Deep-Sea Whale Song (I'm Tired of Asking for Monthly Votes Too)

"After all, the circumstances were different. If you hadn't gone back then, perhaps you could have been like me now."

Hearing this, Zhu Sha narrowed her eyes, a teasing smile appearing on her face.

"Can I take that to mean you're making a move on me?"

"Interpret it however you like. Besides, for a beautiful girl like you, isn't it perfectly normal for me to be interested?"

"Perfectly normal."

His words had been too blunt, making her feel embarrassed instead. Besides, the two of them were far too familiar with each other. Joking was one thing, but if he meant it for real, she could not bear it.

"But this little lady isn't in the mood to discuss that with you. Come, look at this."

Zhu Sha flicked her hand through the air, and the light scattered in every direction suddenly gathered upon the coffin before them.

The coffin was made of wood, though it was impossible to tell what kind. It was a deep brown overall, much like yellow earth. Its style was the usual Western sort, a shape often seen in churches, but that was not the important part.

The important part was the emblem engraved at the very center of the coffin's diagonal.

A tree, growing in extraordinary complexity.

There were not many people in this world who could use this emblem, and the person inside the coffin was probably one of two possibilities: either a member of the Hufflepuff family, or someone sealed away by an elder of the Hufflepuff family.

Perhaps not even a person.

But no matter what, the moment Zhu Sha saw this family crest, she thought of Jon. That was why this meeting across countless miles had taken place, along with the obscuring storm Jon had gone to such lengths to create.