All Her Secrets

The poker game had just started, and Catherine had no clue about the basic rules. It was Branden who stepped in to give her a
crash course.
Seeing this scene, Triston and Aidan couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Their eyes narrowed in delight.
It was said that beginners had beginner’s luck. And there was an aura of fortune around them. But when it came to Catherine,
that saying didn’t work.
The first hand of cards that Catherine received made Branden feel bad. It was so chaotic. There was not even a pair in sight.
She was entirely reliant on the player before her for decent cards.
Unfortunately for Catherine, the player before her was Aidan. He was notorious for tightening the screws on the player after him.
Catherine could hardly manage to get good cards from his hand.
Instead of having Catherine wait for good cards from his hand, it might be quicker for Catherine to rely on her luck to win. In the
first round, Catherine lost, and Triston won. In the second round, Catherine lost again, and Aidan won this time.
Both of the two had decent cards. When the third round began, Triston started to rearrange the cards and couldn’t resist teasing
Catherine. He asked, “Catherine, how many chips do you have left?”
Catherine reached out to check her chips. After two rounds, she had only one chip left. Two thousand chips had dwindled to one.
Losing this last one would mean she had utterly lost this round of poker.
As Triston saw the lone chip in Catherine’s side, he burst into hearty laughter. “Catherine, I think it’s time to ask Mr. Duncan for
guidance in this round. Maybe he can help you turn the tables.”
They had initially been concerned that Branden would offer some advice from the sidelines. However, to their surprise, Branden
didn’t lift a finger to assist Catherine. He remained entirely focused on peeling hazelnuts.
A small mound of white nuts had piled up, which looked quite tempting. Triston couldn’t resist reaching out to take one for a
taste. However, he didn’t dare to do that. These nuts, peeled by Branden himself, were not for ordinary people..
Branden piled the peeled nuts in front of Catherine and whispered. “Don’t mind them. If you lose, just try one more. Have some
nuts to boost your brainpower.”

Branden’s action left Triston and Aidan dumbfounded. They thought inwardly, “Mr. Duncan is always indifferent to anyone. When
has he ever been so gentle?”
They instinctively looked at Catherine. They saw Catherine calmly picking up a nut and eating it. She didn’t change her
expression. Aidan, who was on the side, was in shock at her composure. He thought Catherine was unbelievably calm.
He thought inwardly, “What kind of background can make Mr. Duncan acknowledge her identity? Why is he caring for her so
attentively? It is incredible.”
The hazelnuts tasted pretty good. After Catherine had two, her appetite increased. She reached out for more nuts.
As Branden saw her enjoy the nuts, he poured some coffee and handed it to Catherine personally. His service was exceptionally
considerate. “The coffee is warm. It will make you feel comfortable.”
Triston nudged Aidan and pulled him back from his state of shock. They locked eyes, and Aidan understood the message in
Triston’s gaze. They had won the game but lost their composure. This display of affection was becoming a bit too much to
handle.
Even Aidan had grown tired of it. He forcefully pushed the poker cards in front of him and exclaimed, “Come on. Let’s continue. If
we don’t, they’ll make us sick with their lovey-dovey act.
The new round began. This time, Catherine had decent cards. Unfortunately, Catherine’s remaining chips were too few. It was
difficult for her to turn the tables.
Triston, Aidan, and their third friend, who joined in for fun, played rather carelessly. They didn’t take Catherine seriously at all.
Branden kept an eye on Catherine’s moves. He initially intended to offer some guidance to Catherine. After all, it was her first
time playing poker, and losing too badly could hurt her pride.
However, after observing a few of the cards Catherine played, Branden put aside his intention to guide her. He focused on
serving coffee and water. And he did an excellent job at it.
Aidan and his friends played absentmindedly. But when Catherine took several cards from him in a row, he became more alert.
“Miss Swann, you have quite the appetite for these niche cards, don’t you?” he remarked. Catherine smiled slightly and didn’t
say much.

However, the atmosphere at the card table took a strange turn. Whenever Catherine played a card, it was as if she had it all
calculated, and Triston would always take the card. Triston sat across from Catherine. And he was the player before Aidan.
After Triston took a card, it was Aidan’s turn to play. Regardless of what card Aidan put down, Catherine would always take it as
if she had it all planned out.
Aidan couldn’t believe it. He had the most chips. Even if he didn’t win this round, he wouldn’t be the one to lose in the end.
So he continued changing his cards and disrupted his carefully arranged hand to prevent Catherine from winning. “The ace of
hearts!”
Just as Aidan put down his cards, Catherine exclaimed, “I win!” Aidan was baffled. He hadn’t expected Catherine to win with
such an obscure hand.
Triston glanced at Aidan with disdain.” Mr. Lane, if I didn’t know you take the game seriously, I’d suspect you secretly passed
cards to Catherine. What a lousy hand you played. Your skills are terrible!
Aidan was about to retort when Triston looked at Catherine’s cards. Aidan saw it too. After giving her five or six cards in a row,
Aidan even gave her the king of spades. There was only the ace of hearts left in his hand.
If Aidan didn’t disrupt his play, Catherine would likely never win. Perhaps it was his lack of skill that was to blame.
Despite the teasing, Aidan had to acknowledge his failure this round. He grinned at everyone and said, “Let’s all congratulate
Miss Swann on her comeback. Looks like we can continue the game for another two rounds.’
Branden sat nearby. He had a mysterious smile on his handsome and stern face. He seemed to have seen through everything
with his sharp and shrewd eyes.
Triston and the others maintained a polite demeanor. After all, this was Catherine’s first outing as Branden’s girlfriend. They had
to show some respect to Branden. And everyone assumed that the game would end soon with Catherine’s chips running out.
However, the unexpected happened. In the following rounds, Catherine seemed to be on fire. Not only did she have good luck
with her cards, but her skills also skyrocketed.
She even won several consecutive rounds. She took back all the chips that Aidan and Triston had won from her earlier. In the
final round, Catherine managed to pull off an incredible victory. She left the three of them wholly defeated.

With an absolute advantage of winning against all three opponents, she emerged as the undisputed winner.
Triston’s eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at Catherine’s cards on the table. He couldn’t believe it.” Catherine, are you
cheating or something?”
Triston, Aidan, and their other companion were all in disbelief.
Catherine looked at them calmly and softly replied, “Is it that difficult? There are only a total of 54 cards. Just remember them all,
and it’s that simple.”
The others thought inwardly, ” Remember them all?” Everyone was speechless.