The tension still clung to the air even after Victoria disappeared upstairs.
Jade let out a shaky breath, then forced a smirk to mask how rattled she truly was.
"Well," she said, dropping back onto the couch. "Your mom definitely woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I swear she used to be way cooler. I even kinda thought she was cute in a milf-y way."
Emily's eyes narrowed sharply. "Can you not?"
Jade lifted a shoulder. "Relax. I'm just saying she wasn't always this strict."
Emily rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well. She's stressed. Obviously."
Isaac watched them silently from the side, his expression unreadable. Jade still carried that casual arrogance in her voice. It made something cold tighten in his chest. Seeing there was nothing left for him to say or do downstairs, he finally spoke.
"I'll head upstairs now."
Emily's head snapped toward him. "Excuse me? Where do you think you're going? Didn't you hear what my mom said? You still have chores to do."
Isaac blinked. "But I already did them earlier. I don't think I need to—"
Jade cut him off with a derisive scoff. "Typical. Men always trying to wiggle out of responsibilities the second things get uncomfortable."
Emily didn't respond to Jade's comment. Instead, she fixed Isaac with a pointed look. The kind that said everything without needing words.
Isaac, seeing no other option, nodded reluctantly and headed toward the kitchen to find something to clean.
Emma had been standing quietly by the stairs during the entire exchange, looking slightly uncomfortable. Emily turned to her, lowering her voice.
"Your room's close to his, right? Did you hear anything earlier?"
Emma shook her head quickly. "I was probably asleep during that time."
"That's understandable," Emily said with a slight smile. "You tend to sleep like a baby anyway."
Emma glanced toward Isaac in the kitchen, then quietly made her way upstairs.
Emily turned back to Jade. "Are you heading home today?"
Jade raised an eyebrow. "Come on now, have you and me gotten that bad?"
"I'm just asking," Emily said, settling onto the couch beside her.
Before Emily could say anything else, her phone buzzed with a notification. She glanced down and groaned.
"Ugh, really?"
"What?" Jade asked.
"Professor Wallace just dropped a same-day deadline project. I'm gonna have to head out later to get the materials."
Jade let out a laugh. "No way! Good luck with that. I'm just glad we don't have the same lecturer."
Emily sighed, dropping her phone onto her lap. "So what are you gonna do?"
Jade shrugged casually. "I don't have anything going on, and since you'll probably be gone for a while later, I'll just stay cooped up in your room. I don't plan on going home anytime soon."
"That's fine," Emily said. "But it's still early, so we've got time."
"Time for what?" Jade asked, raising an eyebrow.
Emily grinned. "Well, since it's Saturday, wanna hit up that new beauty store in the mall? I need to grab some stuff anyway, and we could get face masks and nail polish."
Jade's face lit up, her earlier tension finally melting away. "Now you're talking. I was getting bored just sitting around. And honestly, after that drama, I could use some retail therapy."
"Perfect. We can make a whole day of it," Emily said, already heading toward the stairs. "Grab some skincare, maybe check out that Korean beauty section everyone's been raving about."
"Yes! And didn't you say you wanted to try those sheet masks?" Jade agreed, following her. "Plus I've been dying to find a good burgundy nail polish."
"Same! We can test everything and then come back here to actually use it all."
Jade paused on the first step, something crossing her mind. "Oh, speaking of coming back here. You think Sophie would want to meet us there? I know she couldn't make it yesterday, but the mall is closer to her side of town."
Emily considered it for a moment. "You can text her, but honestly I doubt it. If something came up with her family yesterday, she's probably still dealing with it."
Jade pulled out her phone. "True. I'll just shoot her a text and see."
"Yeah, don't force it," Emily said. "If she's free, she's free. If not, it's just us."
Jade nodded, typing out a quick message before pocketing her phone. "Done. We'll see if she replies before we head out."
"Perfect," Emily said, disappearing up the stairs. "Get dressed. We're leaving in thirty."
"Already?" Jade called after her.
"The mall opens early on Saturdays!"
Jade muttered something under her breath but pushed off the couch and followed.
* * *
Since he was already done downstairs, Isaac headed back to his room. He hadn't really needed to do much. He had already completed everything earlier before leaving for his morning jog, which said a lot about how early he had woken up.
Once he reached his room, he collapsed onto his bed and stared at the ceiling. He couldn't believe how close things had come to going completely south this morning, all because of one person. He had kind of expected something like this might happen, but not quite like this. When he had given Jade the money yesterday, it hadn't seemed like she had this in mind when she deleted the video. But his instincts hadn't been wrong after all.
Thinking back to how smug Jade had looked earlier sparked something inside him. Honestly, he didn't understand why he still had to act all submissive when he possessed the Book and had changed this much. But after thinking about it for a while, he felt it was best to keep playing this role for now.
He stood up and retrieved the Book from under the wardrobe where he always hid it. Running his hands over the black cover with its golden edges, the bold lettering still stark on the front. THE BOOK OF SINS. He still couldn't believe something like this actually existed. This brought up the question of how the Book had come into existence. Who had created it? It looked like it had existed for a very long time, but the fact that it had literally fallen from the sky didn't make it any easier to understand.
He walked toward his bedroom window. Looking down, he saw Emily and Jade heading out. He had overheard them talking earlier, so he understood where they were going. It seemed like during the whole commotion this morning, a lot of time had passed.
Thinking back to all his experiences with the Book and how it had changed him, he felt there were more questions he needed answers to. But no one to provide them.
He opened the Book and turned to the Bearer page. This was what was presented:
═════════════════════════
CURRENT LEVEL 2 STATS:
Name: Isaac Wilson
Race: Human
Age: 19
Level: 2
GX:100/200
SP:65
Stats:
• Strength: 10
• Agility: 11
• Stamina: 14
• Endurance: 11
• Intelligence: 15
• Charisma: 8
Corruption: 10%
Current Sin Points (SP): 65
═════════════════════════
Looking at his current level, he noted there were just 100 more GX points needed to advance to the next level. All his stats were higher than they used to be, which was promising. What bothered him more was the corruption meter. He had seen it before when it sat around 0%, but now it had suddenly jumped to 10%. He still didn't understand what it represented or how it worked. The Book hadn't provided any explanation for it yet.
Seeing his current sin points reminded him of what he had gained after his second session with Victoria. He knew that if he wanted to level up faster and acquire more sin abilities, he would have to commit more sinful deeds.
For the earlier embarrassment he had faced from Jade, he already had a plan in motion. He wasn't going to let everything slide. If he got stepped on, it was only right that he retaliate. She had started it first. It wasn't like he was going after her unprovoked. But now it felt like a revenge mission more than anything else.
Before he could fully set his plan in motion, though, he needed more SP. And he knew just where to get them.
There was a particular ability he had been planning to acquire ever since he saw it in the new ability section. He wasn't entirely sure if it worked the way it was described in the Book, and he figured he would need the full description to understand exactly how it functioned. But that would have to wait. He flipped through the Book to examine his current abilities.