Yep, nothing good was coming of this. Ben felt his face flush red at the mention of Annabelle Scrimgeour, not because he was particularly ashamed of his behavior as it related to her (he'd done things just as bad or worse with plenty of other women, after all, and he might have done the same sorts of things with the Princess here, if Canada hadn't interrupted them), but rather because he couldn't help but still feel a bit guilty for the way that things had ended up. It wasn't as though it was his fault that her father was an abusive lunatic, and that he'd reacted so disproportionately to a stupid rumor from Witch Weekly, but... well, her life had been more or less entirely derailed, and Ben couldn't entirely claim to be ignorant of the possibility of that happening. The Scrimgeours hadn't been the first family to react poorly to Ben cavorting around with their daughter, after all.

"You don't know what you're talking about," Ben argued, both in response to her comment about Miss Scrimgeour and to her second statement. Both were true, to a certain extent. She likely only knew what she'd heard through the grapevine or read in Witch Weekly about him and Miss Scrimgeour, all of which was more scandalous than what had actually happened. And as for him not seeking her out — well, he hadn't, that was true enough, but it hadn't been through apathy. What did she really expect, though, when their first liaison had lead to him being fucking banished from the country? Who knew what sort of stunt her family would pull if they caught them a second time?

"Maybe you're right, though," he said gruffly. "Maybe I should get out of here before your family gets involved again."