His Fake Smiles?

Anberine froze from hearing him say her actual name given how he would always give her insulting names. At the same time her mind did not register the first thing Skye had said as she was still left speechless.

Strange as it was given how if someone had told another person they loved them it would normally cause a reaction and yet she disregarded it straight away.

Now the sad yet strange thing was hearing him finally saying her name properly and it even took him to be spelled for him to finally say it. And even hearing the prince now say her name strangely felt... nice?

"No! I can't-" She clenched her eyes tightly as she felt tears threatening to show from the onslaught of emotions that bubbled within her, she had to end this. Even if he did hate her in the end for it, it was better to let him be free than be reduced to a caged bird. A puppet without any ability to think or truly feel for himself.

"You don't mean it sire-"

"My name Skye" Prince Skye said calmly surprising Anberine enough to open her eyes. "When no one is around, it is Skye, won't you please call me that?" the prince asked in a soft tone, just seeing his calm expression and hearing him ask her to say his name in a firm tone left her slightly shook up.

"If you knew my name then why do you keep calling me these horrible names?" Anberine asked now wanting to know, even IF the Love Curse did encourage him to tell some truths she would rather know now than be left with the uncertainty for a long time once it all came to an end. Blinking the prince looked away shyly causing Anberine to blink rapidly from his reaction.

"I... wanted you to notice me" Skye replied meekly as he continued to look at the floor shyly, Anberine's brows went up slightly from his response.

"Notice... you?" Anberine asked with a disbelieving look on her face. "But you're the prince, how can I not notice you?" his eyes immediately grew sombre from hearing her response.

"That's the thing, I want YOU to notice me" Prince Skye said weakly as he looked away with a pained expression that surprised her.

"Not just as a prince. I... in truth I don't really know how to engage with people, all I was taught was how to be a ruler... I didn't have time to make friends- real friends" Prince Skye admitted with a withered look on his face, startled and yet unsurprised she frowned a bit from his reply.

"With how you treat people can you blame us for not liking you?" Anberine asked bluntly earning her a short laugh from the prince.

"No I guess not" Skye's mouth quirked slightly as he gazed at her softly "you're the only person who actually is honest with me, you're never shy in telling me off when I cross the line and yet at times you always avoid me" Skye added with a sad look.

"Is that why you keep bullying me?" Anberine asked bluntly before she could stop herself, she had to know even if it was half the truth. It was a whole lot better than not knowing. Blinking in surprise from hearing the question Skye's eyes then soften with guilt from seeing her reaction.

"Yeah... it was a stupid thing to get your attention and I really am sorry, if I could take it all back I would. I... just didn't know how to behave around you, or anyone to he honest" Prince Skye admitted weakly as he saw her eyes now grow sad, seeing this tugged at his heartstrings knowing that he had done this to her.

He never truly wanted to hurt her he just... didn't know how to act and she was a girl to make things more harder since girls were often seen as fragile, were seen to have different tastes and were more vulnerable from what he saw. How could one speak to the opposite gender without looking weak since boys were suppose to be strong and hardly contain much emotion? That was what he was told during his childhood.

"Father hates weaknesses" Prince Skye added causing Anberine to look at him quickly with a confusion etched on her face, sighing he placed his hand on her right shoulder before releasing her so he could turn his body slightly so he was half looking at her.

"Father says emotions are for the weak and as royals we should see the people as tools for our disposal. I... I hated that he would even disregard the fact mother had died, it was like he never loved her at all and grandmother hardly saw me as family but as a royal whose purpose is to rule the kingdom" Skye said in a pained tone as he told her.

However he refused to look at her eyes in fear of gaining an idea of what she thought of him. Most likely he feared she deemed him useless.

"They would often say friends would only weaken you and make you look soft in front of others, that they would betray and lead to your ruin. That I should only marry a powerful person to seize power, but I don't want to do that" a bitter sad smile formed on his face as he kept talking, his mind going to how he was raised and what he was taught to believe.

"But it doesn't matter what I want, it's supposed to be all about control and to take what you want no matter who it hurts... his fake smiles make me sick" Prince Skye added bitterly shocking and confusing her.

'His... fake... smiles?' Anberine was left unable to speak as she looked at his figure which was being half shrouded in darkness thanks to the fact that they were under a staircase.