleans had been placed in place, and the priest looked as usual. After simply affirming her behavior, he told her to serve this honorable gentleman "with caution" and "Zhouxiang". , if there is any change, they must tell them the "nails" they have arranged to avoid accidents. It is less than a week before their uprising. During these few days, they can neither let the duke be discovered by the Spaniards, nor let him privately " leave", let alone intervene in the internal affairs of the Catalans.

No wonder there were people who objected to the priest putting Gemma next to the duke. Catalans are rebellious by nature, but they don't see women any differently than the Spaniards or the English French, and their concerns turn to the other side. One direction, how can a woman be able to do such an important thing?

   Gemma didn't seem to see their strange expressions. She took the priest's order and quickly returned to the Duke's side. At this time, the Duke had fallen asleep, and she was lying on the floor beside the bed.

  ———

  Without Gemma, or other servants, it is almost impossible for the Duke to spend these days in peace.

When he looked out through a telescope from the small window at the top of the church, he realized that there were not many young or prime-age Catalans walking outside on the streets of this city, as if in the minds of Spaniards It has been decided that Catalan men who are not in the army should be in the ranks of convicts, the Spanish patrols are constantly stepping on the road in front of the church, each soldier has a tired but proud look, they can Interrogate any Catalan as they please, no, it should be said, they can even break into any house to hunt or humiliate and blackmail the owner of the house if they want to.

   Outsiders are bound to be subject to detailed inspections.

Outsiders are easy to identify - Catalonia is not purely Europa, their bloodline is very complex - their ancestors are Phoenicians from Greece, Romans and Carthaginians from Italy, There is also a part of the Celts, and the most recognized product of the fusion of the Alans in the northern foot of the Caucasus and the Visigoths who were defeated and expelled by the Huns.

Therefore, the skin of the Catalans is definitely not as fair as that of the Europas in other places. Many people have dark hair, the facial features are not deep enough, and the facial contours are very soft, which is why, even if they were once in the war against the Moors Always standing in the forefront of China, famous for being brave and fearless, and becoming rich and prosperous because of monopolizing the business of the Western Mediterranean, the Spanish forces, mainly Castilians, still contemptuously call them "bad people", and Declared that they should not be blessed by God and should go to **** sooner rather than later.

For example, the governor of Roussillon is the leader of this kind of force, perhaps the Archbishop of Toledo or the Queen Mother worried that sending a benevolent governor will neglect to monitor and suppress the Catalans, so they are especially Carefully selected a greedy and violent guy, like a hungry hound, who exploited the Catalans of Roussillon, as the archbishop had expected, and was constantly fed private pocket.

  The taxation and servitude of the Spaniards to the Catalans are already very heavy, plus the third level of plunder... How miserable and desperate can be imagined.

The    Duke has only three small windows, but in the past two days he has seen more atrocities than the number of fingers on two hands.

Some of the outsiders may have a charter from the Governor of Roussillon to keep their freedom. Others, unfortunate people, will be thrown into prison or hanged. There is always no shortage of people swaying in the small square in front of the church. what.

   But those merchants and pilgrims could choose to stay away from Roussillon anyway, but the Roussillons could not.

The jackal-like governor of Roussillon is not so stupid for the Duke to see. While he keeps taking away young people from Roussillon and the surrounding areas, he is also planting his own people and recruiting mercenaries. These come from Italy. Familiar rogues and underlings of mercenaries, their looting makes Roussillon even worse.

   So one night, when the people of Roussillon suddenly sang a Catalan ballad, the riot began.

The duke had been watching what was going on outside, and when the fire lit the window, he turned over and got up—he couldn’t be as reckless as he was at Versailles in Roussillon—and grabbed his coat as soon as he raised his hand: “We want to Get out of here." He said to Gemma, "No matter what the priest ordered you to do, and what preparations you made, we are going to move to other places immediately."

   Gemma looked at him indifferently.

"I know you have your responsibilities, but it is because of your responsibilities that I ask you to take me out of here." The Duke methodically inserted the dagger, musket and dagger back into their proper places. , while saying: "The riots and the repression that followed are bound to bring chaos, and in the chaos people can or can do a lot of things they usually can't, and we can make a bet, Gemma, that someone will come soon. found us."

Gemma stood up, she took the duke out of the room, but did not let him leave the chapel, but took him to the altar, when the duke considered whether to kill Gemma, Gemma lifted the linen, Removing a stone brick on the side of the altar revealed a small opening, which they immediately hid in.

The Duke was a little hesitant at first. After all, the altar is so small that there is no hope of escape once it is discovered, but after a few seconds, the door of the church was immediately opened, and a group of people rushed in, one of whom ran familiarly. Went up the stairs to the top floor, but the man was not a priest, he came down quickly, and whispered to the other man: "They are not here!"

Another cursed immediately, and the duke heard him whisper "Gemma", Gemma moved, but the duke held her arm, but fortunately Gemma could only let out a low hiss , such a small and murky voice could not be heard by the people outside the thick stone bricks. Those people hesitated for a while, as if thinking about whether to continue to stay here, the head of the one shook his head: "There is no time. Now, let's go!"

It was dark and stuffy in the altar, the Duke of Orleans thought, it seems that as he expected, there are also different forces among the Catalans. As the younger brother of King Louis XIV of France, the Duke of Orleans, he is also a rare commodity, and those with ulterior motives The people who will definitely take this opportunity to try to hijack him, as for the next thing...

   He pressed his body against the cold stone wall and listened to the movement outside. The messy footsteps seemed to indicate that those people were leaving, but the sound of gunshots, shouts, and swords crashing down here in an instant indicated that they might have encountered the enemy.

   "Traitor!" Someone shouted!

The Duke    took a deep breath, which was another reason... No matter when or where, the profession inherited from Judas never seemed to disappear.

   (end of this chapter)