It really is sad that he was raised with people who were destined for each other but he’s now arranged to be married with someone that was destined for another :(. Obviously they’ll find love in the end, but the fact that he felt he has to do this for his family despite the love he grew up with is so heartbreaking
Right?? Like, imagine growing up and your parents are soulmates, your uncle has a soulmate, your grandparents are soulmates. Shaia and Hugo both so obviously wanted a soulmate bond like their mom and dad. I can only imagine how upsetting it would be to get kind of booted out of the three person dynamic you grow up with (who would want to third wheel) and then get harassed by the granduncle into marrying someone who is only even considering you to save the house of their dead soulmate. Shaia almost lives in this sad state of watching others be in love that makes his abrasive brattiness make more sense.
I wonder if maybe Shaia was also in love with Theo but gave it up in the face of Theo and Hugo's obvious attraction, so now he wants that same connection. It's so specific to want a school romance love story and then running away from the two that likely know him best? I speculate that Shaia was in love with Theo and if he's going to marry to satisfy the granduncle, then he wants to at least have on a surface level what his brother gets to have. It's lowkey sad if that's the case. All the other members of his family that he's ever known got to have an epic love story with the person they're destined to be with and he probably feels some type of way about feeling pressured into having to marry for politics...