{ ♚ }; “Oh.”
She wasn’t an easy catch and Hans was beginning to wonder if she was worth the whole game— after all, why should he care about disgracing a simple peasant girl, she wasn’t anybody important… And he had a reputation to uphold. The beast decided to withdraw for now, smoothing out the sharp ridges of his tongue. He is being too forceful, of course… But the prey seemed so promising… Adding some softness to his words in order to soothe any wounds that he might have reopened, Hans retorted:
”Well— I mean, it must have been something, but how were you supposed to fix it if your sister wouldn’t listen? It’s not your fault… I can tell that you would apologize for anything— that is… that is if she listened to you… your sister…”
He licked his lips with certain pensiveness, avoiding her gaze for a while— the concentration of his thoughts was almost hearable. “I’m sorry, Anna. It must have been hard— willing to amend for your mistakes but being unable to. No wonder you ran away— well, chose to leave your home.”
Perhaps a softer approach would work better. Trust must be first built up before it can be shattered.
Unsure smile upon her lips -- cerulean orbs soften, gazing at the { kind? } man before her. She sees not a game, as he does. But neither is she fool enough to see naught but unbidden kindness. Still. The softer tone invites warmth, and the once-princess shakes her head. There's no need for him to feel any sadness on her account. She hates causing others distress. Especially over insignificant things. like her. "Well -- it's not your problem, yeah? No reason for you to worry about it. And it's fine, now. I'm out of her hair and I'm happy with the way I'm living. We both win." That's what she tells herself, anyway. Eager for a change of subject, she diverts { as one does } and shifts her smile to something more teasing, grinning faintly at him. Hands travel to her hips, settling there as she leans towards him in some imitation of flirtation which is too sincere to actually be flirtation. She's kind of awful at flirting and gave up attempts roughly two years back. "I've gotta say, you're the nicest prince I've met in a long time." Which, of course, is not the saem as calling him a good prince. If she's learned anything, it's that nice is different than good.















