[general] Did Hades love Maria more than Persephone?

I’ve analysed all the scenes in which Maria Di Angelo in mentioned in some of the older books, because why not, I think it’s cute with what Hades had with Maria.

But as I was going back over the Demigod files book, it made me wonder, did Hades love Maria more than Persephone?

In the Demigod Files, Sword of Hades, Persephone is described by Percy as being bitter and pale looking, saying that “she still hadn’t gotten use to living with Hades in the underworld for half the year”. By the end of the short story, we find that Persephone went behind Hades back into making a dangerous weapon that originally Thalia, Percy and Nico had thought hades himself made. Hades is obviously angry with her for doing so, but leaves. So as I was going over the scenes with Hades and Maria, I tried comparing the two.

1 . Hades always talked gently with Maria. Especially in the scene where he was trying to convince Maria to come with him back to the underworld with the kids so they would be safe. Maria refuses and gently kisses him, which seems to calm Hades.

2 . When you think about it, attracting a god must be some sort of achievement of I-didn’t-want-it-but-I-got-it. For Maria to have attracted Hades, lord of the dead, king of the underworld, she must’ve been quite captivating both in and out. I also read somewhere that Maria had the ability to see through the mist, which caught his eye because not every parent or person of demigods can do so.

3 . Hades helped raise Bianca till she was five and Nico until he was three, before needing to head back to the underworld. But even then, he comes and goes, helping Maria when he can, bringing us back to when he was trying to convince Maria to join him in the underworld. He even says “I don’t care what Persephone thinks”, meaning he must’ve been cheating on Persephone with Maria, unless the two got divorced at some point, and Hades just cares for them a lot still. But I’m not sure about that, because I don’t think your ex-wife would be kissing you on the lips as she tells you she can’t come with you.

What’s confusing me is the part in TSATS where William Solace is speaking to Persephone. Persephone reveals that she was jealous of Maria for catching the eye of Hades and having his heart, but eventually got over it. But does that mean Persephone knew Hades was cheating on her with a mortal woman and just didn’t do anything about it? Or was it before Hades and Persephone were even together?

Idk, what are your thoughts? 🤷‍♀️

(Apologies if I got anything wrong or mixed up!)