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Julian was a kid who loved fairytales and found real life boring. Since a young age he was only interested in reading books about different worlds. When his parents couldn't get him anymore books he enrolled into the royal academy which had a library with all kinds of books. Julian became 1st place student so that he could get a dorm in the library and live there more or less. He graduated as the best student but afterwards he had no access to new books anymore. While being depressed and living as a neet his father suggested to him to work in the royal palace where the figures of fairytales came to life(princes/princesses etc). Julian started working there and found out about gossip which was neverending in the palace and was also way better than simple fairytales (he mentions that gossip is like a 4D movie compered to books).
When he first hears about the duke of Arist(not a 100% sure if that's what he was called) he is happy cause the duke will certainly be the source for tons of new gossip. When he actually meets the duke he is disappointed cause the duke is too perfect and he knows that woman don't like men that are more beautiful than themselves and so there wouldn't be much gossip. However wile tending to the duke he witnesses the monstrous dick of the duke, knowing that the noble women love to gossip about those things, he finds hope for new gossip once again!
The duke noticed how Julian stares between his legs whenever he gets the chance and is disgusted by this pervert.
Duke also seems familiar with Julian's name. He starts thinking of where he might have met him( asked him if he was ever at the battle field, thinks that he might be a criminal cause then he would definitely know about him). Eventually he asks Julian about where he graduated from
(my guess is that as 1st place student for years he either was just well known for that or he did something during his like some kinda research or invention that made him famous. This is however not mentioned at all in the story up till now so it's just baseless speculation that i have made)
Other small notes:
His highness thinks Julian is in love with him because of the way Julian acts around him(Julian likes him only because he is the source of a lot of gossip). Julian is also really close to the queen(at least that's what I think she is, the one who fought with the duke), since she always knows a lot of hot gossip and spreads even more. Julian tells her things he knows to get more gossip while playing innocent.
Hope this helps and doesn't just make things more confusing! <3