Bridgerton Season 4, the recently released entry in Netflix's Regency era romance series based on Julia Quinn's An Offer From A Gentleman, follows the swooning romance between the titular second son Benedict (Luke Thompson) and the newest cast addition (and the leading lady of this season) Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha).The latest season of the critically acclaimed & highly popular series was marketed as a fairy tale-romance, which kicked off with Lady Bridgerton's masquerade ball, setting the stage for Benedict and Sophie's meet-cute. In true Cinderella style, Benedict locks eyes with a mysterious Lady in Silver, unaware that she is actually a maid in disguise.As Bridgerton Season 4 progresses, Benedict crosses paths with Sophie and their time at My Cottage shifts his focus and the already hazy memories of the Lady in Silver take a back seat. However, once the couple returns to the real world at Bridgerton House, with Sophie as a Lady's maid to Benedict's sisters, they decide to keep their distance until the pivotal stairs scene, which exposes their passionate feelings and deep-seated longing for one another.While Bridgerton Season 4 Part 1 marvelled at creating the perfect fairy-tale illusion for Sophie (and the fans), which culminates in the couple's steamy scene on the stairs, Benedict ruthlessly breaks it by offering Sophie to be his mistress.More on this in our story.The Gentleman's offer that broke Sophie's illusion in Bridgerton Season 4 Part 1 View this post on Instagram Instagram PostWhile Bridgerton is known for its nail-biting mid-season cliffhangers, Benedict's titular offer from Quinn's book was especially game-changing for the couple. Seasoned book readers might have seen this coming but Benedict's offer catches both Sophie and the fans off guard. Following Benedict's disgusting offer, a disheartened Sophie leaves him on the stairs without an answer (rather, with a loud and clear one).Bridgerton Season 4 silently foreshadowed the titular 'Gentlemanly offer' in Episode 4, which concludes Part 1. While the show painstakingly highlights Sophie and her mother's trauma due to their low status, Benedict is conveniently distanced from their world and thinks that keeping Sophie as his mistress is the only way to have her.Still adamant about finding his Lady in Silver, Thompson thinks Benedict is trying to control his life, without factoring in Sophie's wishes, as the actor said in an interview with Deadline:''He’s still trying to control it and be like, ‘Okay, well, you could be my mistress, and that will be separate from my social life, and that can be separate from another aspect.”However, Yerin Ha sides with Sophie and adds how the final scene from Bridgerton Season 4 Part 1 snaps her character out of her fantastical illusion:“She’s not just a maid, but she’s also illegitimate. Her walls immediately come back up. I think she forgot her station and her place, and [Benedict] snaps her out of the fantasy bubble that she [was] living in.”Benedict's offer is deeply traumatic for Sophie in Bridgerton Season 4 View this post on Instagram Instagram PostWhile Benedict's 'Gentlemanly offer' was shocking and uncalled for, it is especially traumatic for Sophie, who is not only a maid but also an illegitimate child who was forced into servitude by her father's second wife. When she is given a chance to attend Lady Bridgerton's masquerade ball in disguise, she makes the most of it.Sophie is instantly smitten and enchanted by the world she has no access to. Her initial interaction with Benedict and their time at My Cottage instill her with hope and she starts dreaming of a hopeful future, until Benedict shatters that illusion by asking her to be his mistress.Benedict's words are enough to jolt Sophie out of her fantasy in Bridgerton Season 4 and she does not let history repeat itself. Breaking down that pivotal scene for her character, Ha added:“She’s super offended. That word for her, carries a deep, traumatic root, and also it ties to her existence in this world as well, and it brings a lot of shame for her and her past childhood and how difficult it has been living the life that she has.''With this shocking scene, Bridgerton Season 4 has shattered its fairy-tale illusion and stripped Benedict of his nicety. Now that Benedict has made his offer to Sophie, the couple will have to navigate their class clashes in Part 2 and find their way back to one another.Bridgerton Season 4 Part 2 will arrive on Netflix on February 26.For the latest scoops on your favorite TV shows and movies, follow Soap Central.