beta
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...