I thought about this as well. But as you saw, he could have run away anytime or refuse to go to Aranta
Yeah... you're kinda right... but the feelings Tei is feeling is attraction towards Suraka, but he's misunderstanding those... though he's feeling lonely (I won't argue with that)... these two are thinking two poral opposite things but their objective is same - to protect other ( ´,_ゝ`)
That's the point. Tei believes this is his duty, and he's the kind of person who would NEVER shirk his duty. Furthermore, I don't know which chapter, but there's one that explains how Leracal is militarily and politically incapable of protecting itself from Aranta (the marriage between the two serves precisely to prevent Aranta from conquering Leracal). In other words, there's nowhere for Tei to run (and even if he did, Leracal would suffer the consequences). It's an extremely unbalanced power dynamic.
Please, don't get me wrong! It's very clear that there's a lot of affection between the two and they genuinely care about each other, but the power imbalance and the fact that Tei himself sees their relationship as a duty he needs to fulfill (and the fact that he's not in love) makes me dislike their love story :''(
Literally like… something about this whole dynmic is icky
Yeah it's kinda like he's thinking that's what he should do.. as his mother pbly did the same thing... so he thinks that marriage for purpose ( whatever you say the marriage is in this story..to set alliance and so that) can never be a relationship of love, passion and respect between the couples... it's sad that Tei feels this way ( T∀T)
This story is making me very uncomfortable. Poor Tei is basically repeating his own mother's life story (sold by the nation he loves to a distant land whose only connection he has is a mentally unstable guy), and on top of that, he's created this idea of his own "worth," and how almost everything he's done so far isn't related to genuine love but rather a distorted notion he has about his "duties" (as consort/wife) and to honor that position (which he sees as important to his former nation). I don't know how some people find this romantic, lol. Anyway, I think it's sad because BWT's stories have always been disturbingly romantic, but this one is falling short. I hope Dear 00 comes back soon :(