Shade looked again at Galina, reclining against the pillows at the head of the bed. The Duchess had just finished bathing with the maids' assistance and now wore her hair loose over her nightgown. Her complexion was still poor, but her voice was no longer as weak as before:
"Flora, it is perfectly normal that you and your apprentice could not uncover it. Leisha, it is only natural that neither you nor Angelina had heard of it. This concerns a royal scandal from more than four hundred years ago. Even I only heard my father mention it."
She hesitated greatly.
"Back then... Simply put, Duke Kinder's Brother had an affair with the Queen and was discovered. Then, after various exchanges of interest, the royal family did not publicly punish the Kindel Family, but the Duke's Brother and his family were expelled from Delarion. Their traces were even erased from the family genealogy.
"Although they left the country, this branch of the Kindel Family never severed its ties with the homeland. I cannot clearly explain matters from centuries ago, but for a time, I suspected that their expulsion and subsequent settlement in Creekwood Town, so close to Weilun Dai'er City, might also have been arranged by Military Intelligence Section Six."
"You mean the local Kindel Family has always been domestic spies?"
Leisha asked. It was already late at night, and the Redhead Princess was also in a nightgown. Sitting beside her, Shade could even smell the soap scent in her hair.
"Spies? No, no. They merely did some business, slightly influenced the direction of the railways near Wilundell, and made friends with a few politically frustrated people in Weilun Dai'er City. How could that be called espionage?"
Galina said, then asked Flora's apprentice:
"I have read Military Intelligence Section Six's files.