My take that is that the nephew is omega and the brother doesn't want to marry him to the other country so he plans to use Ilya in his place
Could be, but the double standard would stink to the heavens (not sure if this saying makes sense in english sry). I mean the brother talking big, questioning his father why he send Ilya to Hanu, saying that it makes no sense, while he'd try to protect his own omega son, trying to sell of his own brother......... But the theory would make sense because Ilyas brother does seem like a selfish assholes who would act on such double standards
As I said the king wanted to protect him, Ilya was never supposed to come back.......also in this story at what age is it clear if a person is an alpha or Omega? Because could it be that his nephew is an omega, being raised as an alpha and that is why Ilyas brother doesn't really care about his own son? And last, the new tiger looks cool, but does it really think it could hurt Ilya as long as Tharju exists? No way!