Chapter 720: Undeniable Feelings
The sun was already setting, painting the sky in shades of orange and gold.
Maria Land was finished—the stalls were being dismantled, the crowds had dispersed, and the young artists had packed up their paintings with promises to treasure Cassius’s critiques forever.
Now, the two of them walked side by side through the town streets on their way back to the mansion.
The air was cool and quiet, the distant sounds of the festival fading behind them.
Yet the atmosphere between them was strangely awkward.
Cassius felt it the most. After the emotional moment at the painting, he had been certain their relationship would feel much closer.
She had shared an incredibly vulnerable part of her life with him, something deeply personal and painful. He had thought for sure he would earn some major brownie points in her heart after that.
But to his surprise, that hadn’t happened at all.
After she had finally pulled back from the hug, wiping her tears, Maria had become...distant.
She couldn’t even look him in the eye. Whenever he turned to glance at her from the left, she would quickly turn her head to the right.
When he tried looking from the right, she would turn to the left. If he stepped a little closer, she would take a small step back.
When he tried to speak to her, her responses were curt and blunt, almost clipped.
It was really weird, and it made him slightly scared that he had somehow offended her.
He didn’t know why. Maybe he had touched on something too sensitive with the painting of Joy’s birth. Maybe she was just embarrassed about crying so openly in front of him.
Whatever the reason, she was genuinely avoiding him now.
Even right now, as they walked, Maria kept her gaze fixed firmly on the side of the road, pretending to admire the town’s architecture, even though it was obvious she was just avoiding his eyes.
Cassius sighed quietly to himself, hoping it wasn’t anything too serious.
But little did he know, it had nothing to do with any of his worries.
The real reason Maria was acting this way was because she had realized that she was in love with Cassius!
The realization had hit her like a thunderbolt when she pulled back from his embrace.
Her heart had been racing at an impossible pace, her body heating up every time she looked at him. When he leaned closer, she had nearly fainted.
And his face—she had seen it a hundred times before, but suddenly it looked different. Sparkly. Bright. Like there was some kind of magical filter over him, making him glow.
She had liked Cassius before. Enjoyed his company. Felt safe with him.
But this was different. Every tiny action he made stirred something in her heart. Every word he spoke resonated deep in her chest.
She was in love with him.
And there was no denying it anymore.
The funny thing was, she couldn’t even blame herself. After everything he had done today, any woman would have fallen for him. A hundred times over.
But still, in the past Maria tried to persist. She was a sister devoted to the Goddess, after all.
She thought she wouldn’t be suitable for him, that she was simply guiding him along for one day and would break things off at the end. She had planned to finish this "relationship" cleanly.
But every single attack of his had worn her down.
And then he had brought out that secret weapon—the painting of Joy’s birth and made her feel so much love that all the feelings she had been holding back burst out at once. She couldn’t hide it anymore.
Every time she glanced at him, her eyes became dreamy and full of hearts. She even had thoughts about just kissing him all over, pouncing on him, and feeling up his body.
When those thoughts came, she quickly shook her head, telling herself the devil was affecting her and making her have these lustful, dirty thoughts.
But the more she glanced at Cassius, the more she realized this wasn’t just lust. This was love that stemmed from the bottom of her heart.
She knew that if she continued to look at him, her feelings would grow even stronger, and she might genuinely pounce on him and do something she shouldn’t.
That was why she was trying so hard to hold herself back, avoiding his gaze and his words at all costs.
Before, she could push her feelings away. Deny them. Pretend they didn’t exist.
But now she knew she couldn’t. She was in love with Cassius, and those feelings would never leave her alone.
They would haunt her dreams, color her days, and eventually drive her to stand before him and confess everything.
Her vows to the goddess felt weak and feeble in the face of this. Part of her wanted to throw them away entirely, to abandon her sisterhood and devote herself to Cassius.
She was in turmoil. Confused. Angry, even.
Everyone said falling in love was wonderful—that it made you see the world in a new light. And it was true. The world seemed warmer, the sunset more beautiful, the laughter of children like bells in her ears.
But it also left her with this terrible inner conflict, this confusion about what to do next. And she was angry about that.
Then she glanced at Cassius, and the anger melted away, replaced by a blushing, fluttering mess.
Passersby noticed. They saw the beautiful woman in the white dress stealing glances at the handsome man in priest’s robes, saw her blush and look away, saw him looking at her with such obvious adoration.
They giggled and smiled, nudging each other.
Maria’s face burned.
’What should I do?’ She thought desperately. ’What should I do?’
But just as she was having those thoughts, suddenly both of them heard the crying of a woman.
She seemed like she was sobbing, like something bad had happened and she couldn’t hold her tears in.
Cassius and Maria glanced at each other for a moment, sharing the same thought. Without a word, they quickly made their way to the source of the sound.
A small crowd had gathered on a bridge. It was a simple arch over a small canal that Cassius had installed all over town as part of his drainage system to handle wastewater.
It made life much easier and safer for everyone.
Right on top of that small bridge, an woman—probably in her early fifties, with some wrinkles on her face was currently weeping and sobbing while looking down at the canal.
Some women comforted her and said kind things, while some men peered over the edge, searching for something in the water below.
Seeing this, both Cassius and Maria hurried over.
The moment the crowd noticed Cassius’s presence, everyone straightened up in surprise.
"My lord!"
"Young master, you’re here!"
Cassius asked with concern. "What exactly is going on? Why is she crying like that?"
One of the women hesitated for a moment, then spoke.
"The truth is, my lord, that lady over there..." She pointed at the sobbing woman "...her name is Miss Lydia. She’s a local tailor here who’s been running a shop for over twenty years. And apparently, today was her wedding anniversary."
"To celebrate the occasion, she and her husband went on a special outing together. They’re a rather romantic couple. Even after so many years, they’ve stayed strong and close, running the shop side by side."
"They wanted to go out on a proper date—her husband taking her around to all the fancy places and buying things he had wanted to give her for many years."
Maria felt a warm smile tug at her lips despite the somber mood. It was lovely to hear about such a happy couple.
"But as the day was ending...." the woman continued, her voice growing sad. "...the husband wanted to recreate the moment he first proposed. He wanted to put the engagement ring back on her finger, right here on this bridge—because this is where he proposed all those years ago."
She gestured at the canal before frowning.
"But just as he was about to slip the ring on, Miss Lydia saw a rat run past her feet. She got scared, jerked away, and the ring...the ring fell into the water."
Maria gasped.
"Because of that, the husband didn’t hesitate. He jumped down into the wastewater below and started searching for the ring."
Maria couldn’t help but speak up quickly. "But wouldn’t the ring already be washed away by the current of the water?"
The woman smiled sadly. "That won’t be the case because it’s very shallow here on the floor, and the flow is slow."
But then she had a slightly uncomfortable look on her face as she continued.
"But at the same time...it is still wastewater. It’s discarded water from all the houses in this district." She lowered her voice. "That means it’s basically...well, toilet water and washing water mixed together."
She grimaced.
"And the problem is, he’s been down there searching through all of that right now for quite some time."
Both Cassius and Maria looked down at the canal.
Sure enough, a middle-aged man with white hair all over his head was desperately moving around in the dirty water, searching for the ring using his hands and feet.
The water itself was black and had a foul smell to it, making it quite obvious what sort of water it was. But the husband didn’t seem to care at all.
It was a rather pitiful sight.
Maria sighed and looked back at the woman.
"Does he really have to do something like this? As unfortunate as it is, can’t he just buy a new ring? If the issue is money, I can also buy it for them."
She said this from the genuine goodness of her heart, already reaching for her coin purse.
But the lady quickly shook her head.
"Oh no! There’s me need for that, Lady Maria!"
Maria blinked. "You know who I am?"
"Everyone in town knows who you are, my lady." The woman said with a respectful bow. "Your kindness is already well-known throughout the continent."
Maria blushed slightly but gestured for her to continue.
The woman went on. "That was actually what the wife said at first when her husband was preparing to jump in. She didn’t want her husband to go searching around in that dirty, filthy water. She begged him not to."
She glanced at the sobbing Miss Lydia.
"But the husband refused to listen. He said that this ring wasn’t just any ring." Her voice became emotional. "Back then, when they were newlyweds, they were a young couple who could barely make ends meet. Times were hard."
"But he had saved up money for months—denying himself food sometimes, working extra hours all to buy that ring for her."
Maria’s heart clenched.
"But it wasn’t just about the money he spent." The woman continued, her eyes glistening. "It’s the fact that the ring symbolizes their love. All those years of memories, of struggle and joy together."
"He said he didn’t want to give that up—that losing the ring would be almost like giving up on their love in that moment."
This made Maria’s heart truly ache. She was genuinely surprised to see such a devoted couple in this day and age.
The woman sighed deeply.
"And because of that conviction, he didn’t hesitate to jump down into the water to search for it. But unfortunately..."
She looked down at the canal
"...this has been going on for about half an hour now. No matter how much he’s searched, he couldn’t find it."
"Half an hour in that water?" Cassius murmured with concern.
"Yes, my lord. The wife has been insisting for him to come back up, crying and pleading. But he seems absolutely persistent on finding it."
The woman shook her head.
"It seems like he’ll search the entire night if that’s what it takes. And nobody knows what to do. We can only console Miss Lydia and hope he gives up soon before he gets sick."
Hearing this complete story, Maria with her naturally helpful nature immediately wanted to assist them.
She wondered what she should do to help.
Perhaps she should get some sort of net to help with the search and make it easier?
Or maybe she should send more people down into the water, but this time while wearing proper protective apparatus and suits so they wouldn’t get themselves dirty?
She also thought about certain types of stones that could actually attract metal—magnets, she’d heard them called. Perhaps she should bring one of those over to help locate the ring?
But while Maria was having those thoughts, she suddenly saw something strange from the corner of her eye.
When she turned around, she was shocked to see Cassius actually looking over the bridge.
Before she could say anything, he vaulted over the railing and landed right in the canal below with a splash.