Is Strade capable of love?
The long answer is a bit more complex. Strade is more than capable of showing affection to others. He's even willing to provide for others at the expense of himself. Even in BTD1, when Strade is at his most bastardly, he is willing to provide for the MC and Ren. He gives MC a granola bar, even when doing so wouldn't benefit him in the slightest.
In YKMET, he can be persuaded to give the MC a sandwich and a glass of water. Doing this offers no conceivable benefit to him. One could argue that it keeps our energy up and thus makes it more fun for him to torture us, but the human body can survive without food for close to a month. MC isn't going to be spending that much time with Strade, and he knows it. Hell, when he gives the MC the pet name of 'liebchen', we can ask him to not call us that, and he'll actually listen (incidentally, the root word of 'liebchen' is 'lieb' or love).
But alright, so he's capable of loving others. How does this manifest itself? When we look at how Strade procures his victims, we get a good idea. He goes to a bar, woos them, and then 'convinces' them to go home with him. He has his way with them and then discards them in the most literal fashion. He's not so much attracted to looks as he is to people who have a unique personality. Getting someone to react in a way he doesn't expect is exactly what gets him going. It should go without saying that this perfectly fits the heartbreaker or casanova archetype. Strade is a man who makes you feel like you're the only one in the world before he rips it all away from you. In the end, he reminds you that you're just another in his string of bodies.
Frequently in romcoms, the male lead starts out as a playboy who hops from body to body. He's completely detached from feelings of intimacy, or so we're led to believe. Think about it. Why does our archetypal ladies' man sleep around so much? Because he wants to bust a nut? If so, he could have just stayed home and jorked it. No, it's not that he rejects intimacy, it's that this is the only form of intimacy he can articulate. Just like with Strade, his hobbies allow him to experience that same level of intimacy without putting his own feelings in danger. Only, instead of Strade ghosting you, he literally... *ghosts* you. He gets that connection without having to be vulnerable. Problem solved! It begs the question, how did Ren survive all this time...?
Consider this: one ending in BTD1 is only possible if Strade's affection for you gets to the highest threshold. The ending is called 'He *loved* you too much'. This ending was considered so essential to Strade's journey, that it's called the same thing in YKMET. This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Strade can love! However, him collaring Ren and/or the MC is not him taking things to the next level. It's him saying the relationship is moving way too fast for his liking!
In BTD2, if the MC tells Ren that Strade never loved him, he gets so upset, that he kills the MC in a fit of anger. That is not the behavior of someone secure in their self esteem. Ren kills the MC because he knows they're right. Strade's love was something unobtainable for him. Forever just out of reach. No matter how hard he tried, Strade just didn't see him like that. I'm sure Ren had mixed feelings about this too. On one hand, experiencing the totality of Strade's love would mean dying. On the other hand, it means he would get what he most wanted. Throughout BTD1 and YKMET, I thought I was the third wheel. Turns out it was Ren the whole time.
Hopefully this convinced you that Strade is capable of love! However, that love itself comes at a steep cost. In Islam, it's said that the devil and demons are made from fire. The more like a demon someone is, the more qualities of fire they adopt. Fire consumes whatever is in its path. No one can get close to fire without getting hurt. Strade's love is one that is relentless, selfish, and all consuming.
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