so the protagonist is actually doubting with himself and confused about living with her and Stella acknowledges the fact that she doesn´t matter either, she knows she is irrelevant as well, even to her own kingdom. This goes really meta and if that wasn´t all left to be exposed, watch this. Do you know that the protagonist wasn´t fetching her at all? Read this again:

>>5426
>Those pleasures I enjoyed as a guard, paying for them in this rock I am, yet stability never comes and my lack of youth is helping at what I am about to become.
>>5427
>After all, wasn´t this what I had desired back then during the holidays? Didn´t I say that I was really comfortable while I was laying back in the sea? I had life vest that was keeping afloat and I could enjoy those moments.
>>5434
“I believe that…those pleasures won´t come back. I might have doubts about returning to Canterlot but that one surely won´t.” I affirmed.
>>5437
“Look Stella, I hate to confess but you should that I have always been looking for myself and back then, when I was standing on the rock before getting carried over by those waves, I wasn´t doing it for love. I was looking for my pleasures and stability for the rest of my life…

This last line kills that mindset and it is said in front of her. It means a huge kick towards the pretense of taking this as another simple love story. The first chapter might give an impression of being a seemingly innocent story but things slowly build up from the 3rd chapter onwards to a wild ride of emotions.

It is shown several times that Stella wasn´t the objective but an accidental bonus, a partner for the protagonist. This also contradicts the wish fulfillments for certain sectors of the fanbase that desire to be with their waifu so badly. In this story, it´s in reverse: there isn´t any impulsive desire for getting one.

So, you would imply that this was about blind love when even the romantic part arises, the intentions from both aren´t all that easy to analyze for stereotyping this as a fic meant for shipping only, there isn´t enough clarity here to jump into those conclusions so easily.