Chapter 196

"I'm..."

The moment Ojama Yellow and Ojama Green turned their sleepy gazes on her, Camula went rigid, cold sweat threatening to break out across her face. Her mind raced, desperately trying to come up with some excuse convincing enough to talk her way out of this.

If these three tattletale, miserable little Ojama brothers went and told Rowan she'd been in his room, and she didn't have a good enough story ready, she was finished.

"She looks really nervous, doesn't she?" the lisping Ojama Green said, huddling close with his two brothers to whisper the observation.

The moment he said it, Camula's whole body tensed up even further, sweat beading visibly on her face.

"Could she be here to..." Ojama Black, the big-nosed one, said slowly, seeming to piece something together as he watched Camula grow increasingly tense.

Gulp.

Just as Camula swallowed hard, nerves stretched to the breaking point, Ojama Black suddenly smacked a fist into his palm.

"You're here to warm big brother's bed, aren't you!"

"...?!"

Camula nearly toppled over on the spot, her head filling entirely with question marks. She desperately wanted to ask exactly where these three miserable little Ojama brothers had pulled that conclusion from.

But right now, she couldn't exactly afford to argue with Ojama Black's guess.

"Huh? Isn't that it?" Ojama Yellow asked, looking puzzled at Camula's oddly frozen reaction.

"No... that's exactly why I'm here!" Camula gritted her teeth internally and finally forced herself to "admit" to it.

For the sake of her own escape, and for reviving her nearly extinct vampire kin, letting this scheming little devil have one small win wasn't the end of the world.

"Big brother's personal property has finally developed some self-awareness, boo hoo!" The three Ojama brothers burst into tears on the spot, clutching each other, sobbing rivers.

"Personal property...?" A vein throbbed steadily on Camula's forehead, her fists clenching hard enough to turn white.

Truly, like master, like Duel Spirit. Even a bunch of useless little runts like the Ojama brothers were naturally annoying to begin with, but surely not usually to this degree.

What Camula completely failed to notice was a ghostly assassin's silhouette flickering into view briefly behind her, eyes glinting with amusement, before vanishing back into the shadows just as quickly. It had been none other than Ishizu, the Gravekeeper's Assailant, who'd quietly woken the sleeping Ojama trio in the first place.

Some unknown stretch of time later, Rowan finally stirred, letting out a lazy, satisfied yawn as he slowly opened his eyes.

A moment later, he blinked in confusion at the sight of a familiar face right in front of him, deep green hair, sharp and striking features, fast asleep, resting against him.

"Hm?"

Rowan blinked, figured he must be seeing things wrong, and closed his eyes again. He reopened them a moment later. The scene hadn't changed one bit.

Rowan couldn't help feeling more than a little puzzled. What in the world was going on here? Why was Camula asleep in his bed?

But then he noticed one of her hands still resting near the Spirit Key pendant hanging in front of his chest, and rubbing his chin, a theory began to take shape.

Had this vampire maid been talked into trying to steal the Spirit Key off him, only to have accidentally fallen asleep partway through the attempt?

"Kuri kuri!"

At that moment, the round Kuriboh's cry rang out beside him, relaying everything the Ojama trio had just told it, filling Rowan in on the whole story before Camula could wake up. At the same time, Ishizu's voice sounded quietly in his ear, describing everything she'd witnessed as well.

"Wearing a gray cloak, calling himself the greatest master of alchemy in the world..."

Rowan's expression turned faintly amused as he muttered under his breath.

"So it really was that squinty-eyed Professor Banner putting her up to it."

Still, Camula's attempt at thievery had turned out to be a genuinely pathetic failure. Unable to steal the key with the Ojama trio watching her every move, and too afraid to simply walk away and pretend nothing had happened, she'd been forced to lie there completely still beside him instead, until eventually even the would-be thief herself had drifted off to sleep.

The only thing Rowan found even mildly disappointing was that this vampire maid pillow ran a little too cold for his taste. If it had been a hot day, she might have actually come in handy. Unfortunately, the climate on this island stayed comfortably mild year-round. There was never really a day hot enough to make use of that.

"Still, if even Professor Banner, the last of the Seven Stars, has started making moves, that probably means the Chairman pulling the strings behind the Academy is starting to get nervous."

Rowan mused to himself. With the Seven Stars' dark faction all but wiped out, leaving only that squinty-eyed professor standing, it would honestly be strange if the Chairman behind it all wasn't feeling the pressure by now.

That got Rowan wondering whether it might be worth using this Spirit Key to squeeze the man for a little extra profit. After all, even if this latest attempt failed, the Chairman would surely keep stirring up trouble down the line, possibly escalating things far more drastically than before. That was well outside the range of what Rowan, a fundamentally good-hearted soul just trying to farm Emotion Points off Shadow Duelists, actually wanted to deal with.

Maybe it would be better to just settle the whole mess at its source, once and for all, and squeeze one last bit of profit out of the man while he was at it.

Though, considering that plan felt like it might be crossing a line, and would leave him owing an apology to good old bald Chancellor Sheppard, Rowan reluctantly decided to shelve the idea for now. He figured he'd stick to the original plan agreed with Alexis and the others: go find that squinty-eyed Professor Banner first and see how things played out.

With that settled, Rowan reached over and unceremoniously hefted his "pillow" up and off him, catching the not-so-sleeping Camula, who'd already woken up and was frantically rehearsing her excuse, completely off guard.