Julia’s comment > Likes and Comments

To be fair, it's one thing for a mother to slap her own child in discipline, but another for a man to hit his own love. I see it akin to a husband hitting a wife.
True, he was pretending to be a bad guy, but he didn't have much reason to keep that guise up for Buttercup.

I think you answered your own question about why he doesn't tell her, and you answered it well.