The idea behind Va is that you want the wing to stall before it breaks. Consider changing speed while maintaining altitude.

Lift is a function of velocity squared and a direct function of AOA: As speed increases, lift increases a lot so you have to reduce the AOA to keep the lift constant and maintain altitude.

As you slow down, the opposite occurs, you need to increase AOA a lot to maintain altitude.

At a slower AS, you have a higher AOA. This means you are closer to stall than when going fast. If you haul back on the yoke and increase AOA you will get some wing loading but it will stall out quickly which actually protects the wing (no wing loading when fully stalled).

If you haul back on the controls at a high speed, the AOA is very low, so it takes more AOA to reach stall. You might overload the wing before you reach critical AOA and stall.

Va is simply that speed where the AOA is just high enough so that you will just stall before bending/breaking something.