Obsessed with a High-Ranking Esper (BL)-Chapter 200: Yu Xi’s two motives

The same bouquet Yu Xi had arranged so carefully, so lovingly. The same flowers he had been fawning over.

He blinked, trying to shake the feeling. Why would I be happy about this? he thought, heart pounding. Why would I want to see something Yu Xi cared about destroyed? He reached out, as if to undo it, to fix it. But something seized him.

A cold grip clamped around the back of his collar and yanked him backward. He gasped, stumbling, but there was no floor beneath him, only darkness. It swallowed him whole again, dragging him down into the void.

***

Yu Xi hadn’t gone to fetch anything. That had been a lie. A lie Jian Ci hadn’t questioned, which only made Yu Xi more uneasy. He had gone to have a private video call with Jian Wei and Jian Rui far from prying eyes.

For the past four years, the three of them hadn’t been idle. Jian Wei had never forgiven Lord Leung for threatening him and his brothers and forcing this alliance that had compromised them.

The bastard in the palace watched them like a hawk, his eyes especially sharp on Jian Rui. They couldn’t afford a single misstep.

So they worked in silence. They chipped away at Lord Leung’s empire from the bottom up. They sabotaged his trade routes, exposed corruption and turned his allies into enemies. Jian Rui couldn’t be at the forefront. If Thaurion caught even a whisper of his involvement, the entire operation would collapse. That’s where Yu Xi came in.

He was the perfect smokescreen. Charming, brilliant, and underestimated. No one suspected the academy’s golden boy of orchestrating a slow-burning political dismantling.

Yu Xi’s face was lit by the soft blue glow of the floating screen, smoke curling lazily toward the dark sky. The scent of burnt spice and ash clung to the air.

He stood next to the wall, legs crossed, a cigarette balanced between his fingers. His eyes were sharp, but there was a quiet storm behind them, one that had been building for years.

Yu Xi had two motives in this. The first one was simple. He hated Alarna. Not in a petty, jealous way but with a cold, calculated loathing. She was a liability, a leash around Jian Ci’s neck, and by extension, around his own.

The second motive was deeper. He wanted to find whoever had funded his father’s lab. When he had discovered that Lord Leung’s underground networks had been supplying materials to those labs, Yu Xi hadn’t hesitated. With his grandfather’s backing he had become a shadow in the night, dismantling Leung’s empire piece by piece.

Tonight, they were discussing the final piece to ruin Lord Leung. "I want to take the lead," Yu Xi said, exhaling a stream of smoke that blurred the screen’s glowing schematics. "I have been on this since the beginning."

Jian Rui shook his head. "No. You have exams. Finish them. Consider this your graduation gift. I will give you Lord Leung’s head on a silver platter."

Yu Xi’s jaw tightened. "I don’t need a gift."

"You need to graduate," Jian Rui said, voice firm. "And we need Jian Ci to stay in the dark. His relationship with Alarna is the only reason Leung hasn’t sniffed us out yet. If he pulls away now, the whole illusion collapses."

On the screen, a grainy image of the warehouse flickered. They were the coordinates, guard rotations and shipment logs.

Jian Rui took a long drag of his cigarette, the ember flaring red. "We have wronged you," he said quietly, smoke curling from his lips. "We know that."

Jian Wei, seated beside him, nodded. "It will be over soon."

Yu Xi stared at the screen, then took another drag, the smoke blurring his vision. "It’s fine," he said. "Just let me interrogate him myself when you capture him."

The him he was referring to was clear. Jian Wei raised a brow before changing the subject. "If that brat catches you smoking, he is going to blame us."

Yu Xi exhaled slowly, the smoke curling around his face like a veil of guilt. The red ember of the cigarette glowed in the dark, a quiet confession. He felt like a husband hiding his bad habits from his wife.

"Go back," Jian Rui’s voice crackled through the earpiece. "Before he comes looking for you."

Yu Xi sighed. "Alright." He ended the video call and tapped his ear, and the earpiece retracted with a soft click. He leaned against the cold wall, taking one last drag, the smoke sharp in his lungs. As he exhaled, a familiar silhouette approached through the shadows. It was Vigil.

"Smoking again," Vigil said, voice low, unreadable. Yu Xi didn’t answer. He looked away and took another drag, the silence between them thick with things unsaid.

Vigil came to stand beside him, shoulder brushing the wall. "Wanna share?"

Yu Xi reached into his pocket and pulled out another cigarette, handing it over without a word.

"Thanks," Vigil murmured, smiling faintly as he took it. His fingers lingered on the paper, eyes gleaming in the dark. He wanted to ask for the one Yu Xi had been smoking, wanted to press his lips where Yu Xi’s had been, but he didn’t. He knew better.

Yu Xi handed him the lighter. Vigil lit the cigarette, the flame briefly illuminating the sharp lines of his face, then passed it back. Yu Xi pocketed it and stubbed out his own cigarette against the wall, the ember dying with a hiss. He turned to leave.

"You are leaving?" Vigil asked, voice softer now. Yu Xi paused, glanced over his shoulder, and hummed in affirmation.

Vigil hesitated, then said it, the question that had been burning in him for years. "What do you see in him?" Yu Xi stilled.

Vigil’s voice was quiet, but the words were heavy. "I have seen it. Since the beginning. You don’t look at anyone else like that. Not even close."

He didn’t expect an answer. Not really. He knew Yu Xi wasn’t the type to be cornered, wasn’t the type to be had. But jealousy had a way of eroding restraint, and Vigil’s had been wearing thin for a long time.

Yu Xi paused at Vigil’s question, the smoke curling between them like a thread of tension. But he didn’t say anything. He just turned and walked away, his silence more cutting than any answer.

Behind him, Vigil clenched his jaw and took a long, frustrated drag, the ember flaring in the dark as he stared at the space Yu Xi had just vacated.