I Am Louis XIV

  Chapter 490 The Wedding (Part 2)

"That's the way it is." Little Louis took the letter from Princess Isabella to him and said to the three most prominent women in the Palace of Versailles - the Queen Mother, the Queen and the Duchess of Montpensier. As for Montespan lady? Although she can also undertake some work related to this wedding, and is like a duck to water among the small and medium nobles and officials, but she is not qualified to know or contact such things.

"Isabella wrote back to me," Little Louie said. "She has made a decision—she wants to cancel the 'dressing ceremony', if something unpleasant happens in the future—she says that since she was born, she has Everything she encounters is like a test or torture. People who walk through purgatory will not be afraid of the burning coals. She is also stronger than any noble girl around her, and she will take any kind of challenge. Dare to face it—she thanked me for my... tolerance, and was willing to accept this gift." He took a deep breath: "And willing to accept all the rewards that come with it."

As soon as he finished speaking, the room fell silent for a few seconds. Amid the anxiety of the crown prince, the white-haired queen mother, who was dressed in roses and diamonds, glanced at the duchess in confusion, then turned to face the The queen said, "Purgatory? God, who knows what happened to that child? She's the princess of Portugal, isn't she?"

   "Probably the ones I have encountered." Queen Teresa said that the Queen Mother also became kind to the Queen in her old age, especially after Queen Teresa gave birth to Prince Charles. They are all princesses of the Habsburgs of Spain, but unfortunately they are not very close to their mother's family - this is also a common problem of princesses in this era, and the most miserable women are this. Full of vigilance.

   But when they think of their grandson, the son can go back to inherit the family and country that once abandoned them because of his mother's blood, the two Habsburg princesses can't say how happy they are. In addition, with the support of Louis XIV, from the Queen Mother, the Queen to the Duchess, they all have their own careers, so they don't care if they want to cancel the humiliating "dressing ceremony" - they are very satisfied, No need to console yourself by bullying another woman.

"Did the stubborn men agree?" asked the Duchess of Montpensier, who had more contact with outsiders, and saw more of the men's sloppy attitudes - God, the men said the ladies couldn't do it When it comes to what they can do, if she says, men are indeed one step ahead of women, at least they can do all the things that "lady" can only do in their mouths, except for pregnancy and childbirth— It's like getting something for nothing, being ungrateful, repaying virtue with resentment, greed for the small and losing the big... They do it better than each other, and they brazenly boast it as an achievement.

"Agreed," said the Dauphin, "but not completely." This is another lesson that Louis XIV taught his son. It turns out that even if it is the king's will, if the ministers have their own ideas, they may not refuse to fight. The extent of the concessions, which were carried out at a discount, depended on the authority of the king: "They agreed to leave Isabella alone in the room to change her clothes."

   "That's all right," said the Queen.

   "I think this proposal is more suitable for the current situation." The Duchess of Montpensier said: "You can pay attention to who proposed this."

   "Marquis de Lafayette," said the dauphin, "but I heard it was his mother's suggestion."

"I think so too," the Duchess of Montpensier nodded. "You are just a bunch of reckless boys, and those old and cunning guys are just waiting to see your jokes." She had no idea that this sentence made His Majesty the king also. After scolding in, the Queen Mother nodded. This suggestion is indeed very good, so that someone will not attack the Queen's Oedipus country and refuse to be a French person in the future - even if Princess Isabella said she is willing to accept such consequences, but it can be reduced a little What's wrong with the handle?

   She was the wife of the future King of France after all.

  ——

   After this little turbulence subsided, the wedding of the French crown prince and the Portuguese princess was finally able to continue. Princess Isabella completed the dressing ceremony on the ship in the port of Nantes. Although no one helped, she quickly changed all the inner and outer clothes - after knowing this, she was helped by the maid After practicing many times, I also specially requested the Queen to customize several sets of the latest styles of Versailles.

According to the etiquette, after Princess Isabella is finished dressing, the French envoy will step forward first, hold her hand and take her to the French side. The Portuguese in the room will watch the princess and step back until they leave the room and belong to the French. Everything in Portugal - as I said before, not a single fiber can stay on Isabella, and her maids and maids are among them, but wait until she and the crown prince have completed the wedding ceremony, or wait for a while , if she wants, these maids can also come to Versailles to continue to serve her.

Princess Isabella did not have much nostalgia for these maids and female officials. After the marriage was settled, they were either keen to chase after her father, Pedro II, or scratched their heads in front of the dignitaries. They either ignored or despised the princess. The maids finally began to warm to her - the queen had warned Isabella that the women might beg her to take them to Versailles.

  Who doesn't want to go to Versailles? It was a palace of gold and ivory, diamonds like dew on the dark brown sandalwood floors.

There was the god-like Louis XIV, the sun king, and the amorous Duke of Orleans. The dauphin, Louis the Younger, was handsome and strong, gentle and open-minded—and a true prince, who would inherit an incomparably large and rich country in the future. !

  These maids are not naive enough to want to be queens, but they are quite willing to be the lover of the king, the king's younger brother, or the dauphin. Just by looking at the three royal ladies of Louis XIV, you know how generous Bourbon is to his lover.

Madame Mancini's son was about to become the king of Naples, Madame Lavalier's son was already the Duke of Hallebre, and Madame Montespan's son was sealed in Montreal, but since the king's explorers and prospectors discovered there. With gold and iron ore, and endless white pine, red pine, hemlock and oak, no one can say that it is just a desolate and barren enclave.

  You must know that in France, all titles are landed, they don’t have much ambition, as long as there is such a fief, it doesn’t matter if it is small.

   But Isabella would not.

   She thought she would always remember the big fat hand hanging down on her head. She didn't die in the neglect of her nurse, she didn't live a lonely life in the monastery, and even the tombstone after her death had only one name belonging to the nun.

This is all because a good person saved her tragic fate with his life. He could have lived for a few years, a dozen years, or even longer, watching his hypocrite brother staring at the throne so close at hand , he rejected his mother, rejected the archbishop, but not a five-year-old child.

He knew that as long as he was still king, as long as a few months, there might not be any further delays in France—Portugal, a country that had recently become independent from Spain, did not have the qualifications to make the French crown prince wait, and the marriage would be negotiated during the negotiation. Died, waiting for Isabella is a living tomb.

   He should hate this child who represents shame and betrayal to him. Even Pedro is reluctant to admit that this daughter whose birth date is ambiguous, she is not even a boy!

But Alfonso VI gave her a little light—very tiny light, and the last of the unfortunate king's possessions—if, thought Isabella, if she could find happiness in the future, she would not be grateful to herself Her father, Pedro II, would not be grateful to her mother, the daughter of the Duke of Savoy, she would only be grateful to Alfonso VI, her uncle and her father in heaven.

The farther    is from Portugal, the more she looks forward to it, the happier she is.

To the French embassy, ​​it was wonderful that the princess was unexpectedly cheerful, healthy, and full of life, although the dark brown curly-haired, fair-skinned princess was still somewhat more than her future husband. It's not enough, but it can be regarded as beautiful and amiable, especially those eyes, which are very moving, but I don't know what the tears contained in them mean.

As one of the guards, the Marquis of Lafayette cautiously looked at Princess Isabella out of the corner of his eyes. He was keen on other people—seeing whether the princess was docile and suitable for childbearing. What he cares about is the princess' inner side - judging from the constant correspondence between the crown prince and his letter, it is impossible to be meek. It is not always possible that a daughter who is so rebellious to her father will suddenly become a rebellious and submissive wife, right? I couldn't help worrying about the crown prince for a few minutes, and then, together with some keen people, noticed that the princess didn't seem to have any deep feelings for Portugal.

   This is a good thing for France, but they are also wondering if this lady is too ruthless...

What the French think is not within Isabella's consideration. Anyone who has read history books and newspapers knows that after a foreign princess becomes the king, she will face countless people's doubts and difficulties, but Judging by the letters that the Crown Prince Louis had written to her, Isabella felt that she could still give it a try.

   After all, the crown prince has such a father. Even if things develop to a point that none of them want to see, she can have a career and income of her own like the Duchess of Montpensier, and she can also be respected and loved by the French, without having to rely entirely on her husband. With the grace of the king.

   But this thought almost disappeared when she set foot on the avenue to Versailles. She could hardly believe that the people of a country would so support and admire their royal family.

As the carriages to greet the bride came, the flat, light-grey avenues were dotted with black marks—not the annoying dung or dirt, but the wine the people poured on the road, which Sprinkling the spices and petals, Princess Isabella couldn't help but open the window and smell the fragrant scent carried by the breeze.

No matter day or night, the road is accompanied by a crowd of costumed escorts. When they see Princess Isabella, they cheer in unison, singing Long live the King, Long live France, and they carry all kinds of gifts, from From rustic wood carvings to expensive silver platters, they are scrambling to give to the crown princess, and some people send their daughters and sons to serve them with ruddy faces and sparkling eyes—of course, these special gifts are all special gifts. was declined.

In addition to the smell of wine, spices and flowers in the air, you can sometimes smell the burnt aroma of roasted meat. According to the envoys of Versailles, this is the city they pass through. Those wealthy people or officials bought bulls, deer or pigs. , roasted and distributed to the poor, so that they can be happy together; and on the streets of the city, the street lamps do not go out even during the day, and the lampposts and the pillars of the porch are wrapped in colorful cloth and inserted with flowers.

Wherever they stay, it is beautifully decorated and extremely comfortable. The water pipes here are full of warm water at a suitable temperature, not cold or scalding water - this is the Sintra Palace in Portugal. What hasn't been done yet, Princess Isabella is dazzled by the endless variety of nourishing creams, ointments and powders, and a piece of jewelry that is delivered to her every day - although the crown prince can't. Come to meet her, but let his gift tell his future wife that he is watching her all the time.

This act of the crown prince also made Princess Isabella's French maid restrain her own thoughts. If there are a thousand ladies in the Palace of Versailles who hope to become the royal wife of the Sun King, then they want to have a try with the crown prince. There are at least a hundred of them, but now it seems that the time has not yet come, and they still have to wait - hopefully not too long.

Isabella deliberately didn't want to speculate on the hidden gloom behind those submissive gestures. She swore to herself that if she wanted to seize happiness, she must do her best, and she would not waste time and energy on unreasonable suspicions - this point It also aroused the goodwill of everyone in the embassy. For the gentlemen, they were fed up with suspicious, hysterical, and unreasonable wives. Don't let them have such a queen again.

   "This is the Seine," said one of the ministers to Princess Isabella. "It is beautiful."

   "Yes, it's beautiful," said Princess Isabella.

The Rhine River at night can't be seen how clear and moving, but the black mirror-like river reflects the lights of ships and the fireworks constantly rising into the sky, the latter one after another, like a colorful light on the river. The bridge makes it impossible to look away.

   What made everyone even more surprised was that the fireworks actually formed the name of Isabella at the end, and then a crown.

   Now let alone French women, even French men are starting to feel sour.

   (end of this chapter)