The Second Born Bridgerton // Benedict Bridgerton

Forgive, forget

I have never felt so happy, and as sad as it is, I wish only to paint again. So I sneak from my bedroom as I have done many times, slightly out of practice since I have not done so for a week, and slide from my home, quick and excited on my way to Lord Granville. He opens the door for me and greets me with wide arms. "My dear, it feels as though it has been too long since I have seen you. What is it that has kept you away?" He guides me from the front door to the art studio, eager as always to encourage me not to look too long at what is occurring on the outside.

"I simply did not feel like painting, my lord. But never fear, I am home again now." I offer him a sweet smile of which he chuckles at, handing me a paintbrush.

"I must admit... I was rather shocked to see Mr Bridgerton arrive without you. I did think the two of you were quite the duo."

As soon as he says this, I grip the paintbrush slightly tighter in my hand, turning to look at him. "Benedict has been here, over the past week?"

"Well, yes indeed. And, well my dear, he hasn't simply been painting. He has been indulging in all the party has had to offer." He hesitates momentarily as he realises that this shall certainly not be what I want to hear, and that is confirmed when I launch the paintbrush across the room. "Good heavens, Peaches. Is it that bad?"

"I... I do not know what I am to do once again! He seems to insist on making everything so difficult for me. I had forgiven him and now it becomes that he is lying to me once again." I sigh, resting my head against my hands. "He told me that he had not left his home this week, that is why I had not seen him at any balls. That he was too distraught over what happened between the two of us, that he could hardly bare to leave his bedroom. And yet it turns out that he has been here every night, engaging with other women and drowning his sorrows in whatever breasts he can find! And you and certain, certain beyond all doubt, that it was him?"

"I do hate to say so, but I am. I have never been so certain, dear Peaches. I have conversed with him and I am... more than confident to verify his identity. He has been here every night." He sinks into the chair by the side of me, moving his hand softly over and taking my own, squeezing gently. "What are you thinking, my dear? What is occurring in that head of yours?"

"Well, I am thinking of what I shall do next. I am... we had just reconciled and now I feel he has betrayed my trust one again. I do not wish to marry a man who insists on lying to me of his whereabouts. How do I not know then that he has been lying to me of his feelings? His intentions? I shall never be able to fully trust him." I hunch my shoulders over, once again, squeezing my eyes shut so I may refrain from crying. But this time, it does not work, and the tears spill from my eyes and splash down my cheeks and onto my dress. "Why are men so... so... so stupid?"

"What shall you do of it?"

"What choice do I have? I shall have to confront him and I shall have to ask him why he has lied to me again." My hand pulls away from my friends as I stand and pace over to collect the paintbrush that I had thrown before. "And then inevitably, we shall argue and he shall decide against our engagement once again. Nothing has been officially announced yet, I may still decide-"

"If I speak, will you listen? And allow me to finish what I wish to say before you say anymore?" Lord Granville, Henry, asks me. I sniffle and nod, agreeing that I shall stay silent throughout his speech and ideas. "I think that you should say nothing to him."

"What-"

"Dearest Peaches, you have broken your promise already. Now, do be quiet. You should say nothing to him. You said yourself that you have only just reformed, and this is a minor sin at most. It is most likely not that he wishes not to tell you his whereabouts, perhaps more than he does not wish for you to judge him of his whereabouts and his actions. If you love him, which I believe that you do, it is not worth ruining your friendship over, my dear. It is not worth ruining your relationship over. He has lied, but he has lied because he thought it shall protect you and your feelings if you did not know that he was not round here engaging in illicit threesomes with the modiste and my wife. Forgive him and forget it, and marry the man that you are so clearly in love with. And, well, will continue to let you come here to paint once you are married."

"Forgive him? Forget it? How must I do that?"

"Forgive, forget. You must act as though nothing is wrong, you must not speak to him of it. If you love him then you shall accept he has made mistakes, that he says the wrong things most of the time as men do, and he seems to never have a clue as to what is the right thing he should have said. He has not lied to hurt you, peaches. You shall learn that as you grow, some people lie with malicious intent and wish to see you hurt and this is not one of these times. Is it not you yourself that claims perfection does not exist? Then you must expect him to make mistakes. But you must choose which of these it is worth ending your engagement over. And this is not one of them."

💗Author's note💗

Hi guys, so I've gauged that people don't really like this chapter or the advice that Granville gives, but can I please ask that you don't leave lots of negative comments? You might not like it, you might utterly despise it, and I like constructive comments, but some things just aren't all that helpful.

In order for the book to work within the timeline of what's happening within the show, I thought I would keep the whole threesome scene as part of it. It keeps in with the themes of the double standards for men vs women in this time since Benedict hasn't done anything they wouldn't view as perfectly okay for a man to do, and simply it gave me a good character relationship arc.

I think part of relationships is about deciding whether something is worth ending that relationship over, and Peaches decided this wasn't. She loves him so she agrees to forgive and forget rather than argue AGAIN! If you disagree, okay, but she's my character so I say she thinks like me 😌 (and its not your place to tell me I'm wrong, or comment on my personal relationship, thanks!)

Plus... she has to forgive him or there's literally no more story.

I worked really hard on this book and I'm really proud of it, and it might seem dramatic but it really upsets me to see negative comments.

I'm sorry if you don't like it, you can pretend Peaches never finds out if that's what you want, but this is the way I chose to write it so pls don't be mean 💗

Thanks,

Ruby x

(Edit: honestly, if you're going to leave comments about how much you hate it, and how much you don't want to read on - please don't. Every time I open wattpad I get a new negative comment about this and it's getting pretty exhausting tbh. I know that by publishing this, I open myself up to criticism and I'm cool with that, but some of these comments are straight up rude and I hate reading them. If you don't want to read on, that's fine with me, no need to tell me though.)