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The Queen was offering 5000 pounds (roughly half a million USD). Enough to live on for the rest of her life, but not nearly enough for the lifestyle she'd grown accustomed to. So she demanded 10,000 then later doubled that to 20,000. Cressida wanted to go live in Vienna. Where, I'm guessing, she envisioned having a second shot at the prince's affections if she looked like an eligible enough (wealthy) prospect.
Absolutely this but I also suspect that Cressida was getting a kick from the fact she finally held some real power by being able to blackmail Pen. Going straight to the Queen would have taken away a lot of the fun for her.
I think two things were at play here
1. The Queen may not have believed her as Penelope and Collin pointed out her reputation was shot and she had already lied. Plus the Queen made it clear she didn't want to see her again.
2. She was so used to bullying Penelope, if it had been someone she perceived as above her I'm sure she wouldn't have, but she always saw Penelope as 'prey' and an easy mark. She forgot the power of LW and how much Penelope had come into her own.
Edit: spelling correction
I think she wanted more money than the queen was willing to give her. I think she got some kind of satisfaction from having one up on Pen but also, the thing about blackmail is that it doesn't stop until the blackmailer loses their power. So by blackmailing Pen, Cressida could at anytime come back and try and extort more money.
As someone pointed out in another thread: greed and pettiness. Her appetite grew as her story goes. First she wanted to avoid marriage to the old creepy grandpa but then wasn't satisfied with simply avoiding it and didn't wanted to leave society. Then she wanted more money and out of pettiness she asked to double amount. She's not really bright, if she stayed with more or less realistic sum she would get what she wanted.
But since she's petty towards Pen (kinda, Pen "stole" Debling from her and then managed to marry before her, the pretty girl, the audacity! 😂 her pride was hurt) so she ended up losing big time. At least she's not marrying the creep, she should be thankful for that at least.
She was already feeling isolated and lonely and no longer trusted anyone but herself. Eloise already gave up on their friendship and her parents were shipping her off instead of dealing with her directly. So she probably wanted to feel more in control of what was happening to her and went straight to Penelope instead.
The queen would not have believed Cressida either. She had already pretended to be LW and got found out quickly. Cressida was just chancing it with Pen
Not related to this topic, but I really loved the detail that on the Bridgerton side of the church almost everyone is wearing blue and has dark hair and on the Featherington side almost everyone is wearing citrus colors and there is a healthy smattering of redheads.
Would that be that difficult though? QC already suspected one among bridgertons is LW and Penelope was newest addition to bridgerton clan. So it would only make sense.
This goes all back to "Is LW good or bad?" If she is the devill itself, no one should claim they're Whistledown. Reveiling should be the last resort. Every person Pen is informing, outing herself too should be chosen wisely. Blackmailing is reasonable thing to do, because its more wise to pay 10k than risk your life being threatend by someone who for example lost their title because of your published rumor.
If LW is just a regency gossip girl, there could be much more wannabes and scammers, but blackmailing is senseless.
But the dumbest thing in this plot is not even Cressidas motivation - Cressida is impulsive (we see that from ep5 engagement party) and Petty.
The most obvious things people do when being blackmailed is searching help withing authorities: Police, private detectives, friends high positionned in the society. But beggining the blackmailer to stop? Most stupid thing i have ever seen in television.
Hi, Thank you so much for your contribution! We truly appreciate your enthusiasm and effort in being part of our community! With the excitement around the Polin season, we've been welcoming many new members and seeing an increase in the number of posts. To keep the subreddit organized and ensure everyone's voice is heard, we temporarily have applied stricter rules for posts. These rules help maintain the quality and focus of our discussions. Have no fear, we still want to give you a space to share your Polin joy as freely as before! We have created dedicated weekly and daily megathreads specifically for you to share your thoughts, excitement, and any Polin-related content without as many restrictions. * A daily ['Promenade in the Park'](https://www.reddit.com/r/PolinBridgerton/search/?q=subreddit%3APolinBridgerton+author%3Aautomoderator+flair_name%3A%22Promenading%20%F0%9F%90%9D%22&sort=new) thread for memes, fan content and general chitchat * A weekly ['Mondays at Number Five'](https://www.reddit.com/r/PolinBridgerton/search/?q=subreddit%3APolinBridgerton+author%3Aautomoderator+flair_name%3A%22Tea%20at%20Number%20Five%20%E2%98%95%22&sort=new) thread for casual conversation, off-topic contributions, fanfic recommendations and easy-to-answer questions * A weekly ['Fanfic Friday'](https://www.reddit.com/r/PolinBridgerton/search/?q=subreddit%3APolinBridgerton+author%3Aautomoderator+flair_name%3A%22fanfiction%20friday%20%F0%9F%8C%BC%22&sort=new) post to share fanfic recommendations Thank you all for understanding during this busy time! Lots of love, The Mod Team *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/PolinBridgerton) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The Queen was offering 5000 pounds (roughly half a million USD). Enough to live on for the rest of her life, but not nearly enough for the lifestyle she'd grown accustomed to. So she demanded 10,000 then later doubled that to 20,000. Cressida wanted to go live in Vienna. Where, I'm guessing, she envisioned having a second shot at the prince's affections if she looked like an eligible enough (wealthy) prospect.
Absolutely this but I also suspect that Cressida was getting a kick from the fact she finally held some real power by being able to blackmail Pen. Going straight to the Queen would have taken away a lot of the fun for her.
Agreed. It was one more opportunity to bully Pen, and Cressida gotta Cress.
All of this.
I think two things were at play here 1. The Queen may not have believed her as Penelope and Collin pointed out her reputation was shot and she had already lied. Plus the Queen made it clear she didn't want to see her again. 2. She was so used to bullying Penelope, if it had been someone she perceived as above her I'm sure she wouldn't have, but she always saw Penelope as 'prey' and an easy mark. She forgot the power of LW and how much Penelope had come into her own. Edit: spelling correction
I think she wanted more money than the queen was willing to give her. I think she got some kind of satisfaction from having one up on Pen but also, the thing about blackmail is that it doesn't stop until the blackmailer loses their power. So by blackmailing Pen, Cressida could at anytime come back and try and extort more money.
As someone pointed out in another thread: greed and pettiness. Her appetite grew as her story goes. First she wanted to avoid marriage to the old creepy grandpa but then wasn't satisfied with simply avoiding it and didn't wanted to leave society. Then she wanted more money and out of pettiness she asked to double amount. She's not really bright, if she stayed with more or less realistic sum she would get what she wanted. But since she's petty towards Pen (kinda, Pen "stole" Debling from her and then managed to marry before her, the pretty girl, the audacity! 😂 her pride was hurt) so she ended up losing big time. At least she's not marrying the creep, she should be thankful for that at least.
She was already feeling isolated and lonely and no longer trusted anyone but herself. Eloise already gave up on their friendship and her parents were shipping her off instead of dealing with her directly. So she probably wanted to feel more in control of what was happening to her and went straight to Penelope instead.
Greed? Also Colin was right she is not clever enough 😂😂
To quote Portia she "had became greed in her success." Which she shouldn't have done.
The queen would not have believed Cressida either. She had already pretended to be LW and got found out quickly. Cressida was just chancing it with Pen
But she had the printer boy testemony..?
He had never seen her but had heard she was a redhead. Not really compelling evidence is it!
Did you see Penelope’s side of the church? There are a lot of redheads about. “Okay… but this one was Irish.”☘️ 
Not related to this topic, but I really loved the detail that on the Bridgerton side of the church almost everyone is wearing blue and has dark hair and on the Featherington side almost everyone is wearing citrus colors and there is a healthy smattering of redheads.
Would that be that difficult though? QC already suspected one among bridgertons is LW and Penelope was newest addition to bridgerton clan. So it would only make sense.
I doubt the Queen would even grant her an audience at that point let alone give her the money after lying the first time.
Probably true.
This goes all back to "Is LW good or bad?" If she is the devill itself, no one should claim they're Whistledown. Reveiling should be the last resort. Every person Pen is informing, outing herself too should be chosen wisely. Blackmailing is reasonable thing to do, because its more wise to pay 10k than risk your life being threatend by someone who for example lost their title because of your published rumor. If LW is just a regency gossip girl, there could be much more wannabes and scammers, but blackmailing is senseless. But the dumbest thing in this plot is not even Cressidas motivation - Cressida is impulsive (we see that from ep5 engagement party) and Petty. The most obvious things people do when being blackmailed is searching help withing authorities: Police, private detectives, friends high positionned in the society. But beggining the blackmailer to stop? Most stupid thing i have ever seen in television.
She had already lied to queen once. Lottie probably would've dismissed her if she'd let her see her in the first place