Being played by each other

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Since you are here to marry a prince, just seduce him and marry him. Why take this long route of competition,'' Carlo said frustratingly.

"Who said I'm here to marry him?" Silja snapped. She was already burning with rage and now his words only added fuel to fire 

"I'm not here to marry any prince nor I'm interested. I was literally forced to come here by your king," Silja blurted out in spite of her emotion.

"What?" Carlo narrowed his eyes as the meaning of her words sank in.

Silja pursed her lips and closed her eyes, restraining herself to speak more than she already had.

Carlo looked at her and realised why the woman was behaving so differently from others. How her attitude was never to win the competition from the first day.

But what about the instructions the prince gave him this morning? 

Well, his attitude was also different. He has never seen him taking care of any of his hookups before.