Sometimes it takes crossing a line to respect it. It doesn't necessarily mean you don't love your partner, or that you weren't sincere in your guilt and desire to make things right. But we, humans, learn through experience. It's the most efficient way to find out how we feel. With that information we can grow as people, and become better. Or, you know, lean into the mistake and become worse people. But the mistake in and of itself does not make you a bad person and it doesn't mean your girlfriend is better off without you. It means you didn't handle the situation correctly. What you decide to do in the future will say much more about who you are.