Chapter 711: Welcome To Maria Land!

After finishing breakfast, where Cassius with his seemingly endless appetite, had consumed most of the food while Maria watched in amazement, they finally left the restaurant.

The morning sun was higher now, warmer, and Maria found herself walking on air.

She was excited for what was to come.

Not because she expected anything extravagant or grand. No, she had realized something over the past few hours, something that settled in her chest like a warm ember.

She didn’t need special occasions or elaborate plans. She just wanted to be with Cassius.

Being next to him was enough. Just listening to him talk, tease her, and engage in his funny antics would keep her amused forever. She could probably sit in an empty room with nothing but him, and she would never get bored.

A question from her past floated back to her—something a friend had asked when she was training to be a sister.

"If you were the last person in the world, what is the one thing you would want always to be by your side?"

She hadn’t known the answer then. Now she did.

Cassius.

He gave her a sense of safety and comfort. He truly understood her. And he made her smile.

So she followed him eagerly, ready for whatever came next.

But then, without warning, Cassius produced a blindfold and gently tied it over her eyes.

Maria blinked in the sudden darkness. "Cassius? What are you doing?"

"The next part of our date is a secret." He said, his voice full of barely contained excitement. "I want to reveal it properly, so this is a necessary precaution."

Her heart fluttered. She could only imagine how spectacular the surprise must be. She let him take her hand and guide her through the streets.

After walking quite a distance, Cassius couldn’t help but tease her.

"You know, you’re technically letting a man guide you through an unknown place right now." He said playfully. "I could just take you to a cliff and push you off, or maybe sell you to slavers, and you would have no idea what’s going on."

He was clearly trying to scare her, but Maria was not affected at all.

She smiled confidently.

"There’s no way I would possibly allow a man I don’t trust to put a blindfold on me, Cassius."

She squeezed his hand. "So the fact that I’m letting you do this right now should tell you more than enough about what I think of you."

Cassius went quiet. She could imagine him blushing, his attack turning back on him.

She chuckled. "Besides, if Joy heard about this, she’d chase you to the ends of the world. I don’t think you want that hanging over your head."

"Not just Joy." Cassius muttered. "Aqua too. And Carmela—she’s basically your daughter now too, and she considers you a mother. If all three of them started chasing me, I’d never have a moment’s peace."

He squeezed her hand back. "So don’t worry. I’ll make sure to guide you safely to our destination."

Maria laughed and she couldn’t help but ask,

"Then exactly when will that so-called destination arrive, Cassius? I’m starting to feel a little dizzy from walking around blindfolded like this."

Cassius’s voice brightened. "We’re already here, Maria."

Hearing this and feeling him stop, Maria was surprised.

She carefully listened around and heard some murmuring and a lot of people’s voices. Even some children giggling and laughing.

She wasn’t expecting this.

She had thought it would be some sort of private picnic alone somewhere, or that Cassius was taking her to look at a scenic view without any people around.

But it was quite obvious that a lot of people were nearby.

She could even barely hear her name being mentioned, almost as if they knew what was going on.

"Where are we, Cassius? What are we doing here?" She reached for the blindfold. "Can I take this off already?"

"Wait—wait just one second." Cassius said.

She heard him call out. "Is everything ready!? Are you all prepared?!"

Maria couldn’t hear the response—they seemed to be trying to stay silent—but Cassius himself said,

"Good, good."

Then he looked at Maria, and she could hear the excitement in his voice.

"You can take off the blindfold now, Maria. I hope you like what I prepared for today."

Maria really could not hold back anymore. She was dying to know.

Finally, she took the blindfold off—

Brilliant sunlight hit her eyes and she couldn’t see for a moment.

But the moment her vision cleared, a burst of voices came out:

"WELCOME TO MARIA LAND, LADY MARIA!"

Immediately, confetti burst all around her, almost as if party poppers had gone off everywhere. Everyone was clapping like a celebration was happening.

Maria was absolutely baffled.

When she finally looked ahead, she was shocked by what she saw.

Right in front of her was a big welcoming arch, almost like a banner you would see at a carnival entrance.

Written in colorful letters was: MARIALAND.

Right below that archway was a bunch of people smiling and clapping at her—but they were all wearing costumes.

Some wore animal costumes like tigers and leopards.

Others wore costumes of trees and fruit.

Some looked like princesses, and some like knights, almost as if they’d all come out of a fairy tale.

And if this wasn’t already shocking enough, behind them was an expanse of green—a large garden that was completely filled with stalls.

So many different stalls with so many different things that she couldn’t even make sense of it all.

It almost looked like a carnival right in front of her.

The only difference was that all the people were focused on her, almost as if she was the center of this entire thing.

This made Maria honestly a little embarrassed and overwhelmed. She quickly hid behind Cassius.

"What is this, Cassius!?" She asked urgently. "What is going on? What exactly is Marialand!?"

Cassius puffed out his chest proudly.

"What is Maria Land? It’s simple." He spread his arms wide. "It’s festival dedicated entirely to you!"

"Every single thing here is something you like, something you adore. I designed it purely to entertain you and make you happy."

Maria’s mouth fell open.

"I was struggling to figure out what to do for our date." He continued. "There were so many things I wanted to show you, so many places I wanted to take you. But there’s only so much time in a single day."

"So instead of taking you to all those places, I decided to bring all those places to you."

He gestured at the carnival.

"I gathered everything you’re fond of, everything you love, and put it all in one place. So you can have a magical time without ever leaving this garden."

He smiled.

"That’s why it’s called Maria Land. Because it’s a land dedicated to you."

Maria couldn’t speak. She had already been expecting something wonderful, Cassius had a way of exceeding expectations.

But this? This was beyond anything she could have imagined.

The scale of it, the thoughtfulness, the sheer effort involved in creating something like this...

She was in a complete daze.

Cassius turned to the crowd and clapped his hands.

"Alright, everyone, back to your stations! I’m going to show Maria around now."

The costumed figures hurried back to their stalls, ready to serve. Cassius grabbed Maria’s hand.

"Come along! Let me show you everything."

"Cassius, wait! I need a moment to take all of this in—"

"I’m sorry, Maria, but we don’t have much time. There are only so many minutes in a day, and I don’t want to waste a single one."

Seeing that he was determined, Maria had no choice but to follow, her heart racing with a mixture of disbelief and growing delight as they stepped into the heart of Maria Land.

They hadn’t gone far when Cassius stopped in front of a group of costumed performers.

These ones were bulkier than the others, wearing large, fluffy mascot costumes shaped like cute little angels with glowing halos floating above their heads. There were four of them in total.

Cassius gestured proudly.

"Every good carnival needs mascots. When I thought about what kind of mascot would suit you, Maria, I immediately thought of angels."

Maria tilted her head. "Angels?"

"Of course. You’re the Saintess of Compassion. What else could you be?"

One of the angels approached Maria and held up both hands, clearly asking for a high five.

Maria, still a little dazed, instinctively gave it.

Clap!

But to her shock, the moment her palms met the mascot’s, all four angels suddenly burst into a silly, coordinated dance—wiggling, spinning, and striking adorable poses in their bulky costumes.

Maria couldn’t help but laugh. "What are they doing, Cassius? Why are they dancing?!"

"Well, whenever someone gives them a high-five or hug them, they start doing their special dance moves." He explained with a grin. "They’ve been trained for it. What do you think?"

Maria’s laughter grew brighter.

"I think it’s so silly and funny at the same time! I just want to keep giving them high-fives all day so they’ll dance non-stop."

The people inside the costumes froze for a split second, clearly terrified at the prospect of dancing for hours.

Maria noticed and quickly waved her hands. "I’m just joking! I won’t actually do that."

The angels let out a collective sigh of relief that looked comically adorable coming from their fluffy costumes. A beautiful, genuine smile bloomed on Maria’s face as she watched them.

Cassius felt a surge of warmth seeing her so happy.

"Come along now—there’s still so much more to show you."

He gently pulled her forward to the first stall. The moment Maria saw what was inside, she let out a delighted squeal.

"Puppies! Kitties! Oh my God, they’re so cute!"

The stall was fenced off and filled with fluffy puppies and kittens of every color, tumbling over one another and meowing softly.

Maria immediately dropped to her knees, reaching through the fence to pet them.

"Oh, you’re so fluffy...Look, Cassius, this one is licking my hand!"

Cassius crouched beside her.

"I created this stall because I heard you loved animals. Of course at that time, I didn’t know Joy was the animal fanatic in the family. But judging by your reaction, you don’t seem to mind."

"Mind? I love it!"

He chuckled at her response and pointed at some sacks on the side,

"There’s also special food prepared. If you go inside, the animals will come to you and surround you. You’ll be wrapped in puppies and kittens like a blanket."

Maria’s eyes sparkled. "I can go inside?"

"Of course. But not right now."

Her face fell into a pout.

"I want to show you everything first." Cassius explained. "Then you can do whatever you want. Run around with the animals, feed them—I’ll give you plenty of time."

Maria nodded reluctantly and let him pull her away.

—

The next stall made her scream.

"BABIES! Oh my God, BABIES!"

It was another enclosure, padded with soft mats, filled with adorable toddlers, dressed as animals.

Tiny puppy ears attached to headbands. Little kitten tails pinned to their onesies.

They crawled around, played with toys, and babbled at each other in a language only they understood.

Maria rushed to the edge of the enclosure and immediately began squeezing cheeks.

"Look at you! You’re so chubby! You’re so cute even though you’re so round!"

She pinched another baby’s cheek.

"And look at this one—so much hair! You’re going to be a heartbreaker when you grow up!"

Then she looked at Cassius with a nostalgic expression.

"Looking at all these babies reminds me of Joy when she was a baby. She used to be so adorable and cute." She sighed wistfully. "But now she’s grown up and become someone else. Nonetheless, they’re all so precious!"

She kept petting the babies, who immediately started giggling and laughing upon seeing Maria, almost as if she were a beacon of warmth and love.

Cassius quickly explained.

"I also found out you’re fond of babies quite a lot, Maria. When you went out, Isabelle noticed that you kept looking at babies all the time whenever they went by, and you always had such a tender look in your eyes."

"That’s why I decided to create this setup where you can play with babies all you want."

He smiled.

"Just like with the puppies earlier, you can sit down with them and let them crawl all over you if you want."

"Oh my gosh, that’s basically paradise!" Maria said. "I get to be around all these adorable little munchkins!"

But then she realized something and looked at Cassius with sudden alarm.

"Wait, Cassius—where exactly did you get all of these babies from?" Her eyes widened in horror. "Don’t tell me you kidnapped them or something!"

Cassius simply scoffed. "What are you talking about, Maria? Do I really look like that sort of person?"

Maria hesitated. "Well...the rumors don’t exactly paint you in a good light..."

This made Cassius cough in embarrassment and look away.

"Don’t worry." He said quickly. "Look—the parents are right there, and they’re volunteering for this."

Maria looked and realized there were indeed a bunch of mothers and fathers around the area, watching over their children.

Cassius went on to explain. "All of these babies belong to the nursery I’ve set up. Once I asked for this favor, they didn’t hesitate to come over. So you don’t have to worry about me kidnapping babies."

Hearing this, Maria let out a sigh of relief.

But then she looked at Cassius curiously.

"Wait, you run a nursery, Cassius? How did I not know about that?"

Cassius grinned. "Well, you don’t know a lot of things about me, Maria. That’s why you should become my wife so you can take your time and explore everything about me."

Maria rolled her eyes but couldn’t help smiling.

"But of course." Cassius said, already pulling her along. "We can’t stay with the babies for too long. Let’s go to the next place!"

And he dragged her away toward the next surprise.