bend the rules vs diverge

bend the rules

verb
  • To do something that is not normally allowed but is also not explicitly prohibited. 

diverge

verb
  • Not to converge: to have no limit, or no finite limit. 

  • To separate, to tend into a different direction (from another line or path). 

  • To become different; to run apart; to separate; to tend into different directions. 

  • To run apart; to separate; to tend into different directions. 

  • To become different, to separate (from another line or path). 

  • Both stories start out the same way, but they diverge halfway through. 

How often have the words bend the rules and diverge occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )