Chapter 395 - 397: Two Completely Contradictory Statements

A tense silence fell over the hospital room the moment Adrian Lancaster spoke.

Claire Sterling’s expression stiffened, and a hint of grim apprehension flashed in her eyes.

The past came rushing back—all the shameful, foolish things she had done, things she regretted to this day.

She remembered how she had given Wren Sutton the cold shoulder, how she had humiliated and mocked her. She had never approved of her daughter-in-law and had even tried to force her to divorce her son.

Her son had personally crushed Wren Sutton’s genuine affection for him, lavishing the favoritism meant for his wife on another woman.

It was the Lancaster family that had wronged Wren Sutton.

That’s why Wren Sutton had been serious about the divorce. She’d gone all the way to the courthouse doors, which just went to show how heartbroken she was, how utterly she’d despaired of their marriage.

Whenever she recalled that unhappy time, Claire Sterling was flooded with guilt. She was too ashamed to even mention it, and her heart would grow heavy with anxiety.

Looking at her son—so pale in his hospital bed, his memories in tatters—she knew she couldn’t say a word. She didn’t dare.

First, she was afraid Adrian Lancaster would collapse from guilt.

He had just barely passed the critical period and was in recovery. Plus, with his amnesia, he couldn’t handle any more emotional stimulation.

Second, she was afraid of damaging the couple’s relationship.

No matter what happened in the past, their relationship was now harmonious and intimate. They had two children, and everything was heading in the right direction.

This happiness and peace were hard-won. No one could be allowed to destroy it.

The third reason was a touch of personal selfishness on Claire’s part.

As an elder, she was ashamed to let Adrian Lancaster know that his mother had once treated his wife so cruelly, even sowing discord in their relationship, which made her look both malicious and stupid.

After a moment of silence, Claire Sterling looked up to meet Adrian Lancaster’s searching gaze. She didn’t look away.

"Why are you suddenly asking about this? What young couple doesn’t bicker? All that talk about divorce was just said in anger. You can’t take it seriously."

Claire Sterling deliberately downplayed it, painting the painful marital crisis of the past as a common squabble between a husband and wife.

"Back then, you and Wren were both young and hot-headed, and stubborn too. You’d have your occasional disagreements, say a few harsh things in the heat of the moment..."

"What’s in the past is in the past. No one should bring it up or think about it again."

"Time reveals a person’s heart. Mom now only acknowledges Wren as her one and only daughter-in-law. That will never change. No one can replace her position in the Lancaster family."

Seeing the confusion and doubt in Adrian Lancaster’s eyes, Claire Sterling was determined to stamp out his suspicions.

She leaned forward, gently patted her son’s hand, and spoke to him again in a heartfelt, serious tone.

"Adrian, listen to Mom. Don’t let your imagination run wild, and whatever you do, don’t doubt Wren’s feelings for you. She has never done a single thing to wrong you or the Lancaster family."

"She’s a good wife, a good mother, and a good daughter-in-law. She’s a blessing to our Lancaster family."

"She’s sticking by you through thick and thin now, not holding the past against you. You must learn to cherish that."

"Wren owes the Lancaster family nothing. It is the Lancaster family that owes her. We will make it up to her together. We absolutely cannot break her heart again, understand?"

Claire Sterling was sincerely defending Wren Sutton and had been actively trying to make amends and repair their relationship.

Adrian Lancaster listened in a daze, his Adam’s apple bobbing a few times. He said nothing.

’Just an argument? Just words said in the heat of the moment when we were young and hot-headed?’

He believed Claire Sterling. She was his own mother.

The earnestness and worry in her eyes couldn’t be faked, and her intention to defend Wren Sutton with every word was also genuine.

But Adrian Lancaster trusted his body’s instincts more.

The moment he even thought of the word "divorce," it felt as if an invisible hand were squeezing his heart. A dense, dull ache would spread through him, accompanied by a bone-deep sense of guilt.

It wasn’t something that could be smoothed over with a simple "what’s in the past is in the past."

If it had really been just a common squabble between a husband and wife, why had his mother’s expression frozen a moment ago?

He had clearly seen the panic that flashed through her eyes.

If it had truly been just a few harsh words spoken in anger, then why, whenever he quieted his mind to think, did blurry, fragmented images flash through his head?

Wren Sutton’s red-rimmed eyes, her lonely figure walking away, and the regret surging in his own heart.

The images were hazy, but they carried a bone-chilling cold.

Therefore, Adrian Lancaster was convinced his mother was deliberately hiding something.

Once that thought took root, he couldn’t suppress it. It grew wildly in the depths of his mind.

Besides, what his mother said and what that "cousin" had said were two completely opposite stories.

His mother said the Lancaster family had wronged Wren Sutton.

His cousin said Wren Sutton didn’t love him and had someone else in her heart.

The two completely contradictory accounts clashed violently in Adrian Lancaster’s mind, throwing his thoughts into chaos. It felt like a boulder was lodged in his chest, heavy and painful.

He believed in his mother’s sincerity, but he also couldn’t forget how certain his cousin had sounded.

He felt an instinctual, overwhelming guilt toward Wren Sutton, but his cousin’s words were like a thorn, pricking him with doubt and leaving him lost and confused.

’Which side is the truth?’

Adrian Lancaster lowered his head, hiding the struggle swirling in his eyes. His jaw was tight, his brow deeply furrowed.

He didn’t press the matter further, but for now, he couldn’t let it go.

Two starkly different truths trapped him like a pair of shackles, leaving him paralyzed between trust and suspicion.

...

So as not to disturb Adrian Lancaster’s rest, Claire Sterling didn’t stay in the room for too long.

After comforting her son, reminding him of a few things, and making some small talk, she got up and left.

As the door closed behind her, the expression on Claire Sterling’s face changed abruptly. Suspicion dawned on her.

’This is too strange. Why would my son suddenly ask about the divorce today?’

’He has amnesia, doesn’t he? How could he possibly know about it?’

’No one in the family would be foolish enough to bring that up in front of Adrian at a time like this. The doctors, nurses, and caregivers are even more in the dark.’

’The only possibility is that an outsider deliberately said something to him, intentionally bringing up the topic.’

At this thought, alarm bells went off in Claire Sterling’s mind. She turned to the caregiver.

"Besides me and Wren, did anyone else come to visit Adrian’s room today?"

The caregiver didn’t dare hide anything and answered truthfully and cautiously.

"This afternoon, a young lady claiming to be Young Master Lancaster’s cousin came by. She stayed for about ten minutes and then left."

’A Lancaster cousin?’

Claire Sterling’s pupils contracted sharply.

’So that’s where the problem is!’

She had managed the Lancaster household for so many years; she knew every single relative in the family, near and distant. Where on earth did Adrian get a cousin?

For a strange woman to appear out of nowhere, using the title of "cousin" to get close to an amnesiac Adrian... her motives couldn’t be pure.

’It must have been that fake cousin who was sowing discord in the hospital room, trying to ruin the relationship between my son and my daughter-in-law.’

"Damn her!"

Claire Sterling suppressed her towering rage and, without another word, turned and walked toward the hospital’s security room.

Given her prominent status, the hospital administration didn’t dare to delay after she explained the situation. They quickly arranged for someone to pull up the security footage from the corresponding time frame.

Claire Sterling held her breath, her eyes glued to the screen.

Sure enough, at a certain point, a strange woman entered Adrian Lancaster’s hospital room.

The moment she got a clear view of the woman’s face, Claire Sterling’s expression filled with shock. Her mind went completely blank.

The person in the footage was the very same woman who had brushed past her at the elevators today.