Eros Paradise 101

Chapter 101 – 101. Duke’s Seventh Sabotage (4)

– One –

“Your Highness, did something happen this morning?”

“No, nothing special. I just overslept. Sorry to keep you waiting.”

Regal smiles generously.

The butler looked at Regal with a bewildered face.

It was Regal who valued time commitment more than anyone else and insisted on efficient work handling and efficient movement.

He had a laid-back appearance that was terribly out of sync with him.

Even after the butler assisted Regal, it was extremely rare for Regal to be late for an appointment on time.

No, seeing that the butler didn’t remember it, it seemed like this was the first time.

“Are you not sick?

So the butler asked directly.

It was because he was determined not to hide any more of his dissatisfaction or curiosity from Regal.

“No. It’s hard to believe, but I just didn’t want to leave my bedroom because I enjoyed my time with my wife. Today was such a day.”

“Huh… Seeing how good your Highness is with the Duchess, it’s the first time I regret not getting married.”

Tup.
Tuk-tuk.

Regal puts her hand on the butler’s shoulder and pats him on the shoulder.

It was as if he was comforting a loser who did not know the joys of life.

“Even now, it’s not too late. If you too find a good partner, propose without hesitation. And then marry. No, it’s not like this, how about seeing the good through Lady Godiva? Wouldn’t it be the best marriage for a woman, even if she was a little older?”

The butler realized that Regal was in a good mood.

It was the first time they had been chatting for so long without going straight to work.

Could this be Chiba’s ability?

Or is it Godiva’s seal?

As the head of the house, it was something I never knew.

“Isn’t it too much for my old age? It would be fortunate if I didn’t get seduced by flower snakes aiming for my inheritance after my death.”

“You never know. And through Ms. Godiva, the odds of that happening will decrease. I always feel it, but you worry too much. How can you talk about the summit without climbing a mountain?”

The butler just smiled bitterly.

There is a workaround.

Like Regal, it is to welcome a non-racial woman as a companion.

If you do that, you will be guaranteed a sufficient lifespan, youth, and a pleasant newlywed life.

But that’s a way of declaring a would-be competitor to Regal.

“Thank you for your advice. I will consider it carefully, Your Highness.”

No, it would be fortunate if it ended up as a competitor.

As soon as you become a participant, you will be classified as a potential adversary.

And every day from the day of participation, if she fails to prove herself and her partner’s usefulness to Regal at all times, she will have to live an uneasy life, not knowing when she will be discarded.

Even if, as her competitor, he proves that it is better to keep alive than to kill, his total affection should not be higher than Regal’s.

Because the winner can win only one pair of couples.

“Yes. If at any time you decide to see the good, tell me. I will set you up with my Lady Godiva.”

If you are waiting to participate, you can still feel a little relieved.

This is because if the number of participants on the waiting list remains below 100 pairs forever, you can enjoy the guaranteed reward of eternal life.

However, if all 100 pairs of participants gather and a full-fledged competition begins.

From then on, it becomes a struggle for survival.

Even if it proves its usefulness to Regal, there is no way to give it more benefits than the throne.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

What you can’t know at all is the same as there is no proper way.

If giving up your life is the only way, then that too is equivalent to the absence of a way.

So, the butler gave up participating in order to live a more comfortable life, no, a less anxious life.

There is no way that Regal could not read his desires and his thoughts.

Regal simply expressed the fact that she was in a good mood by giving the head butler an absurd proposal.

It would be a list of meaningless words, as if people who only knew each other met by chance on the street, exchanged greetings for a meal, and parted ways.

“Okay, let’s start work today. The exit should not be delayed, so let’s move on quickly.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The head butler and Regal take their seats.

The butler sat on the sofa and Regal sat at her desk.

Regal picks up a stack of papers on his desk.

While the butler was waiting for Regal, it was a document that Regal had classified and organized so that it would be easy to read.

“Is this a summary of today’s report?”

“That’s right.”

“Wait a minute.”

Regal’s eyes cross from the top left to the bottom right of the first page without hesitation.

Sarak.

One page goes over.

Regal’s eyebrows slightly twisted.

Regal’s pupils move diagonally across the second page, once again.

Wriggling
Sarak.

Regal’s eyebrows twitch violently.

Between his eyebrows, three lines of wrinkles were drawn vertically and thickly.

Gulp.

The butler swallows dry saliva.

Sarak, Sarak, Sarak, Sarak.
Took.

In suffocating silence, Regal finished reviewing the summary of the report.

Was Regal’s refreshing mood in the morning a good thing or a bad thing?

Did this morning’s pleasure offset Regal’s displeasure?

Or did he amplify Regal’s displeasure by feeling intensely contrasting emotions?

The butler hoped it would be the former.

“There’s no need to verify that the report is true, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Even though we cut down on support from the press by 30%, and even though we raised the level of political pressure even further by proposing various regulatory measures, the media didn’t budge… You even changed blatantly? That’s ridiculous.”

The head butler calmly nodded his head.

Although Regal is a cruel monarch, he is not a monarch who treats his subordinates as emotional trash cans.

Never had that happen yet.

Just believe it

“Is the analysis of the cause missing from the summary, or is it completely unnoticed?”

“It’s still in the speculation stage, so we haven’t documented it until it’s clear.”

“It was meant to be verbally reported. Try it.”

Regal also believes in the competence of his subordinates.

That’s why, before pushing his subordinates, he must go through the minimum confirmation work.

“The most crucial reason is that the pressure we exert poses no threat to the press.”

“So that’s why you have such a stiff head.”

“The pressure we put on is twofold: fiscal pressure and policy pressure through amendments to the Press Act, but for now, neither of these measures poses a significant threat to them.”

“Then why isn’t it a threat?”

The butler swallows water.

He always struggled with the burning thirst whenever he had bad news for Regal.

“It’s not yet clear why they’re so comfortable with the policy pressures. We don’t know at this point what the backbone is or what measures are firmly in place to circumvent regulation.”

“I guess so. Even if you made a secret pact with someone, it’s a situation where such circumstances are not revealed at all, so you didn’t report it?”

“Yes, but as for how they’re responding to the fiscal pressures, it’s been relatively clear.”

“Is there another funding line?”

“Yes. Recently, daily newspapers published by the press have suddenly moved away from the existing text-only format. The press publishes pictures made from prints on part of the pages of the daily newspapers. Through the pictures and simple sentences, They are promoting the products of class merchants or store information. They call this activity advertising.”

“Her…”

“The merchants predict the increase in sales through advertising, set an appropriate price, and then present the amount to be paid to the media for advertising expenses. Or store information is promoted through pictures on the paper.”

“Advertising, advertising…”

Regal is lost in contemplation.

He even erased his displeasure and took on the attitude of a scholar who had discovered an interesting subject for contemplation.

It is true that I was very angry because the work in progress was twisted, but at the same time, greed for the talented person who presented this new concept was triggered.

Looking at that, the butler thought that there would be no one in the entire empire as faithful to his desires as the current Regal.

Perhaps the butler’s thoughts were very close to the purest truth.

“Who else this time? Who came up with this idea? How? On what basis? With what thought process?”

“…”

The head butler seemed a bit fed up with Regal’s greedy eyes.

“In a situation where there is no similar concept, doesn’t it seem as if the intermediate process was skipped and only the result was drawn?”

“You wouldn’t normally call such people geniuses.”

“That’s right. A genius, or… Maybe a foreigner from a different world more developed than this one.”

“That’s… I think it’s an excessive jump.”

“Maybe so. But isn’t it too absurd? To read our target accurately and come up with such a trick that allows us to respond in the most efficient and appropriate way. This would be an impossible way of thinking for the old-fashioned scholars at the Imperial Central Research Institute. They are idiots who are crazy about historical records, and they are very bad at coming up with new concepts.”

“I agree. So, when Your Highness recruited researchers under the family, didn’t you select all of them as new recruits, excluding those with experience?”

Regal nodded.

There was deep excitement in his gestures.

“Idiots who are crazy about memorization and recording are afraid of the process of leaping their thinking to devise something new. They do not pursue a leap of thinking by intuition, but only pursue the development of outdated thinking based on strict arguments. They think by intuition. If they disparage the leap of the group only as a leap, I have no choice but to underestimate the achievements they made.”

“That’s right. Researchers at the Imperial Central Research Institute will only be able to take on the role of arranging the era.”

“And opening a new era is the role these geniuses will play.

Regal seemed very attracted to the theory that there was an alien behind the press.

The butler felt that Regal’s hypothesis was absurd, but he did not feel the need to stop the moment his desire was aroused.

This is because his desire to collect talent has always returned to his family and to Regal with positive results.

What if it’s a genius, what if it’s an outsider?

Wouldn’t it be enough to only produce good results and follow good control?

The butler could totally agree with Regal’s way of thinking.

“What about when advertising was introduced? Did one media outlet gradually introduce it, followed by another media outlet, or did all media outlets suddenly introduce advertising at once?”

“It is reasonable to say that all of them were introduced at once. This is because all other media outlets introduced them within a week after the world’s first newspaper advertisement appeared. After the concept of advertising went viral, other media outlets through meetings It is too early to say that it was decided to introduce it afterward.”

Regal nodded.

He ponders for a moment

“I can infer two things from that. First, there exists a secret council between media companies.”

“I agree. Through inspections, it is necessary to keep track of who is in charge and where the meetings are held.”

Regal nodded at the butler’s words and continued her reasoning.

“Second, there are actual brains inside the secret council that control media companies behind the scenes, or there are advisory figures with close ties to them.”

“It seems that a separate investigation is needed for this part. If necessary, we should proceed with interrogation even by kidnapping one of the representatives of the media. Once the inspection of the council is completed, we will secure the leadership among the members and interrogate them.”

“Like that.”

The first problem has been solved.

Was it because Regal was in a good mood?

He concluded more amicably than he feared.

Perhaps, the butler was overtaken by fear.

“Then… For now, let’s raise the level of pressure while maintaining the existing policy pressure. In the past, only criticism of the nobles was regulated, but this time it would be better to tie the imperial family and the nobles together. Wouldn’t the dignity of ‘s be a good cause to use at a time like this?”

“Even if the press only criticizes the nobles, it would be good to mislead them as media outlets that support treason after accusing them of cleverly linking with the imperial family to criticize them.”

“That’s right. It’ll be advantageous to use the water-riding strategy with vulgar language. And if an article with a tone critical to the ruling class is published, it wouldn’t be bad to introduce a plan to block the publication of daily newspapers for a certain period of time.”

The butler adds flesh to Regal’s thoughts.

“Three days, one week, one month, half a year, one year, the publication is closed. I think it would be good to subdivide the level of business suspension in this way. I think it would be a good way to introduce it. Establishing an independent organization under the imperial family to conduct media censorship, but if it is carried out with clear standards, it will be difficult to raise complaints.”

“Okay. Let’s wrap that up at this point and discuss it further after seeing the media’s response.”

“All right.”

Regal drinks her tea.

The butler also swallows the water that has turned lukewarm.

“Has the sales of media outlets been tallied since the introduction of advertising?”

“… I’m sorry to tell you, but it is estimated that we are earning more than 200% of the reduced donation as net profit.”

“Honestly, it’s amazing… Is it all the result of the flow of funds from the merchants of the citizen class?”

The butler shook his head.

“In addition to advertisements, the media introduced cartoons for non-literate people to read. People who can read read articles and editorials, but commoners and lowly people who can’t read only watch cartoons with pictures. Cartoonists tell them Because it has become a new entertainment area, the real needs and consumers of the media market have rapidly expanded.”

“Crazy. This must be the same person’s proposal to the press.”

“It is estimated so. It seems that it will not be easy to tame the media through financial pressure by reducing donations.”

Regal barely swallowed the moan that erupted involuntarily.

The one-two punch from an unexpected ambush was too powerful.

“It has become difficult. The policies we pour out, the preparations for war, and the media are all determined to criticize them? I might try to get rid of it, but let’s just say…”

“Your Highness, how about introducing a regulatory bill to prevent civil-class merchants from running advertisements?”

“Hmm…”

Regal is troubled.

He repeated it for several minutes before he stopped shaking his head.

It wasn’t easy for him to make up his mind either.

“Actually, that’s the easiest way… But it takes the one who acts as the brains of the press. Obviously, I guess I would have guessed that.”

“I think so too, but if left alone, we could completely fail to achieve our goal of taming journalism.”

“I’m worried about that too. What is it…”

Regal fell into trouble again.

She didn’t know if Chiba was there, she might have come up with a better plan, but she’s sound asleep right now.

Because of the intense affair with Regal that continued until after the sun rose in the sky, she was in a situation where she could not move at all.

“First of all, it would be better to propose a regulatory bill. The basic goal is to limit advertisements to only nobles of the marquisate or higher, and as an exception, advertisements that have been pre-screened by high-ranking nobles of the marquisate or higher will be published to the citizenry. In the direction of allowing it, we must prepare a new media law amendment.”

“I think it’s a good idea. Rather than completely banning ads, I think there will be less backlash if we make a line that can be tolerated to some extent.”

“But I’m worried. With war preparations going on at the same time, isn’t it difficult to predict how long it will take from legislation to implementation? The more the legislation is delayed, the greater the fear that media companies’ financial independence will increase. If that happens, they will be able to tame them. It will forever be impossible.”

“Isn’t the estimated time required for legislation and implementation unavoidable? If anything…”

The butler lowered his voice and made a secret proposal to Regal.

Regal’s eyes widen.

Soon, he laughs loudly.

Haha! You must have been influenced a lot by your wife. A very clever plan. No, perfect!”

Regal praised the head butler, which was rare.

The butler bowed his head and bowed to him.

“It’s an exaggerated statement, Your Highness. As you said, I was just copying the Duchess’ flow of thought somewhat.”

“No. I think it’s a good enough plan. Based on your opinion, we’ll have to implement a plan to keep the media in check right away.”

“If that’s the case, I will organize new operatives necessary for the implementation of the operation. In my opinion, if two groups of 10 special operations agents are deployed, the operation can be carried out sufficiently. Do you think it’s appropriate?”

Regal calculates in her mind for a moment.

He nods his head immediately.

“I think a total of around 20 people would be enough, but since it’s important to rush at once, I think it would be better to divide it into 3 groups of 7 people.”

“Okay. After that, I’ll report back on personnel appointments tomorrow.”

“Okay. Then the next item is…”

Regal’s work continued until Chiba arose.

The duke’s sabotage went well.

Both externally and internally.