@gelas
Why he doesn't like her genuinely? Because he said that he needed a reason to visit the palace? Or because he's after that one night stand?
If it's the former, he only said that because he realized from MC's reactions that he'll surely get rejected and pushed away if he said he indeed likes or at least interested in her. That's why he said "looks like I need an 'excuse'".
If it's the latter, well, I wouldn't call it love either. But considering that he went out of his way to search for her, much to his underlings' suffering, he should be interested in her at least and at most actually really likes her (considering he needs to come up with an excuse to be with her, stole a trinket earring, ignore the extortion she did to his subordinate, and being wary of her meeting Lancelot to the point of unreasonably barging there and keeping both parties occupied and apart). Well, maybe it's not love, but they say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. It's just that Ares has a different method of eating 🤣😂