Chapter 398: Chapter 398: Uneasy
Ashley Shaw was caught in a dilemma.
If she spoke, she would expose her "rebirth" secret.
Before Xavier Quincy left, he had expressly advised her not to reveal this secret to anyone. She had indeed followed his advice, even pretending to be a "young girl" in front of Ariana Grant, fearing her cover might be blown and hard to explain.
But if she didn’t say anything, Warren Prescott... might be in real danger.
Though she hated Warren Prescott, she hated the Warren Prescott of her previous life.
To be fair, this life’s Warren Prescott, apart from not liking her and having misunderstood her several times, has never actually done anything to hurt her.
But to do nothing and say nothing, her conscience simply couldn’t bear it.
Her mind raced, Ashley Shaw took a deep breath and said, "Uncle Prescott, you should find a way to contact the cruise. Although there’s no signal, you can still use satellite communication..."
Her words reminded Lars Prescott.
The only people on the cruise qualified to use satellite communication tools are the captain, the first mate, and the second mate.
If any of these three people were from Veridia, things would be much easier.
He silently noted that Ashley’s mind was rather sharp, his tone still as usual, carried an indifference that kept others at a distance.
"Thank you for the reminder. I’ll try to contact the cruise as soon as possible, but..." Lars paused and said, "I’m afraid he might not have boarded and something might’ve already happened..."
Ashley’s face turned pale.
Listening to Lars’s description of the cruise, she linked it to Morgan Schultz’s fate from her previous life, so naturally, she assumed Warren had definitely boarded the cruise.
Yet she never considered that Warren might have already encountered danger.
Lars, for once, sighed, revealing a father’s vulnerability.
"Ashley, I know I’ve done a lot to upset you, but when it comes to life and death, if Warren contacts you, please let me know immediately."
Ashley, being soft-hearted, couldn’t ignore Lars despite what he had said before.
Staying rational, she comforted, "If he returns, he will surely inform you at the first instance."
Lars remained silent for two seconds, then suddenly said, "He wouldn’t contact me first. He would contact you."
Elder Prescott wasn’t in good health. If Warren indeed got into trouble and came back, he wouldn’t seek out Elder Prescott.
As for himself, since the day in front of the hotel when Warren saw him again, he knew Warren probably would never acknowledge him as a father anymore.
So Warren would only... find Ashley Shaw.
This was from a father’s understanding of his son.
Ashley knew the father-son relationship wasn’t good, and being reborn, she understood where the issues between Lars and Warren stemmed from.
She didn’t say much, just pretended not to know, ambiguously replied, "If he contacts me, I’ll let you know immediately."
"...Thank you."
Ashley’s beautiful eyes slightly lifted in surprise upon hearing these words from Lars, finding it to be quite unexpected.
But more than her astonishment was her concern.
The more Lars adopted this attitude, the more serious the situation seemed. Otherwise, given his character, he would never say the words "Thank you" to her.
He wished she could disappear from this world to avoid entanglements with Warren.
Ending the call, Lars Prescott felt a heaviness like never before.
He was in his office, with Mr. Rowan standing beside him.
The call was on speaker, so Mr. Rowan heard everything Ashley had said loud and clear.
The moment Lars hung up, Mr. Rowan volunteered to check if any of the cruise’s senior staff were from Veridia.
If they could be contacted via satellite communication to check whether Warren was on the cruise, it would be ideal.
Lars responded, "Yes, go contact them. We must also continue searching the docks."
He wasn’t afraid of Warren pursuing someone onto the cruise but feared Warren... might be lost in some corner of the docks.
"Yes, don’t worry too much, sir. The young master is blessed, clever, and skilled. He will certainly be fine."
"I’m wondering... is this my retribution now?"
"Don’t think like that, sir..."
Lars sighed, waved his hand, and said, "Go ahead! I’ll personally contact the cruise company and talk to their owner. If there’s no one from Veridia among the captain, first mate, and second mate, I’ll directly contact the cruise company on behalf of The Prescott Group."
"Yes, sir."
...
Aethelgard.
Ashley’s mood wasn’t good either, to put it mildly—it was quite bad.
She had thought about the future between herself and Warren.
Most likely, it would end as it had in recent days, disappearing from each other’s worlds, meeting new people, and never crossing paths again.
But she never imagined there was a chance Warren could be in trouble.
After a moment of silence, she quickly worked on her phone—removing Warren from the blacklist in various apps.
She had blacklisted Warren the day she arrived in Aethelgard, after their last contact.
Back then, she never thought, just two days later, she’d be pulling him back from that list.
But as Lars said, when it comes to life and death, it’s not the time to act on feelings.
The second she pulled Warren off the blacklist, Ashley dialed his number.
This number, she didn’t need to recall—it was always etched in her mind.
Dailing was almost a muscle memory.
After all, the entanglement between them in this life and the one before even calling it a "fated entanglement" wouldn’t quite capture it all.
After dialing, knowing full well there’d be no answer, hearing the automated voice say, "Sorry, the number you dialed is currently off," her heart sank.
With no answer on the phone, she had to send him a message on WeChat.
[Seeing this message, please contact me as soon as possible.]
Yet after sending the message, she felt even more uneasy.
Alongside the uneasiness, there was guilt.
These events never occurred in her previous life, and she knew it was because of her influence that things changed. Could she not feel guilty?
Though having "died" once, at that moment, her heart was beating vigorously.
It was impossible not to feel troubled.
Perhaps while still contemplating this upon her return, her demeanor must have been noticeably off for even Ariana Grant to pick up on it.
"What’s wrong, Ashley? Who did you just call?"
Not hiding it, Ashley replied, "Lars."
"Why was he reaching out to you?"
Ariana knew Lars didn’t want Ashley contacting Warren, and added with a frown, "You’re no longer in touch with his precious son, so why contact you?"
"Can’t reach Warren, so they came to ask me."
"Why can’t they get through to him?"
Ashley shook her head, "No idea, seems like he was tracking a project manager who absconded with guilt."
"Is it dangerous?"
Ashley shook her head again, "I don’t know."