There is a certain comedy inherent in managing to say exactly the wrong thing. Laurentius knows next to nothing about the business of textiles save the broadest of strokes, and there the line of questioning might have naturally expired. But politics—

"I have a brother in politics." Who doesn't?, seems to suggest the briefly self-deprecating tilt of his temple. "Who was it you clerked for?"

There is something in Benedict's accent that suggests he's spent time with well bred company, isn't there?