You can love a character and still admit when they're wrong. I love Caleb but I also acknowledge his flaws (he has none), hold him accountable for his wrongdoings (he's never done anything wrong in his life) and call him out for his actions (which are always correct).
Speaking of Caleb being a pervert, I'm literally shaking at the fact we don't know what all kinds of thoughts, dreams and fantasies he had ever since his teenage years. I WANT TO KNOW!!! "You should ask me how many times I have imagined this." I AM ASKING, CALEB, PLEASE TELL ME!!
caleb writers really know how to hit all the right spots when it comes to his scenes. mc is wearing these pristine white socks. she's already grown up, but there's still this certain girlishness to her. the white socks make such an interesting contrast with caleb holding her ankle. she looks so innocent and girlish, while he comes off really protective and possessive at the same time. and the way he's gripping her ankle makes the whole scene feel so intense, like he's making sure she's not going anywhere
It's not that he "needs" a new LI to get a story update. It's game development 101. Valko has been written into the MS and lore for many months at the absolute minimum, but most likely 1 yr+ (PPG has said in an interview that their character design takes roughly 2 years from start to debut).
Removing him means needing to remove any trace of him in every element in the game, including but not limited to the MS. He was connected to EVER, the major antagonist in the story, in a significant way and now he's gone. So yeah, if they're doubling down on removing him, they're gonna need to retcon their own story to do that. Caleb and Sylus happen to be next up on the chopping block.
Removing a whole LI they've likely taken 2 years to design and bake into the game is not an overnight process, so if you want him to stay cancelled you're gonna have to deal with those consequences.