The Corrielle Kingdom is said to be the most developed kingdom in the world, it is also considered as the largest amongst others having conquered different kingdoms throughout time, ruling them under their wing after their win. So having their only Crown Prince's reputation, personality, and principles remain at its best form is definitely a requirement.

They had to raise their only Crown Prince not just as a royal child, but as their future King. For the future of their Kingdom already lies with him the moment he was conceived by his birth mother, the Queen.

So of course, being pressured since birth would be considered as an understatement in Charles' life, his only luck is that he's a prodigy, a genius, he's a fast learner and he doesn't simply stop at learning, he was also gifted with the art of mastery.

Basically, he can be whatever he wants to be and he can learn everything that he wants to learn in a matter of time.

However, his biggest gift would actually be his inability to feel, because of this he wasn't at all affected by the pressure and expectations placed upon him, although this gift could actually be a curse someday, not just for him but for their kingdom that he will be ruling in the future.

One might think that he must be happy for his innate gifts but he's not, he's far from feeling that way. It's not like he's depressed about it, he's simply... bored.

His boredom resulted to his wicked and sadistic personality hidden behind his charming smile. It has become a game of his to manipulate situations, people, and events to achieve a certain goal, which is amusement. It doesn't matter if his amusement would result to someone being hurt, in fact, he would enjoy that much better.

As a child, he was like a tiny tyrant when it comes to his servants, he never lets anyone look down on him or treat him with impropriety, and if someone does it even accidentally, they would have to face hell. It's not like he threw tantrums, yelling to get what he wants or anything, he would just simply wear a remorseless stare or a sinister smile that would send shivers to someone's spine, even if he was just a little child, as he orders someone to punish the unfortunate person that treated him that way.

But it's not as if he was only like that with the servants — because he was wicked to everyone no matter their social standing — it's just that his methods of having fun are much more different and complicated when it comes to the noblemen, he's actually worse with them.

With them he was elegant, charming, his actions seems all calculated and he would flaunt his intellect around them in the most pleasing way possible, it may sound like a good thing but there's something more sinister about it that only his servants knows about.

When he was younger they would think that the catastrophe that his actions would cause to the noblemen were all just a mere coincidence, but it just happens too often that they started to discover his intentions.

'Ah, this kid is not just a simple kid. I'm deathly scared of him.'

Is what they would all think, even until the present day to be honest, so they were actually thankful that they were just servants because it's easier to deal with the evil that faces you head on unlike the evil that slashes you at the back, like what Charles does to the noblemen he dislikes.

He did not asked for toys, he asked for participation in the adults' world wearing the face of a charming young child. The adults let him in with their guards down, little did they know what was about to befall them. Oftentimes he would say things that would always result to an argument between the adults, and he finds it amusing how stupid these so-called nobles become when their buttons are pushed ever so slightly.

However he was still hungry, it's not enough, it's not amusing enough.

Visiting the Clarimiéres Kingdom is actually against his will, 'Just another small boring kingdom' is what he initially thought about it. But he knows the role that he needs to act on so when his father, the King, asked him to visit them, he promptly answered "As you wish, Father." Without any resistance whatsoever.

When he arrived, he dismissed his servants in order to study the Palaces of Clarimiéres', just observing the littlest details on it allowed him to find out their lifestyle and culture. But as he was roaming around, he saw the most beautiful creature in his life, better than any beauty that his eyes ever laid upon on. It was Anastasius, holding a sketchpad while smiling beautifully at his drawing without giving Charles a single glance.

"I'm sure he sees me in his peripheral vision... or does he? Why is he not greeting me?" The sudden questions that rose in his mind sparked an interest to him about the boy. "Based on his appearance, he must be one of the princes." And because he had the feeling that he would eventually properly meet Anastasius soon, he decided to go to the main palace to prepare for it.

Piquing Charles' interest is no easy feat, so even Charles himself wonders what drew him to Anastasius. Their first meeting is not something he would forget about as quickly as he does with other occasions. He can still vividly remember it until today, the sight of adorable little Anastasius looking so sleepy as he entered the main palace late with his butler.

Charles' first impression of him was that he was someone easy to manipulate, or that at least he looked like it, that may be one of the reasons why Charles wanted to test him a little bit.

But after observing him that whole meeting, he not only noticed the boy's social intellect, but was also entranced by how good he was at it to the point that Charles almost missed it. He may appear clumsy and innocent but he also knows how to play his words, his gaze gives off the feeling like he sees through you, as if saying 'I know what you're thinking about.' without being too obvious about it.

Charles wanted to know if his hunch was right so he arranged another meeting with him to observe, after one meeting came another, and another, and so on and so forth. He couldn't help it, their meetings were always eventful, he could only show his intellect without being treated as someone different with Anastasius, he could also only present his arguments and be debunked in return by the youner as the others were either too stupid or too narrow-minded to criticize what he was trying to say. So before he even realized it, he's grown attached to the other more than how he wanted to.

He admits that although he loves fooling other people by hiding his true intentions and emotions, he also yearns for understanding, something he didn't receive when he was living in their Kingdom but he does with Anastasius.

So when the time came where he wasn't able to visit him anymore, he didn't stop writing him letters, those were the only things that kept him in-touch with that feeling after all. The palace doesn't offer him much entertainment than Anastasius does.

His attachment to Anastasius grew more and more but he doesn't really know how he would describe his feelings for him, things such as having someone you want to take care of, someone you want to coddle and protect, and someone you want all to yourself are some things that are too foreign for a remorseless prince like him to have a complete grasp of.

So instead of digging that emotion up, he decided to compare Anastasius to a pet he once had in his childhood that he cared about the most amongst other things, way long before he met Anastasius. It was a tiny pet rabbit which he really adored because even if it looked cute and weak, it didn't budge at the sight of a ferocious dog cornering it.

He was already a bit remorseless back then but he wasn't proactive about it, he never caused any trouble and just spent his days acting like a perfect prince while also taking care of his beloved pet, until something traumatizing happened to him. It was when a certain servant, ordered by a Nobleman, tied him up in a storage room and let him watch as they mutilated his pet rabbit and fed it to the hunting dogs they own. For the reason being that the nobleman just wanted to see if he's capable of showing emotions. And what's more is that, after he saw Charles' frozen expression, he just simply clicked his tongue and said,

“That's so anticlimactic.”

Of course those people who did that to him was immediately taken care of after he got out of the situation, but simply torturing and killing them didn't satiate his fury, and he soon found out that he only felt happy whenever he pushes down people--that shared the same traits with those wicked men whom he had a traumatizing experience with--to their downfall in the most painful way possible.

In the original story, he became interested with the heroine because she was able to achieve things at par with his abilities. However, he didn't change his ruthless ways even after they got together, and he never settled his trauma well which can obviously be seen by how he punished the original Anastasius. Because he saw Anastasius like how he saw those people that did bad things to something he cared about.

However with Anastasius it's completely different. His interest rooted from the boy's ability to make him feel like a normal person, like he's understood and he belongs in a place where he can be true to himself. And when he's with Anastasius, he always has this urge to be a better person without relying on the younger to attain it, deep inside he simply wants to cure himself to finally settle his feelings for Anastasius. To be more worthy to stay by his side.

And it's obvious which rooted the strongest between the two.

** Author's Note (new):

Now you're able to know more about our Prince Charming and how our adorable Anastasius means a lot to him! He may be a scheming lil shit when he was younger (still is now ehe) but at least now you guys know the reason behind it.

He's still unaware of his feelings but he's getting there uwu. But anyway, I hope this chapter allowed you to delve into the tyrant prince's mind and heart too!

The next chapter would be the continuation of the Alchemy contest.

LOVE Y'ALL! TAKE CAREEEE!!!