Up crawled the dirty "noble" house politics. At a time when these children need love and support most, their self-serving relatives would rather take advantage of their parents death to manipulate them and control the dukedom. I think they're trying to separate the younger brothers from Eugene because they know Eugene is smarter and more resistant to their pressure so if they take his brothers away not only will they be easier to mold but then they can be used against Eugene to make him bend to their will. Reminds of A stepmother's marchen with the relatives that play like they care but are really just money/power grubbing scum.