Zen began to suspect Ambrose had multiple personality disorder. One moment he was shouting, looking pitiful the next. Sepehr was no different. In a sense, he was even worse.
They changed gears so fast, it was hard to keep up. 

「I guess that's how they function. Multiple modes.」

On a different note, He genuinely thought Sepehr would be let off the hook on the effect of being, well, Sepehr. At the very least, he’d be let off easy, that was evident.

Sepehr was let off easy, no doubt about that. But the easy punishment wasn’t treating him well. 

“Your Highness, this is improper,” Sepehr spoke in a way that sounded almost pitiful. But Ambrose wasn’t affected by the barely noticeable hint of it. Or perhaps it wasn’t possible for Sepehr to look pitiable.「You should've worked more on your expressions.」

“Whatever do you mean?”
「Same question.」

“I don’t see why I need to do this because of the house arrest.” 

“This is way too light a punishment for someone who intervened in the crown prince’s direct order. But you’re still unsatisfied, Sepehr?”
「He’s messing with him on purpose. How childish Your Tyrant Highness.」

“Your Highness’ generosity knows no bounds, there is not the slightest bit of doubt in it,” Sepehr spoke respectfully, “But this goes against the rules. I feel like I’m dishonoring royal conduct.” 

“Convicts needn’t worry about conduct,” Ambrose remarked, “And you’re dishonoring my judgment. Just eat your lunch.” 

「Thus far I’ve never seen such biased judgement.」

“Your Highness, I cannot—”
“It says nowhere that we can’t eat at the same table. Whatever else you have as an excuse, dismissed.”

The house arrest took effect a week ago. Sepehr was on bed rest after getting his hand stitched. Today was the first time he was allowed to leave his room and that was for lunch. With the prince. Which was supposedly against some rule. 

「Who needs rules? I say complain about the food.」

Zen scorned every time his eyes landed on the table. Fish.Meat. Fruits. For the past week, there had been fish for at least one meal a day. He was sick of it even though he didn’t have to eat it.
But he figured Sepehr wasn’t like that. Zen couldn’t imagine Sepehr complaining about food. Even if there was something he didn’t like on his palette, he’d eat gracefully as he was now. 

「Yeah, that’s how he is.」

“Your Highness, if I turn into a fish one of these days, please throw me into the pond in the back garden. It should be a suitable habitat.”
「...I guess he hates it too.」
Sepehr was indeed picky with his food. Zen forgot Sepehr’s status as a duke's son because a prince was present. But, in truth, Sepehr was more coddled in his childhood than the crown prince. That mostly affected his food habits. 

“I’ll keep you in a fish bowl instead.”
「Confinement even after turning into a fish. What luck you have, Sepehr. But on the bright side, you’d no longer have to eat fish.」

“If Your Highness wishes for me to die in a jar, then so be it.”
Perks of being Sepehr: Even snarky comments sounded sincere.
Disadvantages of being Sepehr: EVERYTHING he said sounded sincere.

Ambrose stabbed his food with a bit too much force, making a sound as the fork hit the plate.
「Why would you say that? Are you out of your mind? Your jokes don’t sound like jokes, stop it.」

Ambrose looked at the servants, who had almost been forgotten. “Tell the chef to serve another serving of this,” he said, pointing at what looked like a sea-fish-dish Zen couldn’t name.
「Is this guy really trying to turn him into a fish?」
“We’ll be eating fish for lunch until Sepehr Vale turns into a fish worthy of his position. It’s an order.” 

“I’m allergic to fish, Your Highness.”
「I thought you were smart…」

“Add one extra for the advisor because he resorted to lying.”
「What kind of torture is this? Feeding to death—feeding till turned into a fish worthy of the royal dinner or something? 」

“You don’t even like fish…” Sepehr spoke in disbelief, trailing off in the end.

Within minutes, two more pieces of sea-born fish Zen couldn’t name were placed in front of Sepehr. He stared at it with an unreadable expression before finally picking up the fork.
This time, Sepehr began to eat uncharacteristically fast, as if not even taking the time to taste the flavors. That was what he was doing, swallowing it down. 

“Ah—” But he ended up swallowing down a few bones as well. The corner of his eyes teared up likely because of the stinging.
「Careful—」Zen was quite familiar with the stabbing of fishbones, one of the reasons he avoided it. 

“Hm?” Neither of them paid attention to Ambrose. 

Sepehr finished the last piece in a bite and then stood up without even drinking water properly. “Your Highness, I’ll be leaving first to check through the work I missed in the past week. Pardon me.” 

Sepehr walked out of the room and approached the nearest marble basin. He spit out and cleaned his mouth with a handkerchief, leaving a light stain of red on both.
「It’s that bad? How is he still maintaining that calm expression?」

Zen looked back and grumbled, noticing a figure in the corner.
「Why are you hiding in a corner? Look what you did! Why do you have to say for yourself?! How—」
Ambrose followed a moment later, leaving Zen to grumble to himself. The hallway was quiet except for the faint echo of footsteps.

“Sepehr.”

Sepehr paused, his back straight. Slowly, he turned, his expression unreadable. “Yes, Your Highness?”

“You’re bleeding?” Ambrose said, his gaze flicking to the handkerchief.

“I wouldn’t call this bleeding, Your Highness,” Sepehr replied, his voice steady. “It’s a minor irritation. I’ve already dealt with it.”

“Why didn’t you say anything? I—”

“Your Highness is not responsible for my food habits,” Sepehr replied, his tone polite but clipped, “It’s wholly on me and those who raised me.”

Ambrose hesitated, his gaze searching Sepehr’s face. “You’re upset.” 

“Why would I be?” Sepehr asked. “There are instances where people lost a limb or two for the same crime as mine. If anything, I’m grateful for your consideration.”
「He’s upset, alright.」

“Sepehr—”
“Your Highness. I should get to work now. Please excuse me.”
「」

Ambrose stood there, watching Sepehr’s retreating figure, his lips pressing into a thin line. His expression turned cold. “Meona.”
A woman appeared out of the shadows and bowed. “Is he truly allergic to fish?”

“Your Highness knows it better than I do,” she spoke in a calm voice. “Though, I believe this happened because of the fish bones rather than allergies.” Pause. “You shouldn’t have acted like a tyrant ordered him to eat those. Lord Sepehr was in no position to decline, thus got hurt.”

"Are you being bold because you think I can't catch you and put you in jail?"
“Whatever do you mean, Your Highness? I only said it as it is.”

Ambrose sighed, knowing there was no point in arguing with her. “But how can he get injured so easily?”

Meona looked at Ambrose as if he were some type of social calamity. "Your Highness, I can't say anything because I don't want to be a criminal. But I do think Lord Sepehr would not be so prone to injuries if you acted half as calmly as him in dire situations. It's likely because you act like a child, the Lord feels like he has to comply with your demands." 

"You're getting more offensive by the minute. Just stop talking and go inform the kitchen to get rid of the bones starting tomorrow. And not to serve fish for any other meal other than lunch." 

“Why not stop feeding him fish if he hates it so much?” 

“Do you not see him? He can’t be selective with food.”

Meona sighed and left without saying anything. 

Although the problem with fish-bones was fixed, lunch wasn't about to be free of something fishy anytime soon.