For a moment, he considers denying it. But, well...No point to it, is there? It's not as though there's any other source it could have come from. Even if he pretends it was someone else - Natasha, maybe - then there would still be the same starting point of him having gossiped about her and her artistic ambitions. No. There's no use.

So he looks back across the garden again. And he answers truthfully. "I told them that you had artistic talent. And Cetagandans are quite charmed by artistry, as you are aware. It wasn't a matter of convincing them; it was a matter of letting them know that there was an untapped vein of aesthetic ability near them."