Chapter 248: Be selfish

Xavier’s confession came out of a blue it took her a second to process what she just heard.

"I don’t," Yuki denied immediately, her voice rising in defensive instinct. Her mind went to the maids’ conversation and she couldn’t help thinking if he had just been drawn to her face. But Xavier didn’t seem like that type.

Xavier merely smiled at her response, a gentle, understanding expression that carried zero judgment or argument. His refusal to call out her lie only made her face burn hotter with embarrassment.

"I am ready to start from the very beginning," Xavier stated, his voice steady and sincere. "You don’t have to look at me as your fiancé yet. Consider me an admirer who is actively chasing after you. I want to get to know you, Yuki. And maybe, with enough time, we can build something real together."

Yuki let out a nervous, breathless laugh, shaking her head. Who on earth gets engaged first and then does the confession afterward?

"Are you seriously confessing to me right now, Mr. Velmore?" she teased, trying to hide her racing pulse.

"I am," Xavier admitted without a shred of hesitation, a faint flush creeping up his throat. "I’d like to be your boyfriend, but there’s no pressure. You don’t have to accept me right now."

Yuki arched a brow, her lips curving into a playful smirk despite the chaos in her head. "Isn’t it a bit too late to ask to be my boyfriend when we’re practically engaged on paper?" she teased him

The tips of Xavier’s ears burned bright red at her comeback, but his smile remained warm. Yuki’s playful tone softened, her voice dropping into a quiet, genuine question.

"Why do you even like me, Xavier?"

Xavier’s gaze softened completely, the intense glint in his eyes turning deep and contemplative. "To be honest, that’s a question I don’t fully know how to answer myself. I just knew I wanted you near me—bond or no bond. And honestly..." He paused, his tone darkening slightly with an underlying edge.

"Them rejecting you was the best thing that could have happened. Because I didn’t want to imagine what it would feel like to watch you become their Luna. It would have completely destroyed my friendship with Kaden. Honestly, the way they treated you almost ruined it anyway."

His words carried such raw, unvarnished sincerity that Yuki found herself completely speechless. He was truly the only person in Ravencourt who looked at her and simply saw Yuki, rather than Aevia’s weaker, inconvenient sister.

"Xavier, I..." she began, her voice faltering. "Don’t you look down on me because of what Aevia did?" She asked.

Xavier silently shook his head. "You are you and she is Aevia although the truth is that I might never be in there shoes because I am not them." He explained. "But to be honestly I did once have a bit of prejudice at first before meeting you..." his voice trailed as he went into deep thoughts and her heart clenched

"You don’t have to give me an answer right now," Xavier interrupted gently, cutting off her refusal before she could voice it. "Just let me prove myself to you. If you ever need anything, anything at all, please don’t hesitate to come to me."

"I’ll keep that in mind," she murmured softly.

She opened the door and stepped out into the crisp campus air, her mind completely disoriented by what had just transpired. Xavier Velmore, the most sought-after heartthrob on campus and sole heir to the Velmore line, actually had feelings for her.

********

The dull, relentless ache behind Killian’s skull was slowly driving him out of his mind. He leaned forward at his dark mahogany desk inside the top-floor executive suite of the Ravencourt Enterprise headquarters, massaging his temples with his thumb and forefinger.

He tried to tell himself that the lack of sleep was the sole cause of his agonizing headache—after all, he had been operating on barely two hours of rest. But deep down, he knew that was a pathetic lie. Skipping sleep was routine for a CEO running a global conglomerate; this pain was different.

His head was aching because he was exerting every ounce of his formidable willpower to concentrate on the corporate financial reports and acquisition drafts before him, yet his mind kept wandering back to a specific voice echoing in his head.

It wasn’t his internal thoughts, nor was it the usual chatter of the pack link. It was his wandering thoughts he had been actively trying to ignore for hours and his Wolf wasn’t making things any easy either.

’You should take a break,’ his wolf growled softly within his consciousness, its tone laced with deep concern and frustration.

’I have corporate filings to sign,’ Killian shut him down coldly, refusing the suggestion while using the stack of unread business documents as armor.

His wolf let out a sharp, mocking sneer. The beast understood him better than anyone else alive; they were, after all, two halves of the same soul.

’Stop using work as an excuse, Killian,’ the wolf snapped, its voice rising in volume until it vibrated behind Killian’s eyes. ’Do you think I’m stupid? Are you really so focused on these quarterly projections, or are you terrified that the moment you stop working, you’ll actually have to think about what you just did?’The wolf asked.

Killian’s jaw clenched tightly, his fingers digging into his forehead as the sharp pain intensified. ’I have nothing to think about.’ He retorted hoping his wolf would drop it but no it didn’t.

’People who have nothing to think about don’t spend five entire minutes staring at the exact same contract they already signed, simply because they forgot they were done reading it,’ his wolf mocked, its tone turning razor-sharp. ’You know, it wouldn’t kill you to be selfish for once in your miserable life.’

Killian’s knuckles turned white against his desk. ’I have no reason to be selfish,’ he barked inwardly, his tone icy and unyielding.

’Right. Let’s keep pretending that’s true, Killian,’ his wolf scoffed, pacing back and forth in the dark recesses of his mind. ’You have no selfish desires, do you? You just follow the fucking rules like a good little heir. You rejected your mate because she was the sister of your father’s mistress. You convinced yourself you loved Eloise, a female you thought was your mate, even when you doubted it because of your brothers...’

"I love her.." Killian barked out loud and his Wolf sneered at him. ’ Then why are you so rattled? Do you love her or is just protective of her because of your siblings and the fact you grew up together Killian.’