Chapter 21

Belle's voice was calm and cutting. "If you hadn't stopped me from reporting it back then, if you hadn't stolen my design to please your beloved, would I even need to wait until now for you to handle it?" Each word she spoke left Sebastian and Ronald red-faced and speechless. "Utopia and Juville are quite far apart." She met their eyes one last time. "Gentlemen, I hope this is the last time we see each other." She turned to leave, but after a few steps, Ronald's voice called out from behind. "I'm sorry, Bella. I spoke without thinking earlier. But we know we were wrong. Are you really going to be this cold? Won't you give us any chance to make it right?" His voice trembled slightly by the end. After a long silence, Sebastian finally spoke again. "And you promised you'd tell us your final choice." Bella turned back. The two of them still stood there stubbornly in the drifting snow, figures lonely and forlorn against the white. The sight suddenly brought back the memory of when th