For the consideration of the reader, it was, at one point, considered that one might prefer to read beginning from the start of the novel to fully encapsulate all the changes this singular difference causes to the text. However, it quickly became utterly useless as the changes were minute, and thus, you can read the original novel and stop at the beginning of Jane's Netherfield incapacitation instead. From there, our story unfolds, where Mr Darcy is a great deal more dastardly than ever before.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

What is often left out of consideration by the universe is the general goodness of the man in question, for even the most well-bred and rich of the landed gentry might find themselves the villain of some or other some stories, especially if they find themselves lacking in the ability to restrain their self-interest. And so a gentleman might consider himself in danger of taking liberties with genteel ladies he considers his rightful property, and especially in danger of falling in love with said ladies who are not so inclined to be owned. It is not, however, something any of the Bennets of Longbourn had ever considered themselves in danger of, so their new neighbours settling in Netherfield were only worthy of consideration of being gentleman worthy of marrying their daughters, and certainly not cads in danger of stealing them.
Indeed, if Mrs Bennet had had more foresight, she might not have been so forceful in Jane riding on horseback to the dinner with Bingley's sisters. If Elizabeth had had more foresight, she might have stayed at home, sending her best wishes to her sister for the measly cold, and not walking all that way to entrap herself in the interest of Mr Darcy. If only.

Instead, as Elizabeth exited the morning room, leaving Mr Darcy to the taunts of Miss Bingley about her 'fine eyes' and mud riddled hem, Mr Bingley being her only vocal defendant, all in Netherfield felt the air of change, felt the rug at the precipice of being pulled out from under their feet. Indeed, Mr Darcy realised, as he sat in the drawing room, reading his letters as Miss Bingley hovers over him, Miss Elizabeth reads, and Mr Bingley plays cards with Mr Hurst, Mrs Hurst having chosen to rest in her room for a time, that his world was on the edge of the sword, and which way the cards fell would spell either his glory, or his ruin. This realisation came upon him as he noticed an as yet unopened letter from his aunt, the obsequious Lady Catherine De Bourg, a particularly nasty lady who had long harboured the ridiculous notion that Mr Darcy would marry her sickly daughter, regardless of the fact that her constitution, or lack thereof, precluded her from being likely to birth offspring at all, let alone one with the constitution required of the future of Pemberley. Indeed, the very letter he was now opening carried those same fervent sentiments, which had only grown more impassioned in the last year. The current demands of the lady were that he arrived at her home in Kent with the settlement papers prepared to do his duty that Easter, the dictate caused a distasteful sneer to grace Mr Darcy's lips at the thought. Unsure of what to do about the issue, he turns instead to responding to the letter he had received from his sister the day before. This also turns out to be a laborious effort, given the relative proximity of Miss Bingley. Indeed, the interruptions from the lady were not at all as flattering to herself as she seems to think they would be. The perpetual commendations of the lady either on his hand-writing, or on the evenness of his lines, or on the length of his letter, with the perfect unconcern with which her praises were received, formed a curious dialogue, and was exactly in unison with displaying his opinion of her. Still, with such stilted and uninterested responses from him, Miss Bingley continued her barrage of compliments.

"How delighted Miss Darcy will be to receive such a letter!"

He made no answer.

"You write uncommonly fast."

"You are mistaken. I write rather slowly."

"How many letters your must have occasion to write in the course of the year! Letters of business too! How odious I should think them!"

"It is fortunate, then, that they fall to my lot instead of to yours."

He watched as she realised, for the second time, that this avenue of conversation was not going to get her anywhere. Her silence that he had long been working towards only lasted for a few moments of his writing before she again returned to an already exhausted topic.

"Pray tell your sister that I long to see her."

"I have already told her so once, by your desire."

With that, again, shut down, Miss Bingley finally tries a new, yet surprising, topic to gain his favour, apparently misinterpreting the displeasure on his face to be about something other than her continued speaking. "I am afraid you do not like your pen. Let me mend it for you. I mend pens remarkably well."

His pen stops in its tracks suddenly, and Mr Darcy finds himself shocked by her brazenness. To dare to offer to mend the pen of a man she is not married or related to is the latest and worst of her impudent offenses. It occurred to him in this moment that if she was willing to step outside the bounds of propriety in yet another attempt to achieve a placement as his wife, certainly, her manners and decorum would not stop her from compromising him to achieve her goal. With that thought in his mind, he struggled to maintain the required politeness to his response.

"Thank you – but I always mend my own."

He continued to suffer through her questions and comments, setting her down each time she tried to insert herself into his good graces as politely as he could manage and choosing the road of silence when he could not. Eventually, the conversation of the evening turns its head towards Bingley's multi-faceted swiftness, the whole party mildly mocking him for his overall affability of nature, which yet again transformed the conversation into Mr Darcy's new favourite pastime, a verbal duel with Miss Elizabeth.

"You expect me to account for opinions which you choose to call mine, but which I have never acknowledged. Allowing the case, however, to stand according to your representation, you must remember, Miss Bennet, that the friend who is supposed to desire his return to the house and the delay of his plan, has merely desired it, asked it without offering one argument in favour of its propriety."

"To yield readily – easily – to the persuasion of a friend is no merit with you."

"To yield without conviction is no complement to the understanding of either."

"You appear to me, Mr Darcy, to allow nothing for the influence of friendship and affection. A regard for the requester would often make one readily yield to a request, without waiting for arguments to reason one into it. I am not particularly speaking of such a case as you have supposed about Mr Bingley."

"In the midst of her impassioned speech, another interesting thought occurred to him, an idea that would solve his multitude of problems in one fell swoop. No more arguments with his aunt, no more fear of Miss Bingley getting her grubby trade born mitts on the position of Mistress of Pemberley, no more worrying about an appropriate female friend for Georgiana, and no more having to employ a mistress, wasting his money to maintain the dalliance and handle his needs. All this could be solved by a single woman, this single woman before him. With that, his path, and hers, was laid before him simply and easily.

Marry Elizabeth Bennet.

Note: The mention of Miss Bingley's request to mend Mr Darcy's quill being overstepping the bounds of propriety is not historically accurate to my knowledge, but I felt it was the best way to quickly get into the main subject matter of this fic. Hopefully you all enjoy this. I love P&P and have trauma and work it out through my writing, so this is gonna be a very dark story. I have not intentionally copied any other author, and any similarities to other fan works are likely subconscious, or I simply haven't read that fic. Please review, I love constructive criticism, if there are any other questions I can answer without giving something away, just let me know. That should be everything. I might update soon or in a couple weeks, who knows, not me. Aaaaanyways, peace out.

Edit: Got a couple comments about formatting for ease of eyes, and thus fixed it. Next chapter should be up in the next week