Chapter 57: Princess Treya

Treya. Full name: Treya Entark. From her surname alone, it was clear she hailed from the Entark royal family.

Before each chapter in the Task System, Will had written a short character profile, much like the introductory descriptions you’d find when unlocking a new character in a game.

However, for the heroines, Will didn’t really need these profiles to jog his memory—he knew them all too well.

The King of Entark was a notorious womanizer, and Treya was his ninth and youngest daughter.

Her mother, on the other hand, was a pure, silver-haired elf whom the king had met during one of his excursions. According to the original story, she was a kind and noble commoner with no significant lineage among the elves, but she was a skilled swordswoman with an impressive record in dungeon battles.

Thus, Treya…

Was a half-elf princess with hair as white as snow and eyes like blue sapphires.

In the original story, she joined the adventuring guild Morning Star founded by Will and became one of the people who drove Hugh out of the party.

In the original narrative, Treya played the “cold and aloof” role.

She was distant from everyone, always wearing a frosty expression. She spoke little—so little, in fact, that communication with her was almost impossible.

Even Hugh, who was known for his high emotional intelligence, couldn’t figure out what kind of person she truly was.

When Hugh was kicked out of the party, Treya didn’t say much. She simply nodded in agreement with the others.

She acted this way because… she desperately needed an adventuring party to make a name for herself. And… she had an unexpected level of obedience to the “Young Master Will” of the original story—at least in the early chapters.

In Hugh’s eyes, Treya was “not straightforward,” someone who kept her guard up and always held something back.

To Hugh…

Eir was a timid maid who wouldn’t stand up for him even when he was being bullied. He didn’t like her.

Leah was a violent, sharp-tongued witch who constantly berated him and ultimately drove him out of the party. He didn’t like her either.

But Treya? Treya was someone Hugh feared. It wasn’t “dislike” in the traditional sense—it was a fear that made him keep his distance.

Hugh felt that Treya always maintained a distance from him. While Eir and Leah occasionally showed hints of goodwill, only to shatter his trust when they sided against him, Treya remained cold and detached. She never showed any goodwill, never made a move, and barely spoke to him. At most, they exchanged fleeting glances when passing each other.

Her lofty demeanor and cryptic words made her seem unapproachable. To Hugh, her aloofness and inscrutability suggested she was always scheming, hiding something from him—an understandable suspicion given her royal background, where scheming among siblings was the norm.

Hugh kept his distance from her throughout the story, with only brief and infrequent interactions.

But…

In the original story…

Treya was incredibly popular.

Because Hugh’s perception of her as cold and distant was completely at odds with her portrayal from her own perspective in the narrative!

Treya…

Was an adorably clueless princess.

While all three “loser heroines” were socially inept to some degree, Treya’s social skills were undoubtedly the worst.

Deep down, she was incredibly innocent, with no real understanding of emotions, let alone romantic feelings.

Privately, she had stalked Hugh and observed him countless times. She even made small gestures and expressions to hint at her feelings—but, of course, Hugh never noticed.

She kept a diary and hoarded countless romance novels in her room. While she didn’t fully understand the concept of love, she noticed one commonality in all the books: the male leads on the covers all resembled Hugh.

Her outward coldness was a reflection of her inner emotional void.

A seemingly aloof but actually clueless and pure half-elf princess with silver hair—a trope tailor-made for fans of the “cool but secretly adorable” archetype. When Will first encountered this setup, he couldn’t help but think it was unbeatable.

Naturally…

Her “loser heroine” ending was also a textbook example of the trope.

After a long and arduous journey, she finally understood her feelings, learned what love was, and found the courage to express herself. Her once-naive worldview had matured through her experiences.

But…

By the time she realized her feelings, it was too late.

Everyone else had already reached the finish line, and she was just finding the starting line!

Just recalling her story, Will’s mind flashed through several iconic scenes from the original narrative. He sighed.

“Honestly, compared to the other two, turning her into a yandere might actually be easier. In a way, she’s already halfway there.”

Being clueless to the extreme was practically a step toward being obsessively devoted.

Even in the original story, she managed to pull off acts like secretly stalking Hugh, writing in her diary, and filling her room with romance novels featuring Hugh lookalikes on the covers…

“Eir worked for four years to reach where you started, Princess. Impressive!”

—Will accidentally muttered this out loud, just as the door was kicked open.

“You called for me, Young Master?”

“N-Nothing. I told you, if you’re going to eavesdrop, don’t make noise. Peek quietly, take notes carefully, and let the tiny crack in the door frame hold all your emotions.”

“Understood, Young Master. Lesson learned.”

Eir closed the door and retreated.

A moment later, the door opened just a crack, and her voice drifted through:

“But still… you should go to bed earlier. Aunt Susan says staying up late stunts your growth.”

“Got it. Oh, and tomorrow… ahem, you don’t need to peek through the door. I’ll go to bed early.”

“Young Master… don’t you like it?”

“I’m happy to be your training material, but… ahem, give me some personal space as a teenage boy, alright?”

Will wasn’t sure if Eir would understand what he meant.

But…

Through the slightly open door, he saw her hand form a small “OK” gesture.

That said, if she truly blackened, wouldn’t she just peek even more tomorrow?

—Will decided to leave that question for future him to deal with.

Back to Treya.

“…I remember her joining the adventuring party was a coincidence. She actually disliked… no, feared ‘Young Master Will.’ Her obedience stemmed more from fear than anything else.”

“In the original story, when the three heroines decided to leave the party to chase after Hugh, it was because she silently ran off first.”

“What kind of twisted fate do I have with her…?”

Will flipped to the first task in Treya’s chapter.

Just reading the first task made him sit up straight.

[Task 84: Don’t cancel the engagement, don’t cancel the engagement, don’t cancel the engagement, don’t cancel the engagement, don’t cancel the engagement, don’t cancel the engagement!]

The phrase was repeated multiple times.

It was rare for anything in the Task System to take up two full lines.

Given how much space he had to write and leave room for edits, Will was usually sparing with his words.

The fact that this task took up two lines showed just how important it was.

Will felt a chill run down his spine as memories of the notebook came flooding back…

That’s right!

As the “Young Master”…

As the “villainous young master”…

He had one of the most classic tropes of all.

On the day of his engagement, he canceled it with Princess Treya!

[Task Reward: Highly unlikely to be completed. If failed, proceed to Task 85.]

How wonderful. The system he had designed was truly something.

It even included fail states and branching tasks for plot-mandated events.