Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-188.109.36.113-20180117180217/@comment-79.154.186.101-20200507120624

Nah, you are not the only one. The way I see it, Kirito didn't really need another girl flocking around, less the one who was the love interest of the only relevant male secundary character in the whole series. But let's remember than despite all its good points, SAO is a LN, which means that the MC is gonna get the attention of 90% of the female cast.

That said, I think (and this is just my personal feeling, so no evidence) that when the author introduced Eugeo and hinted (heavily) a shipping between he and Alice he didn't expect it to be so popular. Eugeo probably was never intended to survive, the plan being for him to die and Kirito to get another girl with a crush on him. But in the end the fanbase loved the idea, so the only thing the author could do was to throw a bone to the Alice/Eugeo shippers saying that Alice Zuberg and Alice S30 where different persons and that Eugeo was with the one he loved.