"I'm sorry. I was wrong."
"Too fucking late."
Basen cringed, his eyes moving towards the gaping servants and back towards the incredible spectacle in front of them.
He would need to have a long conversation with his hyung-nim after this insanity but first and foremost, he'd need to clean up the mess. Catching the eyes of the servants and giving them a rather explicit look he followed them all into the hallway where they stood at stiff attendance.
"Not a word of this is spoken to anybody." He said severely, knowing that this would only be a temporary fix. News would spread, even if the servants didn't have loose lips there was general lack of loyalty to his older brother and plenty of rich nobles willing to ply open those lips with gold. "If word gets out, everyone here will be dismissed without recommendation."
It was a stiff punishment but the servants especially would understand what a sensitive matter this was. Some would have already noticed the opportunity within it. Some were probably just dying to tell someone the crazy thing they just saw. Basen had no means or method of reading their thoughts, he just needed them to stay quiet until he found a better solution.
The servants all nodded in understanding before being sent to their various tasks.
Basen sunk to the floor, his own mind chaotically rattling. '...shit, I probably should have brought them to my office and had them sign contracts or kept them busy or... shit... did I see what I think I saw?!'
Basen wasn't the sort to curse, not even in the privacy of his own mind, his vocabulary only sought out such crude words in times of panic and even then very rarely.
Cale Henituse, his one and only hyung-nim, was a complicated man. Basen knew him well enough to know he wasn't a bad man. He'd never done harm to his family and most injuries from his drunken tirades were actually his own.
It wasn't pleasant that he was difficult to get close to, complained about perfectly good food and drink, and kept a distance from his loved ones but that wasn't all there was to Cale.
Whenever he was nervous or scared, his hyung-nim would hear him out. Offering clipped and severe advice but good advice. There was a gentility to his brother when they were alone, almost as though he could relax just a bit with his siblings.
Cale was his fiercest protector whenever there was a hint of danger and the first person to truly accept him as a Henituse. Cale was crude and difficult but Basen never doubted that his brother loved him or his sister. He was his irreplaceable hyung-nim.
However, despite the great many times Basen had seen Cale lose his composure or cause a scene, he'd never seen anything quite like that.
Basen frowned as he gathered himself and stood, frowning at the door.
Basen actually had a fairly good impression of the crown prince. He was bright, kind, and an exceptional leader. Basen had every reason to expect great things from the future sun of the Roan Kingdom.
That and this were different matters however.
Basen scowled at the door.
What had that indecent son of a bitch done to his precious hyung-nim to cause him to become so distressed? What exactly was he apologizing for when Basen left the room?
Basen had very little room in his head for prejudice over the nature of the relationship, some surprise, but his brother was free to seek happiness with whomever he'd like.
Except Basen had plenty of disapproval for anyone who made Cale that upset. He had half a mind to go back in there and give that pompous dirtbag a piece of his mind.
He calmed himself with the understanding that firstly, Cale deserved privacy to parse out his own matters. His hyung-nim was generally private and this had clearly been a private affair. Secondly, if treason was necessary to solve it, then Cale was more likely to smash a bottle over the unscrupulous bastard's head than Basen was. And finally, some common sense that remained within him gave him the valuable knowledge that bursting in there to yell at the crown prince would only complicate matters.
Instead Basen satisfied himself by waiting outside, listening for a commotion and glaring at the door.
He knew well that his brother could handle himself but still... he didn't like how vulnerable and upset Cale had looked.
And he didn't trust that pathetic excuse for a crown prince one tiny bit. Who the hell was he to burst in, disrupt their breakfast, and harass Cale? Basen planned to have a long conversation with his father after this to ensure that the royal family would pay for this discourtesy.
In the distance of time between when the dining room had been closed off and when the pair would finally emerge, Basen was left to his own troubling thoughts.
How long had this been going on? He was relatively sure it had to be since before Cale's arrival in the capital. There had been something restless about Cale ever since it'd been announced that Basen and Cale would travel to the capital. The way that Cale would disappear at every event almost immediately was telling as well. Especially since, now that he thought about it, the prince frequently vanished when Cale did.
And Cale's turbulent mood of late could only mean that the shameless prince had done something awful.
Basen's eyebrow twitched unpleasantly. He had no idea what that reprobate of a royal had done but no one was permitted to cause his hyung-nim such distress.
Basen had quite a strong bias and it was whoever caused his hyung-nim harm was ultimately the person who was wrong. Especially emotional damage.
Cale was the sort of person one could see angry on any given Tuesday but it had been well over a decade since Basen had seen his hyung-nim upset. That was different and anyone who could hurt him like that needed a very stern talking to and a possible bottle over the side of their head.
Finally disrupting Basen's spiraling and uneasy thoughts, the dining room hall opened. There was a good awkward foot between Cale and the crown prince but, Basen noted, the heavy atmosphere from before was nowhere to be seen.
In fact, Cale looked embarrassed but pleased.
Basen scowled at the amoral prince. What had he done to trick Cale into forgiving him? Well. Basen wouldn't be so easily won over. The glib degenerate would have to do better than a few words to appease Basen's protective fury.
The pair noticed Basen immediately and Cale really didn't look like he knew what to do with himself. Alberu smiled awkwardly to Basen's steely glare.
Basen straightened up. He'd had plenty of time to think about how he'd deal with this. "Were you able to conclude your conversation to your satisfaction, hyung-nim?" Basen addressed Cale, pointedly ignoring the dastardly prince.
Cale was a bit out of sorts. It was unnerving to see him unsure or hesitant. Basen didn't like it. "Ah. Yes." Cale coughed awkwardly and looked very much like he'd like to find a hole to get buried in.
Basen would much rather help him find a hole to bury that dishonorable prince inside of.
"I would like to have a word with his highness then." Basen said firmly. Again, he wasn't addressing Alberu but rather talking to Cale. Not so subtly asserting that Cale was actually the one with the power here.
It might not have been true and it was probably political suicide but the Henituse family didn't live to conquer politics. They lived to protect their own. That dodgy prince could stuff it if he was offended and the Henituse family would fight him till the bitter end.
A few expressions flickered through Cale's face as he looked at his younger brother. They were siblings with a complicated relationship but they were siblings nonetheless and there were certain things that you could just know about a sibling when looking at them.
Cale let out a scoffing laugh, running his hands through his hair as he shook his head in disbelief. "Do as you like." He said with a handwave.
If he was fearful for Basen's safety, he would intervene. But it appeared that it was Alberu's turn to have trial through fire. Cale looked up to the clueless prince with a smirk.
"Very well." Basen clipped, turning around and gesturing for that lousy no-good shady and exploitative prince to follow after him. It was a shameful break in etiquette but Cale felt that he owed his brother a fit of his own.
Alberu looked towards Cale with a puzzled frown and was only met with a not-so-friendly pat on the back. "Have fun."
"...you're enjoying this." Alberu accused but he felt a bit lighter with the mischief on Cale's face.
"Every second of it." Cale replied.
Cale would need to figure out what he'd say to Basen when it was his turn and how this would change things going forward. But for now it was Alberu in the hot-seat and Cale's leftover spiteful feelings of heartbreak were being quite effectively assuaged by that knowledge.