monarch

The next day was a sunny day. The blue-white sky was crystal clear like a mirror. The sunlight painted the entire Fontainebleau Palace and the surrounding forest gardens, hunting grounds and small towns with a layer of golden paint, making the palace look beautiful. magnificent.

The Palace of Fontainebleau has been prepared for the arrival of His Majesty Henry II. The gardens have been renovated. The gardeners decorated the flower beds with blue and gold irises to look like the French royal coat of arms. However, these flowers were temporarily transplanted from the flower house for the king's arrival.The gravel paths in the garden have been resurfaced with fine white sand, and the hedges and lawns have been retrimmed.Like a dusty old jewel, the Palace of Fontainebleau has been carefully cleaned and maintained, and is now as radiant as it was in its heyday.

The local mayor, garrison officers, servants in the palace, the steward, and the Dutch mission that arrived the day before all waited for the arrival of the King of France on the square in front of the palace.Strangely enough, the Prince of Orange was not among these, having dismissed his servants the night before, and no one could enter his chambers without the Prince's summons.

The other members of the Dutch mission did not see the prince in the morning. They were a little surprised at first, but they were soon relieved.Obviously, the Prince of Orange had his own considerations, probably because he didn't want to be overly obsequious in front of the King of France. The Netherlands should be an ally of France, not a servant of France.Therefore, no one from the Netherlands delegation went to disturb the prince's plan.

At 09:30 in the morning, King Henry II entered the small town of Fontainebleau. He rode a bay red horse and waved to the cheering crowd on the street and on the balcony.His father, François I, was called the "King of Knights", and his behavior now is naturally an imitation of his father, intending to evoke the residents of the town's memories of the heyday of France.Judging from the reactions of the residents, the king's plan was quite successful.

Dauphin François rode behind his father, a pale young man with featureless features and swollen eyes staring blankly ahead.The monarchs of France, like the double-faced god Janos, have two faces, one is the energetic knights such as Francis I and Charles VIII, and the other is Charles VI and Louis XI. Such a gloomy character with no vitality.Like a coin toss, the crown of France passed back and forth between these two groups, with the energetic Henry II handing over the country to the gloomy and sickly François II.

Behind the king, a hundred guards surround three luxurious palanquins adorned with golden irises, the first of which naturally belongs to Queen Caterina de' Medici, and the second sits the king. His mistress, Diane de Poitiers, the concubine of King Henry II, relied on His Majesty's favor to fight against Queen Caterina in the court. It can be seen from the regulations of the palanquin that Diane de Poitiers De Poitiers only has the title of duchess, but she uses the same sedan chair as the queen, and even hangs the royal coat of arms, as if she has the style of "second queen".

In addition to the iris emblem of France, the red lion emblem of Scotland was also hung on the third pack sedan chair. Its owner was the French princess Mary Stuart, the deposed Queen of Scots.She grew up in the French court since she was a child, and was deeply loved by King Henry II. She also relied on her uncle, the Duke of Guise, a nobleman, and was also a force to be reckoned with in the court.

In a few large carriages after the ladies were the King's children.The young Charles, Duke of Orleans, Henry, Duke of Angoulême, and François, Duke of Alençon were in the first carriage, and the princesses Claude and Marguerite were in the second.Princess Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of His Majesty and Queen, took the third car alone. Her marriage to King Philip of Spain had just failed. According to legend, King Henry II planned to marry her to Prince of Orange and become the future Queen of the Netherlands. Prince Lange's original wife was only the daughter of a minor German prince, so it was not an obstacle at all.

After the French royal team followed the British delegation. The British delegation, led by Prime Minister Cecil, who had just been named Marquess of Salisbury, arrived in Paris the day before and came to Fontaine with the French king's team white dew.For the British, the French citizens showed a lot of indifference, but they did not show much hostility, but more of a curiosity.

The huge team passed through the iron fence in front of the palace and came to the famous horseshoe-shaped staircase of the palace.The king looked around the crowd that greeted him, trying to figure out which one was the Prince of Orange.

King Henry II got off his horse, greeted each other with local dignitaries, and finally walked in front of the Netherlands delegation.

He said to the leader with a smile on his face, "Your Highness, I am very happy to receive you here."

The man looked a little surprised, and then the expression on his face turned into an awkward expression: "Your Majesty must have misunderstood something. I am not His Royal Highness Prince of Orange. I am Count Drenthe, the Deputy of His Royal Highness."

"Ah." Henry II took a step back and frowned, "Then who is His Royal Highness?"

"His Royal Highness is not among us." Count Drenthe smiled apologetically at the king, "Actually, we haven't seen him since last night."

"What's going on here?" Henry II turned to the steward who followed him step by step, "Where did the Prince go?"

"His Highness has been in his room and has not come out." The manager said.

"Isn't His Royal Highness willing to come to welcome me?" Henry II was already somewhat dissatisfied.

"Perhaps His Royal Highness is not feeling well. After all, he has just finished a long journey, and it is understandable that he is exhausted." Diane de Poitiers had already got off the sedan chair. She walked to the king and gently took his arm, Try to ease the tense atmosphere.

"Maybe he just wanted to show off." Queen Caterina de' Medici sneered.

"Maybe Your Highness just doesn't know that His Majesty has arrived." A bright girl said behind Queen Caterina, her smile was as sweet as a rose, and her eyes, as bright as moon shadows in a pool, cast a soft and charming look at King Henry II. light wave.

Katerina turned around and looked at Mary Stuart with a half-smile: "Then His Royal Highness is either blind, deaf, or both blind and deaf."

Mary Stuart bit her lip. Although she still had a smile on her face, that smile had no warmth, as if the rose had just bloomed and was frozen by the sudden cold wave.

The Prime Minister of Britain also walked to the side of this group of people at this time. He also looked around the crowd with a confused look on his face.

"Where's the Prince of Orange? I've been meaning to say hello to him, and it's been a long time since we left Hampton Court Palace. Why isn't he here?"

King Henry II's face began to turn blue.

"If he doesn't want to come and meet us, then we'll go and visit him in his room."

The crowd followed the king into the palace, their ears pricked up and their eyes wide open, obviously curious about how things were going.Everyone could see that the king was very unhappy. He came here to play the role of the savior of the Netherlanders and charged half of the southern Netherlands in return. Unexpectedly, the saviors made a show in front of him instead. coming.

The crowd had just reached the second floor when they heard terrified shouts from the end of the corridor.

Two servants rushed out of the suite of the Prince of Orange, with terrified expressions on their faces.

"Hey, what's the matter!" cried the king, "what are you two daredevils doing!"

The two tremblingly leaned against the wall of the corridor, unable to speak, but pointing tremblingly at the door of the prince's room.

"How decent is this!" Henry II bristled his beard, and he strode towards the end of the corridor. The crowd trotted to keep up, and the wives even lifted their skirts.

Everyone rushed into the bedroom of the Prince of Orange, and saw the prince's confidant servant kneeling beside the bed in pain, pressing the prince's hand on his forehead, his gray hair was disheveled, and he looked about to go crazy.

The Prince of Orange was lying on the bed like a corpse, the only movement of the whole body was the slight opening and closing of the nose and the slight trembling of the purple lips.There was no trace of blood on his face, and large bluish-purple spots appeared on the exposed skin of his arms, like the spots on a corpse.

"Ah!" Henry II exclaimed in horror, "Is he... dead?"

"It seems to be still breathing." Caterina de' Medici looked at the dying prince on the bed.

A doctor was called into the room, he checked the prince's body, looked at the king with some embarrassment, "His Royal Highness is still alive, but..."

Anyone could hear the doctor's overtones that there was no cure for the Prince of Orange.

"There is such a thing!" King Henry II was shocked and angry, "What is going on?"

"It looks like I've been poisoned..." the doctor said uncertainly.

Queen Caterina walked to the side of the bed, bent down, observed the prince's face, and then opened his eyelids to look.

"Looks like Cantrella," she concluded icily.

Everyone in the house gasped. The notorious poison was the evil creation of the Borgia family decades ago.The enemies of Pope Alexander VI and his son Caesar Borgia died mysteriously one by one, and finally the poison came back to them, the Pope was poisoned and Caesar Borgia was disfigured and devastated.

The expression on King Henry II's face was as unpredictable as the night fog.Poison in Italy, so maybe it has something to do with the Holy See?The Catholic Church offered a reward of 50 florins for the life of the Prince of Orange. Did the money work after all?

"What did Your Highness eat last night?" Henry II asked the old servant of the prince.

"His Highness ordered a dinner for two, and it is still on the table outside." Before the old servant could reply, the palace steward had already spoken.

"Madam, please go and have a look at the dishes outside." The king ordered to the queen.

Katerina left the room and returned a few minutes later.

"There's no problem with food or wine," she said.

"This is very strange," said the king to himself, "and how did the poison be delivered to His Royal Highness?"

Katerina glanced at the candle on the mantelpiece out of the corner of her eye. The candle had burned out, and the wick soaked in the poison had turned into fly ash, and all traces were gone.As for the deadly smoke, it had already dissipated without a trace after a whole night.

"You said dinner for two just now." She looked at the court chief, "Then who did His Highness have dinner with last night?"

"We don't know much about this, Your Majesty." The palace steward said cautiously, "Your Highness won't allow us to serve him. Only servants brought by him can enter his room."

All eyes were on the old servant who was still kneeling beside the bed.

"If you want to avenge your master, then tell us, who was here last night? Who did His Highness have dinner with?"

The servant sobbed, "Your Highness...saw a woman last night."

"A woman?" asked the king. "What kind of woman?"

"A woman wearing a veil, His Royal Highness called her...the Crown Princess."

As if struck by lightning, Henry II turned to look at Mary Stuart. The people around her had already distanced themselves from her.She stood alone in the middle of the open space, motionless, as if she had been turned into a stone statue by Medusa, with the last unbelievable expression on her face.

"Can you explain?" The king had never spoken in such a cold tone to his daughter-in-law.

Mary Stuart seemed to have just woken up from a dream, "I...I don't understand...what does this mean?"

If she is not really innocent, then she is a very dangerous snake, Henry II thought, and there is nothing unnatural in such a well-timed surprise.

"Did you come to Fontainebleau last night? Did you dine with the Prince of Orange?"

"I don't know what he's talking about!" Mary Stuart waved her arms in horror, as if to dispel some ghost haunting her, "I haven't been here last night, and I've never seen this Prince, I don't know what's going on!"

King Henry II looked sullenly at the terrified girl.She and the Duke of Guise, as well as the extreme Catholic forces behind them, have always been close to the Holy See. If she did it, then it makes sense.Capturing the Southern Netherland would greatly increase the reputation of the Valois royal family. He was not ignorant of the Duke of Guise's ambitions for the throne. He naturally had reasons to destroy the king's victory.

Perhaps Mary Stuart was only a knife with the hilt of the ambitious Duke de Guise, and if that was the case, she was a beautiful, brainless fool!When François is king, she will be queen; but if the Duke of Guise succeeds in usurping the throne, she is only the king's niece, and the good uncle will send her to a convent.Doesn't she understand such a simple truth?

"Look at the princess." The king ordered the servant.

"The woman had a veil on her face, but her figure looked about the same."

Big tears rolled out of Mary Stuart's eyes, "I... I really don't know what happened!" She kept repeating the same words, and at this moment, she acted like a victim Scared little girl.

King Henry II suddenly felt restless. So many plans, so many prospects, are now going to come to naught.

"Can you cure His Royal Highness?" He asked the doctor with his last hope.

"We're doing our best," the doctor replied cautiously.

Queen Caterina sneered from the bottom of her heart, the Prince of Orange will not survive tomorrow.The candle burned cleanly, and the dose of smoke was enough to poison three strong men.

She looked across the room at Cecil, who was also looking at her.

You Britons owe me a great debt, said her eyes.

Cecil rolled his eyes in the direction of Mary Stuart, meaning: You also took the opportunity to hit your daughter-in-law, and we both benefited from it.

Caterina de' Medici lowered her eyes. It was indeed a win-win deal, she thought.

King Henry II left the room disappointed, and the crowd followed him.