I did that to keep him from messing around with the Town Bike or any of the other bed-hoppers who roam the town.

Which seems to be every npc sim in my town, lol. I bet if you took James out of the caste he will immediately start romancing an npc sim. I couldn't believe how fast the game/story progression set up Aryon with that one sim as soon as I took the "no romance" off him so Saje could approach him. Straight into Boyfriend/girlfriend with nothing before. No compatible traits. And it took time for Saje to advance their affair to that stage.