Ha ha ha yeah pretty much. I don't really like making him out to be more ~*~tragic~*~ than he is in canon because haha no he's a smug privileged jerk, but mage society isn't even good for smug privileged jerks...

...welllllll the novel says it was love at first sight before they even spoke to each other, so I assume it has something to do with Sola just being totally his type, but I also think it may have been that Sola didn't immediately fawn on him or anything? He hates being complimented because he sees all his successes as predetermined because he's just that great, so therefore it's like being complimented on breathing or something. I assume that since he seems to be late twenties/early thirties he's met with other candidates but didn't like them because of that, haha. So since presumably Sola didn't try to flatter the shit out of him or didn't have any body language that suggested she would, it probably amplified WOW WHAT A HOT into attachment and affection once things were finalized.

...and now he actually wants to hear compliments from her because it'd make his heart go all doki-doki. Oh Kayneth, you goddamned schoolboy...