In Sickness And In Health (Yandere M. Genius x F. Reader x Yandere M. Prince)

Chapter 49: Tia

All the princess did was push in on two very indistinguishable wall details, revealing a hidden door in the corridor. Apparently, there were things like that all over, but not many knew they existed anymore. Though, there used to be two repressed children that would slip in to visit the sea. As they headed down the stairs, Verona let her fingers trail over the wall, small glowing crystals emitting light for them. The deeper they went, the more gems there were, some of them just laying on the ground, and the deeper they went, the colder it got.

Again, (Y/n) had a bad feeling. She knew what the cold did to her. She knew there was a large possibility of her losing control, or even of harming Verona. For some reason, the woman knew this, too, and made a stop at the hundredth stair, loosening a tile and pulling out a thick fluffy jacket for the both of them. This helped, definitely, warming up the younger girl's body significantly, but she could not stay down there long. Her face was still exposed, her nose becoming painfully red.

Before long, as they turned a corner on the stairs, a huge cavern came into sight, rushing water dribbling down from the sea. It brushed up mist that turned immediately to ice, falling into one of the many dark abysses. They had gone so deep that they were now mostly under the seafloor; a concerning thought. Some light still poked through along with the water, but not enough. More ice-like gemstones lit up the area, showcasing a massive pile of gold and treasures laying to the far left of the open area. Occasionally one or two ancient-looking coins would fall into one of the deep abysses, never to be seen again, but no one seemed concerned with that fact.

On the other side of the cavern was a tunnel. Verona took her that way, but (Y/n) paused for a moment as she noticed some diagrams on the moss-ridden yellow bricks. One of them was a diagram she recognized. In the north, a griffon. In the south, a golem. In the east, a phoenix. In the west, a siren. In the middle...Well, one half of (Y/n). Angrily, she punched the wall about as hard as she could, crushing the bricks comprising the middle figure and causing the others to topple out, too. The siren fell first.

Further down the corridor, there were more treasures. More gold, more crowns, more paintings, more gems, more everything. Some toys were there, too, completely out of place. For a while, the gems dimmed, but, when they came out of the tunnel, a much brighter room was revealed. The same crumbling yellow bricks still lined the walls. At least, it lined one wall to the left. To the right was a seemingly neverending cavern of pure ice, icicles sharp enough to poke through anything. It was the most freezing there.

The room itself was a mess. There were scrolls, books, and jars laying around everywhere. She wasn't entirely sure what they were, but as she went to pick one up, she realized she couldn't read it. Continuing to sift around, she noticed her name, her eyes going wide. What was written was not (Y/n). It was her true name. Grabbing the thing, she fully intended on throwing it away, only to find her name written on countless other things. They dated back years. The oldest writing she found was when she was six years old. For a moment, she suspected Tia was...

"Berry?"

The girl turned sharply around to find Celith waddling up to her, Emi behind him. The two had likely come out due to the noise she was making, and though they were surprised to find her there, they were ecstatic nonetheless. The yukinko began tugging on her dress, trying to get her attention, while Celith spent his time sifting through one of the gold piles. Emi once again reminded him that (Y/n) didn't want an offering in his native tongue, but he kept looking nonetheless, eventually presenting a jewel-encrusted mirror to her. She refused to take it.

"Tia," Verona called out playfully, a low growl reverborating through the cavern, "I have a guest for you."

A snapping sound came from the tunnel the kids had come through, followed by the sound of crystal. At first, the footsteps sounded heavy, shaking the earth beneath their feet, but within an instant, they transitioned to sound light, a predictable pace the entire time. The clicking got louder and louder until (Y/n) shot up from her seated position, hoarding the books with her name to her chest. Defensively, she stood, glaring down the tunnel until the sight of a familiar face made her drop everything, papers flying up around her.