Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - Enhanced Edition Victoria attacks - why?

After Victoria said I could borrow any books I liked I went around "read"ing some rather than taking them and this annoyed her so much she attacked me. Is this supposed to happen or am I misunderstanding what I did?

Were the books or bookcases highlighted in white or red? In the mouse/KB UI the cursor would be either a white or red hand icon, while in the controller UI the description will change between 'steal' and 'pick up'.

The Rat Extermination book remains marked as owned, even after getting permission to borrow books, as do desks, the chest and other items.

OK I'm not sure. I'd assumed I had permission to read anything I liked. Since e.g. I can read the red book in the undertaker's shop ok I am a bit unclear about how forbidden it is to touch red stuff. OK if no-one can see you?

I think I want to read a manual as I seem to be making far too much of a meal of doing anything at all.

Correct; if no one sees you use or take something outlined in red, it shouldn't cause any problems. Trying to sneak will let you know if anyone can see your character (it will fail, if so) and improve your chances of not being caught. An invisibility spell works even better.
Of course if you are deliberately doing something you need to sneak for, a quicksave wouldn't be a bad idea if you have not saved in awhile.

Ok, mostly unrelatedly except that it illustrates how little I have understood up to now... someone has just had to tell me how you buy things in this game. I had wondered why nothing seemed to be for sale anywhere.

In any event, white vs red and being able to buy stuff may between them change my game experience quite a bit.