Mingyi

After setting down the menu, Hesta noticed several strange looks.

Guests at several nearby tables were all glancing her way. The moment she looked back, they quickly averted their eyes and returned to their own conversations.

A server carrying a soft drink and dessert approached Hesta—it was the girl Hesta had met at the eyewear shop that afternoon. Her crimson hair was now pinned up with two wooden hairpins. After setting down the delicate cup and small plate, she held the tray against her chest, gazed gently at Hesta with pale blue eyes, and gave a slight bow.

"Please enjoy."

Hesta could not help laughing. She suddenly realized how absurd the whole thing was: in a pleasure establishment themed around the "Hesta people," how could an actual Hesta person come here as a customer...

Would anyone pay to enjoy the "pleasure" of being watched?

Hesta did not touch the dessert or drink. Amid the continuous music and rose-red lighting, she sat there for thirty minutes, leaning back in her chair.

Throughout that time, Hesta kept her eyes on the servers in the second-floor restaurant. Their movements were far from practiced, and they were somewhat awkward when speaking with customers... Hesta recalled what the young man had said at noon: "Aren't you Madam Kaja's guest too?" A possibility suddenly occurred to her—could the guests he meant be these young people pretending to be Hesta people on the café's second floor tonight?

...Yet after watching all those faces for a long time, Hesta still did not find the man who had been in a hurry at noon. Perhaps he was serving elsewhere, or perhaps, just like last time, Madam Kaja had mercilessly thrown him out.

When the time reached nine, Eucali first sent her a list of nuts and fruits, asking whether