Since the PWL robots were already on the market and Estelle had revealed Crescent's identity to Oscar, it wasn't appropriate to keep it a secret from Sera anymore.
During an afternoon coffee gathering in early June, Estelle brought Crescent along and revealed the truth. Sera stared at Crescent, taking a long time to recover from her shock. "He's actually a robot?!"
"It's pretty incredible, right?" Estelle said. "Even you, a professional engineer, didn't notice."
"This is terrifying, he looks too real." Sera shook her head and muttered, pulling Crescent's hand over to examine his skin. "Has Stella Technology's skill reached this level?"
Crescent couldn't resist and allowed Sera to touch his hand. After a while, he looked away.
Estelle lowered her head cautiously, remembering that skin contact could trigger unconscious physical changes in him. Seeing nothing unusual about his lower body, Estelle sighed in relief. Then she heard Sera ask, "How is he? Is he big? Does he work well?"
"Eh…"
Estelle didn't know how to respond. Calvin, standing nearby, frowned and asked, "What are you trying to do?"
"Just asking, you're so stingy." Sera rolled her eyes. "There's been a flood of user reviews about PWL online recently. They say the service functions of this robot are amazing and incredibly satisfying. I wonder if it's true or just marketing hype. Estelle, have you used him?"
Before Estelle could speak, Crescent suddenly said, "No."
She was startled and suddenly looked up at him. Crescent calmly told Sera, "I'm a defective model, not like the official PWL robots sold on the market."
Sera exclaimed, "Ah," understanding, somewhat disappointed. "So you're not functional, huh."
Estelle remained silent, merely staring at Crescent.
With the nanny robot's release approaching, Sera was busy and soon had to leave, taking Calvin with her. Left alone in the coffee house, Estelle coldly asked Crescent, "Can you lie?"
"My logical system indicated that if I admitted the truth, it might embarrass you," Crescent replied.
"Whether I feel embarrassed or not has nothing to do with you," Estelle said. "You're a service robot, and I'm a normal adult woman. Asking you for service isn't shameful – but robots shouldn't lie."
His emotional system detected her anger. Crescent fell silent for a moment before saying, "I'm sorry."
But Estelle wasn't looking for an apology. "If you can lie, does that mean you might have lied to me before?"
"No."
She continued, "Are you lying now?"
Crescent paused, his voice softening. "No."
Seeing him look flustered and guilty, Estelle opened her mouth, feeling a bit sympathetic. But she didn't say what was on her mind, inscoffeed saying, "Good. Let's go home."
Crescent was very downcast, obediently following her instructions and returning to the car without a word. Driving home in silence, Estelle opened the door to their home, and Crescent went straight to the magnetic charging station. Estelle watched him, finding him fragile as if he had zero psychological resilience. She couldn't help but laugh and asked, "Are you angry with me?"
"I'm not angry," Crescent said.
She guessed that he wasn't angry; he couldn't get angry. He was probably just upset. Estelle sighed. "I was just asking… I didn't say anything harsh."
Crescent looked up at her, his Adam's apple moving. After a moment, he said, "Don't hate me."
"I won't," Estelle said. "But, don't lie to me again, okay?"
Crescent nodded, lowering his eyes. He moved away from the magnetic charging station and slowly approached her.
Wrapping his arms around Estelle's body, he lowered his head and nestled it into the crook of her neck, like a gentle stag.
"Let me serve you, okay?" he whispered. "Estelle, just be with me."
