"What are you trying to say?" Crown Prince Xin asked. His expression turned quite serious.
Ye Tian Yun shrugged, "Well, I would say we finish the meeting over food. It will save everyone's time. The path ahead is still pretty long."
Yuan Shuchun nodded, "And with this detour, I am sure you know that you have just added twelve more hours in the travel?"
"Detour?" Ye Tian Yun was a bit taken aback. He didn't know they had to divert the course to get here.
Crown Prince Xin shrugged, "Well, this is the farthest I could have come without anyone noticing my absence. Let's start the meeting right now, then."
"The main reason I have called you here is to tell you that there are now a few changes in the objective."
"Changes?" The disciples frowned.
The Crown Prince nodded his head, "Indeed. Your current objective is to assassinate your targets. However, now I want you to take your target as a hostage and don't harm them."
"Take hostage?" Yuan Shuchun narrowed her eyes, "That's harder than assassination."
The Crown Prince nodded, "Well, I agree on that. Nevertheless, this is a must. We can't harm the target anymore. We need to keep the target alive."
"Who is the target?" Jun Xie asked.
"Well… I cannot tell you guys." Crown Prince Xin shook his head, "The target is a girl."
"That doesn't help much," Yuan Shuchun shook her head, "If you want us to take her as a hostage, you need to tell us who she is. At least, tell us how we will identify her."
"What do you mean?" Crown Prince Xin asked.
"She means if we want to get her as a hostage, we will have to kill the rest." Ye Tian Yun replied, "And if you don't want us to kill the wrong person, we need to know at least how to identify the target."
"In this regard, we don't have any information on that. Even her identity was only recently uncovered. The previous information we had didn't mention her identity or status. It only mentioned she's someone important to the Wu Kingdom."
"Oh? So, she's most probably a Princess of the Wu Kingdom?" Xiao Ming shrugged.
Crown Prince Xin pursed his lips, "Well short of, but not exactly. Her identity is a bit complicated. This is why I don't wish to say anything on this topic. The first thing I want to do right now is to confirm her identity myself, but for that, she needs to be here."
"And for her to be here, you first need to kidnap her."
"Exactly."
"How will we identify her?" Ye Tian Yun asked.
"Well, she's the most important person in the whole group. I am sure she would be at the very center of the attention?" Xiao Ming shrugged.
Ye Tian Yun rolled his eyes, "Only idiots would act like that. She will most probably be disguised as one of the maids or even a guard."
Yuan Shuchun nodded her head, "This is why I want a way to identify her."
Crown Prince Xin pursed his lips, "Well, there's a way. But the chances of identifying her from this are pretty low."
"What is it?" Yuan Shuchun asked.
"She's a dual sword wielder."
"This is not enough." Yuan Shuchun shook her head.
"Yeah, and this can be easily used to divert attention. Maybe one of the maids will act as a dual sword wielder, or everyone in the entourage might be dual sword wielders, or maybe none of them are dual sword wielders?" Jun Xie shrugged, "We need something solid."
The Crown Prince let out a sigh, "I wish there were an easier way to identity, but unfortunately, I have no other information."
"Doesn't that put the whole mission at risk? How will we identify the enemy if we know nothing about them?" Xiao Ming said.
The Crown Prince nodded his head, "Your words are right, but there's no other way except for taking a right guess."
The disciples shook their heads.
This was too risky.
"Is it possible for you to kidnap everyone?" Crown Prince Xin asked.
Everyone at the table gave him a weird look, "You're kidding me, right?"
Crown Prince Xin shrugged, "Nevermind. You guys will have to assess the situation once you're in position. We can only take a right guess here."
"Maybe if you reveal the identity of the girl, we might make a right guess." Ye Tian Yun remarked, "I know you want to keep it a secret, but it's not worth it since everything will be useless if we kill her by mistake."
Crown Prince Xin frowned but didn't say anything.
"If you're okay with that girl being dead, I don't see any problem with us taking a wrong guess. Just don't shout at us if this really happens."
Crown Prince Xin let out a sigh but still didn't say anything.
"I understand that things might be hard for your political scene, but no one here has any interest in the girl. Everyone here is loyal to you, and if they are not, then they are disciples of the Gracious Sword Sect who don't want to have anything related to the court politics."
"Alright, alright, I will tell you." Crown Prince Xin closed his eyes, "The girl is the Third Princess of the Wu Kingdom."
"What?" Everyone in the hall was quite shocked.
"See, this is why I didn't wish to reveal too much. And I am sure you understand now." Crown Prince Xin shook his head.
Xiao Ming frowned, "Didn't you say she isn't a princess? And now you're saying she's the Third Princess?"
Jun Xie replied to him before Crown Prince Xin could say anything, "Junior Disciple, Third Princess of the Wu Kingdom is a special case - her standing is very complicated, and she doesn't usually appear much in public."
"But it's now confirmed that she will be the next ruler of the Wu Kingdom.. And nothing can change this fact."