Two Reborn, One Throne novel Chapter 52

Xanthe had been utterly convinced she would rot away in the Sutton household, enduring endless days of slave labor after her suicide attempt and being locked indoors by her own parents and brothers. But even in the depths of despair, a sliver of hope remained.

In her youth, while not breathtakingly gorgeous, she had a classic, girl-next-door beauty. She had been known as the prettiest girl in her hometown. It was said that whoever married her would be blessed with endless fortune. Suitors had lined up at her door.

She never imagined that choosing a polite, educated college student would destroy her entire life.

He had dragged her back to the Suttons, publicly humiliating her and loudly declaring she was infertile.

Xanthe wasn't highly educated, but she understood dignity. She never expected the man she shared her life with to turn so viciously cruel, nor did she ever anticipate that her own parents would refuse to stand by her side.

They treated her like a curse, someone who deserved to be cast out and burned at the stake.

The Sutton family had tormented her for fifteen grueling years. Xanthe hadn't properly looked in a mirror for a very long time.

This was her first time wearing new clothes, her first time taking a proper, clean shower, and her first time stepping out of that hellhole in over a decade.

Outside the bus window lay the bustling city scenes she had only vaguely remembered.

She saw towering skyscrapers, streets lined with blooming flowers, and people who looked entirely different from what she was used to.

Arthur Newman was the man she was supposed to meet. Her cousin had told her that Arthur had a daughter named Amber, who was preparing for her finals and had arranged this entire meeting. Her cousin also mentioned that Arthur had harbored feelings for another woman—a woman who had strung him along for twelve years, using him as free labor.

If she thought he was a good man, she was encouraged to try dating him.

Her cousin had shown her a photo. Although he was older now, it was easy to see he had been handsome in his younger days.

After stepping off the bus, Xanthe asked a nearby driver to text her cousin, just as instructed, to let her know she had arrived and where she was waiting.

She stood under a streetlamp right outside the main terminal. The evening air in Riverport wasn't cold. Without a phone, she simply clutched a canvas bag that held nothing but a single, unpatched piece of clothing, and waited.

Noticing the glass doors of the terminal across from her, she used the reflection to tidy her hair.

Her cousin had told her not to wander off and to wait exactly here. She wondered if the man would even like her. She hoped he would, even if he realized she was just desperate to escape her cage. She wanted to give this a try.

Her cousin had reminded her that she was only forty. If she lived to be eighty, she still had half her life left. Don't lose hope. She also mentioned that Arthur's daughter would help set them up.

At her age, Xanthe never expected to feel the nervous flutter of a first date.

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