"First," Claudius says in storytelling tones, "you have to understand that I have something of a scandalous reputation back in Denmark. But that doesn't mean much, because scandalous depends on the culture that you're in. The Danes are known for being a chilly, reserved people, right up to the point one warms to you -- then we're unmistakable, even excessive in our affections. Courtiers are a different breed. We can be excessive, affectionate, and flirtatious without commitment, and the flirtations between men even moreso. Because then they become tests of commitment¹. Each man sees how far the they go in flirting before the other flinches. Luo Binghe flirts ... like an Italian. Like someone born from hotter climes. In fact, he flirts like men in certain Italian works that aren't commonly translated, but that everyone wants to read. Do you understand me? When we first met, I asked Luo Binghe to be nice, and he only knew how to be nice by flattering me like one of those curious maidens in a story of sensual discovery. Except, of course, that I'm the one who has actually gone farther in flirtations with other men, and at the time I was very sure he hadn't. That must not have been the nature of his novel." And novels are, by their nature, new, which is the main sense Claudius uses the word in. Webnovels are as new as it gets.

¹ 'Gay chicken,' if you've ever heard of the sport. Claudius hasn't, but that's what he describing.