Since he'd been about to go to sleep, the lights in the room were already off, and with the window shut, the entire space was shrouded in darkness.
Even so, Kanon Kanase's silver hair still gleamed like moonlight flickering in the night sky—soft and radiant.
Her glacial-blue eyes were even more striking in the dark, like flawless sapphires.
Looking at her, Kaiser couldn't help but marvel again: the royal bloodline of the Aldegyr Kingdom really was on another level. Whether it was Kanon or La Folia, both were beautiful enough to be called living goddesses—breathtaking in a way that stirred genuine awe.
Kaiser was hardly a stranger to beauty. He'd met actual goddesses before—Athena herself, the former queen who once ruled the entire Mediterranean, sky, land, and sea, was still residing inside him. Luo Hao's beauty was no less than a goddess's, and he had even slain Princess Kaguya, famed for her peerless looks. Yet, even compared to such divine beings, Kanon and La Folia were in no way inferior. They were miracles in human form.
And as someone who had once lived in the real world, Kaiser didn't have much resistance to this kind of beauty that had previously existed only in fiction. Seeing the shy and lovely Kanon instantly lightened his mood. Without thinking, he said:
"Come on in."
At his invitation, Kanon stepped inside.
"Sorry for disturbing you so late."
As she spoke, she gave her habitual bow of apology, gently closed the door behind her, then walked over and sat down—right on the edge of his bed, next to him.
Kaiser was momentarily at a loss for words.
He wanted to ask: Why close the door?
He wanted to ask: Why not turn on the light?
Most of all, he wanted to ask: Why sit on my bed when there's a perfectly good chair right there?
In the end, he swallowed all of it. He trusted that Kanon wasn't doing this on purpose—she probably hadn't even realized.
If it had been La Folia, though, he'd already be on guard. That princess would definitely be doing it on purpose.
"Something on your mind?" Kaiser asked gently, his tone almost like he was reassuring her. "Something you needed to say to me?"
"Yes." Kanon still seemed a little self-conscious, but she didn't shy away from his question. She nodded, looking him squarely in the eyes. "I never had the chance before, so… I wanted to thank you now."
Thank him?
For what?
The answer wasn't exactly hard to guess.
"You mean the matter with the imitation-angel?" Kaiser smiled. "You still remember what happened when you were one?"
Angels were beings without will or consciousness. An incomplete imitation—a pseudo-angel—might retain scraps of awareness, but with a thought-restricting device in place, the chance of remembering was slim.
According to Natsuki Minamiya, most girls who had been turned into pseudo-angels lost all memory of that time upon waking. They didn't remember the modifications done to them, nor that they had become pseudo-angels.
By all logic, Kanon should've been the same. But she was different from ordinary pseudo-angels to begin with, so exceptions were possible.
Sure enough…
"Not all of it," Kanon admitted, her voice low, "but I still remember fighting you… and you saving me."
Her tone trembled slightly, as if recalling the memory made her shiver.
Kaiser frowned at first, then understood. During their fight, she had gone out of control, drawing so much higher-dimensional divine energy that her body had nearly collapsed—melting apart on the spot. That experience was nothing short of nightmarish.
Forget watching your own body disintegrate—just the pain in that moment would leave anyone shaken if they remembered it.
So he reached out and gently patted her head.
"Ah…"
Kanon blinked in surprise, looking up at him with a mixture of shock and embarrassment in her glacier-blue eyes.
Kaiser, as if not noticing her reaction, continued to ruffle her hair, channeling a trace of the sacred power from the Buddha's Stone Bowl within him into her.
The Stone Bowl, a symbol of purity and transcendence, could repel evil and purify not only the body, but also the mind and heart—calming the spirit.
Under its influence, the surprise and shyness in Kanon's gaze slowly melted into peace and contentment. Her eyes grew softer, tinged with a faint dependence.
"It's all in the past now," Kaiser said at last. "Whether it's the kittens or you, you've all found a place to belong."
"Those painful days, that feeling of being abandoned—let it all fade away."
"What you should do now isn't dwell on the pain, but look forward to the future. Understand?"
His voice wasn't exactly gentle, yet it gave Kanon the strange feeling of being a little girl again—like hearing her late mother comfort her. It made her feel… saved.
"Senpai, you always help me when I need it," she murmured. "Whether it was when I didn't know how to save the kitten in the tree, when it suddenly went missing, or when I was struggling to find those children a home… you were there for me."
"And this time, too. When I was in the most pain, you saved me again."
"Why?" she asked—maybe to him, maybe to herself. "Why would someone as good as you save someone like me?"
She was still the same as before—prone to self-doubt afterward.
But this time, Kaiser simply said:
"You're a princess of the Aldegyr Kingdom, La Folia's aunt—a real princess. And from ancient times to now, whenever a princess is in trouble, someone will always appear to save her, won't they?"
Kanon's head snapped up, eyes wide.
"So… Senpai, you're the one meant to save me? My prince? My knight?" she asked dreamily, as if lost in a fantasy.
"I'm not that noble or selfless," Kaiser chuckled, shaking his head. "I saved you because I felt you deserved to be saved—and because you needed saving. That's all."
A prince? A knight? Kaiser was hardly such a shining figure.
In the Asterisk War world, he was a Genestella—a fighter—a glorified showpiece for the Festas, shunned by ordinary people.
In the High School DxD world, he'd been part of a terrorist group—the Khaos Brigade—a bona fide villain.
In the Bleach world, he was an executioner for the decaying Soul Society, cutting down Hollows and sending souls on.
In the Campione world, he was a devil, a demon lord, a god-slayer—a beast with nothing in common with knights.
From the moment he began traveling worlds, he had never been a purely righteous man. To many, he was an outsider, even a villain.
He wasn't like those main characters with saintly hearts who saved everyone and the world without question.
The only reason he'd cared about Kanon was because of the way she'd looked that day—standing under a tree, eyes full of concern for the kitten above, pure and gentle like a saint. It had struck him deeply.
Coupled with his knowledge of her from the original story—her history and circumstances—it was natural he'd feel a touch of pity. That was what led him to the deserted island to save her.
Rescuing La Folia afterward had been more of a bonus.
Besides…
"Didn't you call for help?" Kaiser asked, referring to the moment when, as a pseudo-angel, she had hovered briefly above his apartment.
"Once you've sent me a signal like that, how could I just ignore it?"
Those words—lighthearted as they were—hit Kanon hard.
Overcome, she threw her arms around him.
"Thank you… so much, Senpai."
Eyes closed, she leaned into his chest, her voice soft and heartbreakingly sweet.
Almost automatically, Kaiser hugged her back—then froze.
That feeling…
"…Wait, don't tell me—you're not wearing anything under that?"
"Huh?" Kanon blinked up at him in confusion, clearly not understanding.
"…No, never mind." He gave a sheepish laugh, thought about saying more, then decided against it.
If it had been La Folia, she'd have done it on purpose, no question.
But since it was Kanon… well, he could let it slide.
She had just gotten out of the bath, after all.
That was enough to convince him.