I Killed The Main Characters

Chapter 169: Build Up [2]

Iris Star had always been peculiar.

And she wore that identity like a badge of honor.

Her fascination with butterflies began at a tender age.

But it wasn't with the delicate, commonplace ones that children often chased in meadows.

No, Iris was drawn to something far rarer, far more dangerous.

A species known as Crimson Helios.

These butterflies, with their blood-red wings streaked with iridescent black, were both mesmerizing and deadly.

Their mere presence could paralyze weaker creatures.

Their touch capable of spreading a venom that could incapacitate a fully grown beast.

Most people recoiled at the sight of her tending to these creatures.

Branding her a strange girl obsessed with something that could kill.

But Noah Ashbourne was different.

Noah had come to live at the Star estate when both were still children.

A temporary arrangement while his family handled pressing matters in the capital.

Is what her father had told her.

But the strange boy with black hair and yellow eyes that glowed whenever the slightest light befell them had come to stay.

She didn't bother to ask further questions.

As usual her father would tell her she was too little to understand.

He was two years younger than Iris.

Yet he carried himself with a maturity that often made her feel like the younger of the two.

His cold demeanor, sharp intellect, and prodigious magic talent made him a curiosity to everyone, including Iris.

But what truly caught her attention was his unflinching ability to see her.

Not just her eccentricities or her so-called oddities, but her.

---

The Star estate, nestled in a valley surrounded by ancient oaks, became a haven for Noah during those months.

It was there that Iris, always wary of revealing her passions to others, hesitantly showed him her sanctuary.

A sprawling greenhouse hidden deep within the estate gardens.

Inside, her Crimson Helios butterflies fluttered, casting an eerie red glow under the filtered sunlight.

When she first led him there, she braced herself for mockery or, worse, indifference.

Instead, Noah studied the butterflies with a quiet intensity.

"They're beautiful..."

He said simply, his voice steady, as though he were stating an undeniable truth.

"Dangerous, but beautiful."

For Iris, who had endured years of judgment, those words wrapped around her like a warm embrace.

She hadn't realized how much she needed someone to acknowledge the beauty in what she loved.

The beauty in her.

Noah's acceptance felt like a crack in her cocoon, letting in light for the first time.

Despite her father's insistence on rigorous magical training to prepare her for her future role as head of House Star, Iris often found solace in her greenhouse.

But even her magical talents couldn't shield her from the fragility of her body.

During a specific winter, she had broken her leg in a riding accident and was confined to a wheelchair.

For a girl as independent and headstrong as Iris, the injury was a bitter blow.

One evening, as snow blanketed the estate in pristine white, Noah wheeled her out into the garden.

They were both bundled in heavy coats.

Their breaths visible in the freezing air.

Iris, feeling vulnerable and melancholic, had tried to decline, but Noah insisted.

As they reached an open patch of snow, he stepped in front of her and raised his hands.

He concentrated his mana into his fingertips.

A soft blue glow began to emanate, intensifying as he traced a pattern in the air.

Then, with a sharp motion, he sent the magic skyward.

The spell erupted in a shower of shimmering ice shards, each one shaped like a delicate rose petal.

The petals descended slowly, catching the faint light and creating an ethereal glow.

Iris stared, wide-eyed, her melancholy momentarily forgotten.

The boy who often seemed distant and emotionless had just created a world of beauty for her.

"Do you like it?"

Noah asked, glancing back at her with an almost shy expression.

Her answer was in her tears, though she quickly brushed them away.

"I-It's... perfect..."

She whispered.

In the months that followed, Iris found herself cataloging the ways Noah had captured her heart.

There was his unwavering sincerity.

Noah never sugarcoated his words.

But neither did he diminish the value of what mattered to others.

When he told her that her butterflies were beautiful, she believed him wholeheartedly.

His intellect too fascinated her.

Despite being younger, he kept up with her advanced magical studies, sometimes even surpassing her.

Their late-night discussions often ventured into complex theories, and his insights left her both awestruck and inspired.

There was also his hidden warmth.

Beneath the cold exterior, Iris glimpsed moments of kindness and vulnerability that made her feel special.

As though she were the only one allowed to see that side of him.

It was this warmth, rare and fleeting, that made her fall irrevocably in love.

Iris had been under the Church's guidance for years.

Her father believing that such tutelage would instill discipline and grace.

Yet, for Iris, it was the prophecies that had always drawn her in.

Those cryptic verses whispered by the chosen voices of the divine.

The Archbishops spoke in riddles, and their words often felt like puzzle pieces scattered across a great expanse, waiting for someone to make sense of them.

One prophecy, spoken by the revered Archbishop Marellis, had stayed with her longer than any other.

On that day, the Archbishop's voice had trembled.

His breath visible in the icy air as he recited the vision granted to him:

---

["Beneath winter's unyielding shroud, a woman shall rise,

Her soul entwined with a man bound by frost and skies.

Hated by heavens, his crown carved in snow,

A love that blossoms where nothing should grow.

The cold king walks where warmth dares not tread,

Eyes of glacial hue, by sorrow fed.

Yet in her flame, his world shall ignite,

Turning ice to embers, piercing the night.

Beware, for the stars themselves shall weep,

As love defies fate, in silence deep.

For their union may bring solace or strife,

The end of the world, or the dawn of new life."]

---

Iris had listened in awe, her heart racing with each line.

A woman destined to love a man despised by the heavens?

A cold king, his eyes like ice, trapped in an eternal winter?

Her mind immediately conjured an image of Noah Ashbourne.

The boy who had once brought warmth to her darkest days.

Yes, Noah.

It had to be Noah.

Iris recalled every detail about him as the prophecy unfolded in her mind over and over again.

Noah, with his sharp features and piercing gaze, had always been enigmatic, like a figure carved from frost itself.

He carried an air of cold detachment.

Often distant and emotionless.

As though he were wrapped in a perpetual winter.

She had often heard whispers about how people regarded him.

His talent, his intellect, and his otherworldly demeanor.

Yet, there were always undercurrents of disdain or fear, as though the heavens themselves had deemed him unworthy of love or admiration.

"Hated by heavens…"

She whispered, her breath fogging in the cold air.

Her heart clung to those words.

Finding a bittersweet comfort in them.

But there was one detail that gnawed at her.

The prophecy described the cold king's eyes as "glacial" in hue.

Noah's eyes were not blue.

They were a bright yellow.

She dismissed the detail with a quiet resolve.

"Even scriptures have flaws."

she told herself.

"Even the most divine visions can be blurred."

The essence of the prophecy was what mattered, and she was certain it spoke of her and Noah.

Who else could it be?

From that moment, Iris no longer regarded her feelings for Noah as mere affection or admiration.

It became a destiny etched in the stars, a love ordained by the divine.

Her love for Noah grew.

Fanned by the belief that their union was written in thdisapproved.

Even if the heavens themselves disapproved.

It wasn't just love anymore.

It was fate, a purpose that she carried in her heart with a fervor bordering on obsession.

She blurred the boundaries of reality and faith.

Convinced that her love for Noah could overcome anything.

Even the icy barriers that seemed to surround him.

In her mind, she would be the flame to his frost, the light in his winter.

And so, she fell deeper.

Deeper into a love that consumed her.

Into a belief that grew unshakable.

Into an obsession that would one day prove to be her undoing.

So when word reached her that Noah Ashbourne's dormitory had gone up in flames and that he was missing.

Iris felt as though the world had shattered.

Iris stood by the window of her dorm room.

One by one, butterflies materialized around her.

Their wings beating in a synchronized rhythm.

They looked like flames, red and opaque, casting an eerie light on her face.

Her eyes glowed the same red as the crimson butterflies.

Noah couldn't be gone.

He couldn't.