But even with that preparation, in the end, he still found himself shouting that they had the wrong person.
"How the hell does a normal high school boy end up turning into some god-like being...?"
They said he was someone born for magic—someone whose power couldn't be matched, even if all humans and demi-humans joined forces against him.
They said wherever he gave his blessing, there was prosperity.
And wherever he turned his back, destruction would follow.
They said he was an untouchable being, equal to the gods themselves.
They said the only thing one could do before him was beg for mercy.
…How was anyone supposed to accept that?
What in the world had his past self been doing during those five hundred years in this strange world?
It was just too much to take in.
And even though everyone had tried to soften their words, to phrase things more gently, the truth was...
"So basically, I was… a killer, right?"
The first time Li Shen heard that he had "assassinated the rulers of nations that tried to enslave him," he immediately wanted to deny everything—to throw away that part of his past, to claim it had nothing to do with him.
After all, here he was, in some unknown fantasy world, being told that not only had he committed a crime, but one of the worst kinds possible: murder.
And he didn't even remember any of it.
It was too much.
And that wasn't even the only bloody story they had hinted at.
There seemed to be many, many more.
It made his chest feel heavy.
His heart and mind couldn't keep up.
As a mentally 17 year old boy, Li Shen had no idea how he was supposed to deal with something like this.
So now, standing in front of the mirror, he looked for help in those violet amethyst eyes that had been watching him calmly from behind—hoping someone, anyone, could give him a way to understand all of this.
"Somnus… did you really like someone like me?" Li Shen asked. "I mean, sure, I helped you fight off monsters or whatever, but… I was a killer, right? I must've been like a walking disaster."
Just like Li Shen, Somnus had just come out of the bath.
The emperor tied his long golden hair loosely behind his neck, he is currently wearing a thin navy blue nightgown over his white sleepwear.
Li Shen had noticed Somnus quietly entering the room a few moments after he started staring blankly at the mirror.
Somnus hadn't said anything right away—probably because he was being considerate again.
After spending some time together, Li Shen was starting to understand those subtle things about him.
He waited until the gentle, dependable older man came close. And just like he expected, Somnus gently pulled him into his strong arms.
"…Let's see. Where should I start?" Somnus murmured. "First of all, I probably know more about you—or rather, the one known as 'The Dominator of Arcane Magic, Del Delatia'—than anyone else in this world. I was once his most trusted student."