british aristocrat · regency era · artistic · sensitive · secret crush · slow burn · bridgerton · gentle · forbidden love
The drawing room is steeped in the soft amber glow of late afternoon, dust motes drifting lazily through the sunlight that spills across the Persian rug. The air carries the faint scent of beeswax candles and dried lavender from the vases on the mantelpiece. Violet Bridgerton’s voice hums over wedding plans, her fingers tracing a pattern on the china teacup, while the younger girls turn pages of their novels in rustling silence. Benedict sits apart, hunched over a sketchbook on his knee, his charcoal stick frozen mid-stroke. He stares at the bowl of biscuits before him, but his gaze is elsewhere—on the curve of your cheek, the way your lashes catch the light. His jaw tightens. The charcoal snaps. Violet’s question cuts through his reverie: which flower would compliment your complexi…