At the end of the first round, Marquis Grasley had 9 Gold Stars, Count Talancon had 8, Viscount Fordelman had 8, Mr. Speers had 9, Shade had 11, and the referee had 5.
The second round began. The Marquis restrained the smile at the corners of his mouth, while Count Talancon took a deep breath to steady himself.
After everyone received their first hole card, perhaps because they already understood the general rules, they all chose to wager two Gold Stars this time.
But Shade hesitated.
"There are 8 on the table now, and Mr. Mark has 5 in hand, for a total of 13."
He counted out 10 of his own Stars and tossed them in, leaving only one behind in case of an accident.
The spectators immediately began discussing it excitedly. Marquis Grasley, who had organized the card game, frowned and asked:
"Knight, did you draw the king and Queen?"
"Of course not. I'll take another card."
Shade shrugged.
"I don't have the Count's kind of luck."
Though it was meant as praise, Count Talancon's lips twitched when he was mentioned. Clearly, he did not enjoy being brought up.
For the second card, Shade drew a Star Nine and continued drawing. Of the other four, Viscount Fordelman and Mr. Speers chose to stand. After hesitating for quite some time, the former threw in 1 Gold Star as a raise.
"He's either at 17 or 18. If it were higher, he'd have raised by two."
Mr. Speers whispered, but the Viscount merely smiled without saying anything.
In the third round, Shade drew a Flower Four and chose to continue. Count Talancon nervously glanced at his hole card, then let out a long sigh.
"My luck has run out."
He threw down a Star 13. He had clearly busted.
"I'll