Two Reborn, One Throne novel Chapter 136

It was Xanthe's first day selling lunchboxes solo, and her nerves were entirely shot compared to the day before.

But Amber had assured her this was just part of the process. Once she powered through this initial fear, she'd be unstoppable.

Xanthe knew Amber was just trying to build her confidence. There was an old saying: to forge steel, the blacksmith must be strong. She couldn't rely on others forever. If she wanted to truly break free from the Sutton Household, she had to stand on her own two feet.

At six in the morning, after dropping off fresh pork dumplings for Amber, Xanthe headed to the wholesale market alone.

Arthur had told her yesterday that although her neighborhood was essentially a slum, the produce there was the freshest because the bulk vendors arrived at four-thirty in the morning. If she took her electric tricycle there early enough, she could save a significant amount of money.

Determined to make this business work, Xanthe wasn't afraid of hard work. She had arrived a bit late today simply because she didn't know the layout of the streets yet, but with today's experience, tomorrow would be much smoother.

Seeing a new face, one of the wholesalers tried to rip her off, but a bystander quickly warned him that she was Loretta's cousin. Messing with her meant messing with Loretta.

Xanthe might have looked naive and easy to push around, but she was razor-sharp on the inside. After fifteen years of acting as an unpaid pack mule for the Suttons, she might not have had formal skills, but she knew her vegetables.

A single glance was all she needed to know exactly how fresh the produce was and where it had been sourced. She rattled off the details flawlessly. Businessmen feared nothing more than an expert, so when Xanthe negotiated the price, the vendor silently loaded the goods straight into her tricycle without an argument.

Xanthe even built a quick rapport with the boss, promising long-term business. She suggested that if he was willing to deliver her daily orders right to her doorstep, she'd let him keep the money she saved on transportation.

The vendor was terrified. He had just met the second most shrewd negotiator in the neighborhood, one who gave Grace a run for her money.

After buying all the ingredients she needed for the day's lunchboxes, Xanthe rode her tricycle back to the apartment. Wallace—the same neighbor who loved gossiping about Arthur and Grace—saw her hauling the heavy bags of vegetables up the stairs by herself and gasped, "Mrs. Newman! Where's Arthur?"

Xanthe vaguely recognized him and smiled shyly. "Arthur went to work. Wallace, sorry... am I blocking the stairs?"

The stairwells in the old apartment complex were incredibly narrow. Hauling giant bags of produce naturally took up the whole walkway.

Wallace shook his head. "Not at all. Do you have a lot to carry? Let me help you."

Xanthe was too stunned to speak. "Are you serious?"

"That's exactly why I'm telling you to make your move! Arthur's wasted years on her, and it's time she got a reality check. That old guy found out she had a kid about to graduate high school and got terrified he'd be on the hook for college tuition, so he dumped her."

"But here's the part that really pisses me off. I told Arthur about it, and you know what he said? He called me a liar! He insisted it really was just a relative from the Juarez family. Xanthe, you are a hundred times the woman Grace is. I'm telling you straight—Arthur is totally brainwashed by her."

"The Juarez family hasn't visited in over a decade. Grace even changed Lucian's last name because she didn't want the hassle of dealing with his father's side. And this wasn't an isolated incident! Grace goes on blind dates almost every single month. She thinks because she does it downtown instead of in the neighborhood, Arthur won't find out."

"She forgets that Riverport isn't that big. You can't walk near the water without getting your shoes wet eventually. Xanthe, seriously, give it some thought. Snatch Arthur up and pull him out of that toxic mess."

Xanthe smiled gently. "Wallace, thank you so much for telling me all this. Don't worry, Arthur knows what he's doing."

Xanthe trusted Arthur. With Amber's seven-day plan in motion, no matter how silver-tongued Grace was, Arthur would eventually pull away.