Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-26429365-20190414055740/@comment-6707115-20190520053727

Slaine does want peace, but he'd actually need to truly believe that the peace argreement being offered is actually realistic. Slaine had a few years between seasons 1 & 2 to develop his worldview, & was in power himself for quite a while before the final battle of season 2. During this time he was able to toss around the short term & long term possibilities that would build a lasting peace, yet he never seems to have developed a plan for territorial status quo ante bellum with aldnoah activation extended to Earth & Earth in turn permanently providing food to Mars. Instead, Slaine has come to the realization that the two Martian-Terran Wars have engendered quite a bit of hard feelings that two separate states will have trouble overcoming, too many in the Martian government would be outraged at the notion that they be expected to snatch what feels like a defeat from the jaws of victory (especially when they themselves get nothing out of the peace deal despite having done the fighting), an independent Earth might try to figure out a means to insulate themselves from ever having their Aldnoah privledges stripped by the Vers bloodline (or worse, might try to get ahold of that bloodline, or replicate the function of it).

No, Slaine's war objectives with the ultimate goal of peace seem very much in the realm of Clauswitz's maxim that "war is the contiunation of politics by other means". Separate Martian & Earth political entities would always be inclined towards some form of war, & any peace deal that leaves them politically independent of each other would be unstable since both occupy too small of a territorial neighborhood & have reason to covet what the other has but desire to possess it independent of the other. For there to be true long term peace, each state in the system would need to integrate with each other on some deeper level than just a trade deal. For example, Rome & Parthia/Persia were always in hostilities with each other & for there to have been true peace one would have needed to overcome the other utterly or have forced an intermixing between the ruling classes of each empire.

As for Slaine's romantic feelings, I'd say that he does already love Lemrina romantically, only he also loves Asseylum romantically, and in this case he chose to prioritize having met Asseylum first. Since Slaine seems to be a very chivalrous character I can see why he always chose to not pursue a relationship with Princess Lemrina since he'd been planning to pursue & wed Princess Asseylum once she woke from her coma. I'd actually state that Slaine's feelings for both Princesses & his very personal rivalry with Inaho are his only real  weaknesses, since the only reason why he effectively surrendered the war effort was because Asseylum had grown up enough to publicly declare her ascension to the throne & desire for an immediate peace without further conflict. In that moment, Slaine's emotional sentiments for Asseylum & his personal respect for her compassionate nature overrode more pragmatically realist characteristics within Slaine along with his plan to subjugate Earth under the sovreignty of the Vers family, thus creating a new kingdom within a larger Vers Empire (which would now include Earth & Mars as Kingdoms within such a decentralized empire), & then instaling Asselyum as Empress-Queen on the new capital world of Earth now that she wouldn't need to balance out the political aspect of reigning given she would be the Earth's new governement, the Counts would all be satisfied, & Slaine would have served as an example for Terran accomplishmet for the new Terran subjects to aspire to, & for the Martians to respect.