I do like Belle, but I didn’t think it was that shocking what he did to her. Sorry, but he is a villain, so he is going to do horrible things to people to reach his goals. Hitting Belle, using Aurora’s heart, helping Cora, all these actions make him someone who is going to create conflict.
Plus, he so far has not even reached close to what both Rumpelstiltskin and Regina have done. 🙂