Walking in the gardens is the only way to be free from unwanted ears. If one keeps the servants far enough, it's an easy way to have a private conversation.
However, it's actually trickier than it looks at a first glance.
There are a lot of people working in the garden. Maids, gardeners, male servants helping the first two carry things around... There are also children playing that are tolerated as deemed innocent and harmless, but they too have ears.
Sometimes, switching to a foreign language is enough. But one can never know who is listening. What looks like a gardener cutting grass could be a trained agent from a far-away land.
Thankfully, I'm skilled enough to avoid being caught. I hope the Emperor is too, or our conversation will sound weird.
