Reborn as a Mind-Reading Empress
Chapter 324: For a Life of Luxury [Bonus - ]

Chapter 324: For a Life of Luxury [Bonus Chapter]

Arabella didn’t find any reason to spare Adolfo either. The latter was not even truly apologetic about what he did.

In his mind, Adolfo thought that Arabella should have at least died so that he wouldn’t be the only one dying.

Adolfo even thought of making Jacob do a destructive burst of mana to try taking Arabella and Ferdinand and as many people as possible with them if they get executed.

Letting this kind of person live would only cause harm to them or other innocent people. Thus, it was better for him to be executed as soon as possible.

Jacob was the same. The only thing he regretted was not spending all the profits he gained from being Adolfo’s mage. He also wanted to take Arabella and Ferdinand with them if they were going to die anyway. He hated how his stable and huge income was suddenly cut off because of one person. And that person was Arabella.

However, unlike Adolfo, Jacob had heavier reasons why he was obsessed with profits.

Arabella learned from Jacob’s thoughts that he was born in the poorest area in Crux. The slums. His parents were among the poorest of the poor, and he barely had anything to eat. He was malnourished as a child and had to steal to be able to eat. If he doesn’t eat his food immediately, it would also be stolen by other people around him.

Jacob’s life changed one day when he discovered he could use magic. It was a life-and-death situation. He was about to be killed by people he stole from and he unconsciously used magic to protect himself.

From then on, Jacob’s life began to become far easier compared to before. In his teenage years, he was able to become more proficient in using magic without proper education and training. He experimented on his own and used it to gather his own group in the slums. His group grew in strength until he was able to act like the little king of the slums. And it was then that he caught Adolfo’s attention.

Adolfo offered to make him his magician and get him educated by other magicians so he could become stronger. But in exchange, he would be subservient to Adolfo.

Jacob didn’t like serving anyone when he could live as a king in the slums. However, Adolfo offered to give him a taste of what it was like. He brought Jacob to one of his estates.

It was the teenage Jacob’s first time leaving the slums. He was shocked when he learned what the world was like outside the slums.

The food, money, comfort, and power. All of it was on a much grander scale. He realized that the world he knew was hell and he could actually live in a paradise.

Adolfo’s offer proved far better than living in the slums. Thus, Jacob accepted Adolfo’s offer in order to live a better life.

And for decades, Jacob lived his life in luxury. As time went by, he got drunk in prosperity and power. He never forgot what it was like in the slums though. Thus, he wanted to continue living surrounded by more of these riches. He never wanted to be poor again.

His past made Jacob obsessed with earning more and more riches so he would never have to live that way again. That obsession made him commit all sorts of crimes as he followed Adolfo’s bidding. But Jacob didn’t really mind since he had already done a lot of crimes in the slums. At least with Adolfo, he never needed to kill someone for a single piece of bread.

The crimes Jacob committed were far more sophisticated and not all about having enough to eat for the day. With Adolfo, there was never a day he lacked what he needed.

This made Jacob somewhat loyal to Adolfo. He was his source of plentiness. Thus, as much as possible, Jacob didn’t want Adolfo to die. He protected Adolfo for years.

But Jacob realized that it would be difficult to impossible this time.

Jacob followed Adolfo’s example and tried begging for his life at first, as he thought of a way to escape through magic.

However, after trying several times to escape with Adolfo, with no success, Jacob realized Alwin was so much more powerful than he was.

Jacob didn’t want to leave Adolfo behind, but he didn’t want to die with him here either.

Seeing that escaping together was impossible, he internally abandoned Adolfo and tried escaping on his own. He thought he might be able to do so if he was not catering to another person. But all his attempts still failed. He could not escape from Alwin’s barriers.

Jacob tried asking the other soul inside him for help, but it had been silent ever since they were imprisoned. It abandoned him as well.

When he realized, he was going to die anyway, Jacob admitted that he had another alibi. It was revenge for getting abandoned.

He revealed that the other soul inside him was the one who knew about Lucille’s attempt to set up Arabella and Andrew. Jacob only maximized the information after learning about it.

Jacob observed Lucille and noticed she liked that restaurant in the city. He then used that chance to encourage Lucille to use the drug on Arabella and Andrew by "accidentally" tipping her off about it.

It wasn’t an accident though. The other soul inside Jacob who refused to give a name, recommended waiting for Lucille in the restaurant and influencing her thoughts.

Meanwhile, they observed Lucille and her maids so they could use them as the "culprits" for their plans. They planned to use Lucille and Risa as their scapegoat right from the start.

And during the poisoning attempt, the other soul inside Jacob was the one who cast a spell to hypnotize those who saw "Risa" (Jacob in disguise).

Jacob cannot use magic that affects the mind since it was something difficult and among the lost kinds of magic.

The other soul inside Jacob intentionally made them recall seeing "Risa" so they could serve as witnesses against Lucille and her maid, once investigations were conducted.

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A/N:

SPECIAL MENTION to the following for Ranking in the TOP 5 of MOST CONTRIBUTIONS:

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Thanks much for all your votes, everyone!

We now have 1211 Power Stones so I’ll release a Bonus Chapter later. If it reaches 1300 before midnight (UTC/GMT+8 __ I follow WNs time), it will be two additional Chapters.