Chapter 9
Crowns and tiaras
The sovereign leapt from the throne to reach Aramis.
"Renee! Dearest!" - she said, squeezing her hands.
"Philippe? Are you alive! Is it really you?" - she asked, scrutinizing his face, he was hardly the boy who remembered walking in the courtyards of the royal villas. Few knew his isolated existence, the brother denied to the King.
"I am infinitely asking for forgiveness for not recognizing you immediately ... I thought I would never see you again!" - he said with a reassuring smile. His clear eyes shone with contentment: finally a friendly face, familiar in that host of characters that suddenly hung from his lips, but completely unknown to him.
"I can say the same about you ... What are you doing here at the Palace, in the proud company of that ..." - Aramis stopped disturbed by the thought of seeing Milady still alive and in that position of power.
"Oh! Milady was my savior! She freed me from my long prisons!" - exclaimed Philippe briefly turning to the woman left distant, referring to her constantly in a form of personal security.
"Milady? Are you sure? And why are you sitting on the throne in place of the King?" - she asked, surprised at the respect the young man had for that doubtful figure.
"Oh, it's only for a few days ... Don't spread the word, now that you've recognized me! The King is ill and cannot appear at court, so I was asked by my kind lady, the Countess de Winter, to replace him ... I know, it doesn't make much sense, but it's a little thing! The King is so tired lately ... After so many years I can finally meet my beloved brother! And all this thanks to Milady! Isn't it wonderful? "- said the Prince, with a strange light in his eyes.
The young prince should have been the same age as the king, born only a few minutes later, to the surprise of the midwives who had witnessed that long labor.
Among the nobles closest to the Royal family, the decision was made to hide her identity at Court, but the Queen Mother did not resign herself to seeing him grow away from her and without an education worthy of a member of the Royal family. So it was that he entrusted his care and teachings to the scion of one of the best families with whom he kept a deep alliance, the Monsorot.
Since then, Maria de Medici's visits to Normandy became more and more frequent, so much so that the Marquis family no longer surprised her arrival without servitude in tow, even when a young Renée was benevolently accepted as a member of the family. However the two never met along the corridors or in the sumptuous rooms of the royal villa. Others were their thoughts and interests.
In the gardens of the villa, Renée used to take care of the horses and assist François in various tasks, more or less adequate for a court lady.
However, she had found herself many times even in the presence of Philippe, whose age differed only a few years. As on those occasions in times long gone, the young man took her by the arm and accompanied her towards the outside of the building, towards the gardens of the Court, in memory of an innocent and distant time.
"Haven't you met His Majesty the King yet?" - asked Reneè, quickening his pace.
"Oh you have surely met him in these years! Tell me, how are you? "- he asked enthusiastically.
"He looks a lot like you, your highness. Just as you look like him, especially in these clothes, your highness... Do you know how long he has been absent from the Royal Palace?" - she asked.
"Mh ... No! I thought you knew! "- replied the Prince, interrupting -" How did you become a ... Musketeer? "- he asked immediately.
" Captain of the royal guard "- corrected Reneè -" Only thanks to you, your Highness .. . "- she said, bowing her head slightly towards him, as a sign of respect, but immediately looking away, in a grimace of bitter irony.
"However, I can tell you with all the certainty that Manson, your kidnapper, was killed and the name of François claimed. Justice has been done "- she continued turning to the Prince, this time more serious.
"Oh, did you really kill Manson with your own hands?" Asked Philippe with vague astonishment.
"Of course! He is dead and will never come back to torment you! You have my word"- she replied proud of her actions, but something in Philippe's gaze did not convince her. For the Prince, the reality was different.
"Oh, my poor Renée... This is where you are wrong, mademoiselle! The real murderer of François was not that unfortunate criminal!" - corrected the young sovereign with a sad sigh.
"What do you mean, your highness?" - she asked.
"My dear, if he had been in charge of that plot, I probably would have been free after his death. Of course it was he who took me away from the Royal estate in Normandy, but in command of that mission there was someone much more powerful and much more perfidious ... He who has estranged me from France and held prisoner for all these years "- said the young sovereign, becoming sadder.
" Have you ever had the chance to meet him? "- asked Renée, listening carefully.
" I don't know who it was, yet..."- the Prince looked down, obscured by the memory that still throbbed alive inside him -" I only know that it is the man who is hiding behind a terrible iron mask! "- he replied, showing in his words a vein of concern.
Aramis' head skipped at those words. The criminal he was talking about had been arrested no more than a day before and was locked up in the Chatelet, but something wasn't adding up, something was missing. He was not a foreigner, he claimed to be the King.
"What happened to you?" - asked Renée. Her mind's eye reviewing the masked face of the criminal, for a moment.
"I have been transported into darkness for a long time, I have undertaken long journeys, by carriage, by sea and finally I have been locked in a dark cell for years... Now that my jailer has finally been arrested, Milady has managed to free me and brought me here, to finally meet my brother! I have to pretend he is only for a few days and then ... You cannot know the joy I am feeling! My sad story is finally coming to an end happily!"- sighed Philippe, shaking her hand again and leading her to one of the small silent courtyards of the building.
The Prince took a short break from that conversation, slowing his pace and keeping her close to him. Just stopping, she looked at Reneé in those clothes, alone to Court and slowly came to another sad conclusion.
"What happened to you, rather? What happened after that long night? How did you find yourself here in Paris again, a musketeer ... The Captain of the Royal guard! Renee! You cannot imagine my amazement yet! "- asked the young man.
"Only because of you, your Highness..."
Philippe smiled, his eyes shined, but then he asked again, more seriously.
"Oh Philippe, I have had few choices in front of me. Exchanged for a boy, I was recommended to a prestigious seminary to become a priest. I received a lot of help and was told to my adoptive family about my disappearance. Only in this way I was saved from a sad fate ... "- she replied.
It was as if Philippe had understood her torment among those vague words.
For all those years, the prince had found himself suffering inside, in the dark of his prisons, unaware of what had happened to his reduced servitude. In that small room, hidden from the world, ready only to vent his anger, he had perhaps not understood before that moment how much the suffering of others had been.
Renée's seemed immensely bigger: she was out of that small cell, around the world, and yet just as alone, forced to never return to her family, not to be put in a position to accept the fate of a woman who has lost love.
Philippe stared at her intently and, taking her hand, brought it to his chest. Her eyes immediately became full of tears and the tight one turned into a long hug and a liberating cry.
Renée responded to that embrace by consoling him, without hesitation, squeezed him and dried his tears, protecting him with devotion, in the hope of continuing the work of the man who had given his life for him, the man who once she had loved.
The Prince seemed to find comfort in those sweet gestures and, moving away to find his face and caress him in the same way, said:
"I will ask you for a bride!".
Renée brows widened, she looked at him in a terrified surprise.
"W-How? Your highness ?!"- he asked in the hope of not having understood precisely the meaning of his words.
"I'll contact D'Herblay today!" - he exclaimed enthusiastically.
"Philippe, not ..." - tried to explain Renée in vain.
"I know, I know, I should have asked Milady first, she is my savior and currently holds a higher power than yours. However, she's already married and you need it most! Are you willing to become my wife? "- said the Prince, in an attempt to seem charitable.
" Eh ... Philippe, if you are passing by the King your brother, remember that you already have a consort to honor ... "- she said , hoping to bring him back to reality.
"Ah,"- said Philippe, interrupting that spiral of thoughts that had sucked him into a world of his own, made of burdens, vows and long nights trying to do something he wasn't really sure he was willing to do.
"At the moment Milady and I have sent her to the convent with her court ladies. And then I'll go back to being a prince still looking for a wife. You will see that Luigi will return at any moment! We could get married and you would belong to the royal family, nobody would come looking for you here, no matter who you have been all these years, you would be Renée again. My Renée... "- thus saying the Prince embraced her again and kissed her forehead, moved by that thought.
She looked at him, more confused and bewildered by those words.
"Why waste an alliance opportunity with other realms by marrying me? You could ask the King for advice on your possible marriages, your highness ... "- she said. Perhaps if he thought better, the Prince would have dissuaded himself from that useless proposal.
"There is no alliance that can better honor the good name of the Monsorot, of François, and yours as a result!" - he exclaimed insistently.
"Philippe, I don't think Luigi will ever approve such a request. For almost a decade, the Queen Mother, the Italian Court and the Monsorot have been removed from Paris"- affirmed Reneè.
The Prince looked at her with surprise, although Milady had informed him of the many events that had taken place in recent years, that news had been completely overlooked and reached his ears like a bolt of lightning. No diplomat, as his lady said was for him, would ever forget it.
"Removed!?"- Asked Philippe in a low voice.
"Just a few weeks after the official coronation. You can't remember, you weren't here anymore, your highness "- she explained.
Renée herself did not remember those facts in detail. Events that happened outside of Normandy, in a Paris that at the time seemed dark, useless and distant.
She vaguely remembered Marquis Daniel talking about it without concern, the absent voice of a man who had recently lost one of his children, almost as if to say more. It had been times too hard for her, facing the death of François and the kidnapping of Philippe were not the only causes of her despair. The d'Herblay's would have brought her back to their family soon, in a reparatory marriage that had already been planned.
She probably didn't remember why, then, little more than a child, her interests had never been in Paris.
"So you never met your brother since your liberation?" - Renée asked again, not convinced at all by her words.
"No, but it's only a matter of days ..." - he replied, still in a quiver of contentment.
A strange and embarrassing silence arose between the two. In which it seemed that the whole of nine long years had already been said. The Prince caught his breath and tried to say more, but a distant voice stopped his words.
"Your Majesty, I have looked for you everywhere!" - shouted the female voice, running towards them.
"Anne dearest, come closer!" - said the Prince nodding to the woman in the distance.
"I want to introduce you to my future bride! My fairest knight!" - he continued, taking Renée's hand and holding it out to her.
Aramis quickly withdrew it and the woman did not offer hers, nor was any other kind of reverence between the two. He looked coldly at the Prince and then at Milady without speaking. She met the same surprised look in the woman in front of her and shook her head slightly.
"You Highness, you have not yet contacted my family! Without their blessing this marriage would not be valid and I ... "- said Renée successively, in the hope of correcting Philippe.
Milady cleared her throat loudly.
"Majesty, we had an agreement ... You would have been my Crown, and I your Tiara" - she whispered addressing the Prince with a kind of warning.
Philippe returned his confident gaze and nodded satisfied.
"Of course, Milady! You see, this young woman ... Knight? Captain? Baroness Renée ... She will certainly not interfere in our plans! She has always been a devoted servant of the King and the royal family. She already has the honor of two families to respect and will become three as soon as I can officially ask her hand! "- at this point it was Aramis who cleared the throat with suspicion.
The two women exchanged a sharp look, in the same way they would have liked to throw themselves daggers.
"I believe you blindly, your Majesty" - said Milady not showing enthusiasm.
"However, you have seen for yourself how her presence is surrounded by dubious figures, untrustworthy characters who do not believe that I can truly be a valid Prime Minister for France. People willing to resign, to move away from the luxuries of the Court, rather than following my orders! "- continued the woman immediately afterwards, setting her voice on fire with a strange impetus.
"Outrageous!" - exclaimed Philippe - "Renée! You don't belong to that scum! You would never get confused with people like that! "- he continued. She looked at him without answering and took another look at Milady, heavy as a stone.
"Quite the opposite ..." - replied the woman, meeting Aramis' gaze with satisfaction.
"Quite right! You heard Milady's orders! Baroness! Arrest those seedy people now that you can do it! Lock them up at Châtelet today! "- said the Prince, clapping his hands and pointing to the horizon, soon distracted by that new mission.
Aramis took leave with regret, while Milady took the Prince's arm to bring him back to the attention of some other nobleman or court minister.