Filed to story: The Daughter in the Shadows (Yunice) Book by Una Norris
The servants’ faces turned pale. That didn’t sound good. Were they fighting?
“You go check…”
“I… I don’t dare go in. You go…”
The servants kept pushing the responsibility onto each other. But the noise inside was growing too loud and too violent. Worried that something had really happened, one of them ran to call Jordan, hoping he would know what to do.
Jordan happened to be on his way to Pavilion Hall when he got the call. When he picked up and heard what the servant said, he thought something was wrong with his ears. “Who did you say is fighting?” “Sir and Madam,” the servant repeated anxiously.
Jordan paused for a second. He thought about it-today wasn’t April Fools’ Day. “Wait… are you sure?” Just look at Yunice. She was going to fight Wyatt? Wyatt could knock her over with one slap. She wouldn’t even have a chance to fight back, would she?
But nothing was ever impossible. Jordan picked up his pace and headed toward Wyatt’s bedroom. He raised his hand, about to knock-when a sudden bang came from inside!
Jordan froze. The sound was dull, but powerful. It sounded just like… He kicked open the door and rushed into the room! The place was a mess, like it had just been torn apart.
Yunice was sitting on the floor. Beside her lay a dropped gun. Wyatt stood two steps away from her, an expression of disbelief on his face. His body leaned slightly backward. Wyatt had been shot!
Jordan could hardly believe it-Wyatt had gotten hurt by Yunice? Still, he rushed toward him, trying to check where he’d been hit. But Wyatt brushed him off and immediately lunged forward, pressing his hand to Yunice’s abdomen.
Wyatt was drenched in cold sweat, his expression drawn tight as he looked up at her. Yunice was breathing heavily. She didn’t say a word, didn’t scream in pain. But her face was pale as a sheet-something was definitely wrong.
Jordan, finally catching up, looked down and saw the blood slowly seeping through Wyatt’s fingers, which were clamped against Yunice’s lower abdomen. Wyatt’s entire body was shaking. It was like he’d just been struck by lightning.
Once Jordan recovered from the initial shock, he immediately called for emergency aid. What the hell happened in here? Who fired the gun?~ Did Wyatt lose control and hurt her during a fight?
Wyatt stood stiffly outside the operating room, face cold but eyes filled with suppressed fear. “No damage to the kidneys, no damage to the spleen. She’s not going to die.” He said it like a statement, but the way he stared at Jordan-he was clearly waiting for confirmation.
Jordan didn’t answer. He countered with a question. “Wyatt, what are you really thinking?” Jordan noticed Wyatt’s hand behind his back. He was quietly rubbing the blood off his fingers.
Inside the operating room, Yunice was still conscious. Joe leaned in to reassure her. “Don’t be scared, we’ll give you anesthesia right now. The bullet didn’t hit any organs-it’s just embedded in the flesh. We just need to remove it.” Yunice spoke softly, her voice faint. “Dr. Du, anesthesia doesn’t work on me. It won’t help.” “What?” Joe’s face twisted with concern.
The door of the operating room opened. Jordan rushed up. “How’s she doing?” The nurse said, “The patient doesn’t respond to anesthesia.” Anesthesia doesn’t work?
Jordan realized what that meant. “So… they’re going to dig it out raw?” The nurse nodded and hurried away. Jordan turned and saw the complicated look on Wyatt’s face.
Wyatt stepped forward and knocked on the operating room door. No outsiders were allowed in the OR, but Joe still let Wyatt inside. Because if Wyatt wanted in, no one could stop him.
Since the wound hadn’t hit any vital organs, Yunice hadn’t passed out. Joe explained that while the injury wasn’t life-threatening, it was going to be excruciating. Yunice had always had a high pain tolerance. No matter how much it hurt, she rarely made a sound. But every now and then, her consciousness would flicker-her eyes would go blank for a moment. Wyatt stood beside her, sliding his hand into hers.
Joe was covered head to toe in surgical garb. Before he began, he glanced at Wyatt. Wyatt’s face looked calm, but his eyes were swirling with chaos. Noticing Joe’s look, Wyatt glared back at him, eyes rimmed red. Joe snapped back to focus and began the procedure.
Scalpels, scissors, forceps-all kinds of cold, metallic tools dug into her flesh, prying, scraping, pulling. The pain was sharp and merciless. No matter how good Yunice was at enduring, she couldn’t help but let out a few strangled cries. She squeezed Wyatt’s hand so hard she left deep marks-but what could that really do to ease the pain?
Seeing her grit her teeth, Wyatt tried to cushion her grip with his own hand. But Yunice turned her head away. She didn’t want him to touch her. The foreign object was finally extracted. It clattered into the surgical tray with a loud clang.
Wyatt didn’t look back. But hearing that sound, he finally let out a breath. Yunice didn’t last much longer-within moments, the pain dragged her into unconsciousness.
Once Yunice’s blood pressure stabilized, Joe immediately began suturing the wound.
After a flurry of work, the nurses and assisting doctors counted the tools and left the operating room one by one.
Only Joe remained behind to continue monitoring her condition.
He removed his gloves, then glanced at Wyatt, who had been standing with his back to him the whole time.
“Wyatt, Madam really went through hell this time. The abdominal cavity is so small-if the angle had been off just a bit, it could’ve been fatal…” Joe knew Wyatt hated hearing this kind of thing, but he couldn’t help himself. “No matter how upset you were, you can’t lay a hand on her. She’s just this big, so fragile. Didn’t it hurt you to hit her? … You don’t even know. A few hours ago, she called me-asked me how she could help you calm down.”
Wyatt turned his head. “She asked about me?”
Joe caught a good look at Wyatt’s face and froze for a moment.
His eyes were rimmed red, but there wasn’t any visible affection in them. Still, Joe could sense the emotion buried deep behind his gaze.
Joe gave a soft nod. “More than once.”
Wyatt said, “Just another tactic to please me.”
Joe couldn’t deny that. He didn’t know how Yunice really felt about Wyatt.
But he did know Wyatt. “Wyatt, last time Madam took a bullet for you, you were so torn up over not being able to protect her because of your leg that you agreed to treatment. That meant something-you cared about her. So why can’t you take one more step forward?”
“With how unstable your emotions are-after what happened this time-do you think she’ll still dare to come near you?”
Wyatt frowned and looked at Yunice’s pale face, his expression conflicted.
Everyone assumed he had hit her. But that wasn’t what happened.
He was just angry that Yunice didn’t like him. That’s what got to him.
He never expected her to have such a fierce temper-that she’d actually dare to fight back.
She never acted like that with Paul.
That thought made Wyatt sneer coldly. Only the favored get to be so bold. And what, he expected to get treated the same as Paul?
Yunice’s injury had only been a grazing wound-she wasn’t in danger-so Joe didn’t stay in the OR.
Outside, Joe and Jordan exchanged a look. Both had thoughts, but neither said a word.
When Yunice woke up, she had already been moved to a regular hospital room.
The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was the broad back of someone standing beside her bed.
The figure was tall, impossible to ignore.
In a hoarse voice, Yunice said, “Wyatt.”
Wyatt turned around but didn’t approach. He stood over a meter away from her.
Yunice looked up. “You’re not crazy anymore?”
Wyatt couldn’t meet her eyes. He turned his gaze aside, then stepped forward and placed her gun on her pillow.
The muzzle faced himself.
Yunice propped herself up, and the movement tugged at her wound-she winced from the sharp pain. Wyatt looked at her nervously.
She leaned back against the pillow, sitting up, then picked up the gun.
“This was a wedding gift from a friend,” she said. “He told me, if I ever found myself completely powerless, I could use it to try and fight back.”
Wyatt didn’t care who the friend was who gave it to her. What pissed him off was. “So your tactic against me was to shoot yourself?”
His voice trembled with anger, but he couldn’t lay a finger on her.
He’d had a violent temper since he was young. He usually tried to keep it under control, ignored people when he could, treated their words like trash.
But sometimes, he just couldn’t hold back. The more he cared about someone, the stronger his reactions got.
He had cherished Yunice so much-and she had turned a gun on herself in front of him. The fact that he hadn’t kicked something in fury was already him holding back.
He was afraid of losing control, so he trashed the room instead. But even then, he couldn’t stop himself from yelling at her. Why the hell is it not allowed when it comes to me!