Читать книгу Time Jumps. The Paradigm of Immortality - Владимир Баранчиков - Страница 9

And here they are in Versailles, young, beautiful, dressed in luxurious fashion outfits. However, they are no longer Peter and Daria, but Count Petronel de Armand de Burlemont and Countess Dorian de Burlemont, representatives of the French nobility.

– How’s that? – Peter asked with a victorious smile.

– I don’t believe my eyes! – Daria exclaimed, beaming with childish delight.

The Comte de Burlemont stopped at the statue of the great Gaius Julius Caesar, whose cult was highly appreciated by French art connoisseurs.

– Suae quisque fortunae faber, – he recalled the saying of the great Caesar in Latin, and the Countess echoed it in the purest French:

– Each blacksmith of his own destiny…

It is hardly possible to describe the impressions of the Palace of Versailles. As soon as Countess Dorian crossed the threshold, her heart fluttered – the arrivals immediately found themselves in the thick of the events of the royal court.

– Now I’m going to see what I’ve been dreaming about all my life! – she thought.

Daria and Peter walked across the sparkling parquet floor across the hall.

The King ‘s senior chamberlain announced:

– Comte de Burlemont de Armand Petronel.

She heard his voice:

– We are happy to see you, Count, and admire the Countess, about whose beauty we have heard so much.

– Have you heard? – Daria was surprised, not daring to utter these words or even show it, but clearly flattered by His Majesty’s compliment. Peter, on the contrary, perceived these words differently: a burning jealousy pricked his heart, and a vague, cold anxiety arose in his soul…

The day after the reception in Versailles, Peter and Daria went for a walk in Paris. In the evening they went to the hotel, where they stayed for the night.

– How are you, honey? So many events! It’s nice, it turns out, to be in the role of the nobility and receive the attention of the king himself!

– I’m so stunned, I’m in an amazing fairy tale all day! Everything we have seen and heard today has deeply impressed my imagination. I feel elation, and at the same time, my beloved, I am tormented by forebodings.

Daria told Peter: it was just as dangerous to refuse the monarch as to accept his courtship favorably. Those ladies who became favorites of Louis XIV were in danger of being poisoned by competitors.

Peter thought about it, and then asked:

– Are we able to resist this? – and he answered himself: – Alas, no! Let’s not give in to despair! In any case, we are not in danger today.

– Shall we order a dinner worthy of an earl and rest from our misgivings? – Daria suggested.

– Let’s leave it as it is for now. Isn’t that enough for today? – Peter repeated Daria’s words, spoken by her in that former world.

Dasha appreciated the memory with dignity and smiled understandingly, throwing herself into the arms of her beloved. Secretly, sideways, she looked in the mirror by the huge bed in the boudoir: there were reflected two figures, female and male, similar to the actors from the movie about the three Musketeers, the treacherous Milady and the fearless D’Artagnan…

The beautiful Burgundy wine turned their heads, and they forgot themselves after love on satin sheets. When fatigue set in, Peter quickly closed his eyes and passed out. He dreamed that he was arguing with Julius Caesar about power and democracy, and Daria tossed from side to side and could not fall asleep for a long time: even during intimacy with her beloved, she could not forget the king’s gaze and felt his presence next to her with horror.