It seems like it’s a little more complicated than that. The attachment he has to her goes deep, and his understanding of his position means that even if she is the only one he is willing to open up his heart to and love (in general, including romantically), he will never show signs of attraction for her. Maybe if she felt something for him, he could get into this taboo incestuous relationship, but then again, this is exactly what Nora and Jeremy talked about, and it’s something that even Jeremy himself seemed to be disgusted by while being accused of it and also when he reprimanded Elias (In their first lives, we only saw his special attachment to Shuri from Ohara’s perspective, so it is difficult to tell if he had that kind of romantic feelings for her even tho they were not in a good light with each other’s.)
Just my interpretation (〜 ̄△ ̄)〜
Did jeremy just admit he has feelings for shuri and is only pretending so she doesn’t get hurt????? Someone please tell that’s not it( T﹏T )