I expected to do Laceaga on my first playthrough but then i saw Ernol a few times and apparently I'm a sucker for emotionally challenged pessimists.
Yes! I felt his eventual late night confession gave very Mr. Darcy vibes. He struggles for weeks longer than all the other LIs to accept and interpret his feelings for the MC. He was already going against a lot of his ingrained values by helping a Human commit treason, therefore his brain took a lot longer to process his affection for said human. Then its like his panic over MCs safety finally hit him with the realization brick. Since he can also have zero chill sometimes, he needed to talk to MC Immediately about those feelings.