Hmm, your take is quite different from what I initially expected.
I do see the selling out as betrayal because he helped hurt Lelouch in the worst possible way -- taking away the one thing Lelouch holds most dear: Nunnally, as well as his sense of self. Whether Lelouch understands is debatable but Lelouch is smart and knows he's kept Suzaku in the dark so...
No, Lelouch didn't try to understand Suzaku. Not to the extent he could have. He continuously tried to push Suzaku back into the way he knew him. The creators have confirmed this in interviews. While I fully believe Lelouch geassing Suzaku was in part an unconscious desire to save Suzaku, it also speaks again to Lelouch's unconscious desire to set Suzaku right again. *His* Suzaku is not suicidal. *His* Suzaku would not bow down to Britannia. Lelouch has been described by his creators as a pissy ex-girlfriend who doesn't want to really understand what's happened to the person they knew. That is the main reason I accuse Lelouch of not giving Suzaku fair ground because I would prefer to see it otherwise.
But I do like your comment about not telling Suzaku about Zero as a safeguard to prevent compromising Suzaku. There is more to it, I think. Lelouch didn't truly want to test Suzaku's loyalty. As Realms suggests, he may expect betrayal but at the same time hope and try to pretend it won't happen. As much as Lelouch trusted Suzaku with his life, he couldn't trust him with that part of him. If I was in a corny mood, I would say his heart. But I won't so insert your own description here. There is also the pride issue of wanting to win Suzaku over through reasoning rather than reliance on something more emotional -- the friendship.
Suzaku didn't talk to Lelouch about his dealings because he knows Lelouch hates Britannia. There is also the fact that Suzaku's division was a secret and experimental. There might have been clearance issues involved. I've already taken on the Euphemia issue in my other comment to you. It's more personal to Suzaku and related to his conditioning within Britannia. Suzaku was not protect Nunnally and Lelouch just for Euphie. It was why he was in school, but everything he did with them, it was for them. I don't think there's anything to suggest Suzaku's relationship with the Lamperouges was solely for his princess. Again, I don't think they spent that much time together before she made him her knight. He probably wasn't allowed to. Lelouch wasn't angry that Suzaku was doing this for someone else; he was angry that Suzaku had chosen Britannia over him and Nunnally. He was angry that Suzaku had ruined all his plans. He was angry that Suzaku left him. I would daresay Lelouch was jealous. But not just toward Suzaku. Also, once he knew of Suzaku's place in Britannia, it was even more risky to try revealing himself and testing that friendship.
They are both liars and manipulators. They are sinners. And they betrayed each other even as they looked out for each other. Theirs are crimes of omission and whether one is more justified than the other is irrelevant. Suzaku ultimately betrayed Lelouch by not standing by his side as he had always promised him since they were children, and Lelouch ultimately betrayed Suzaku by shattering the one thing Suzaku had left to hold: his faith in those he loved.
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I do see the selling out as betrayal because he helped hurt Lelouch in the worst possible way -- taking away the one thing Lelouch holds most dear: Nunnally, as well as his sense of self. Whether Lelouch understands is debatable but Lelouch is smart and knows he's kept Suzaku in the dark so...
No, Lelouch didn't try to understand Suzaku. Not to the extent he could have. He continuously tried to push Suzaku back into the way he knew him. The creators have confirmed this in interviews. While I fully believe Lelouch geassing Suzaku was in part an unconscious desire to save Suzaku, it also speaks again to Lelouch's unconscious desire to set Suzaku right again. *His* Suzaku is not suicidal. *His* Suzaku would not bow down to Britannia. Lelouch has been described by his creators as a pissy ex-girlfriend who doesn't want to really understand what's happened to the person they knew. That is the main reason I accuse Lelouch of not giving Suzaku fair ground because I would prefer to see it otherwise.
But I do like your comment about not telling Suzaku about Zero as a safeguard to prevent compromising Suzaku. There is more to it, I think. Lelouch didn't truly want to test Suzaku's loyalty. As Realms suggests, he may expect betrayal but at the same time hope and try to pretend it won't happen. As much as Lelouch trusted Suzaku with his life, he couldn't trust him with that part of him. If I was in a corny mood, I would say his heart. But I won't so insert your own description here. There is also the pride issue of wanting to win Suzaku over through reasoning rather than reliance on something more emotional -- the friendship.
Suzaku didn't talk to Lelouch about his dealings because he knows Lelouch hates Britannia. There is also the fact that Suzaku's division was a secret and experimental. There might have been clearance issues involved. I've already taken on the Euphemia issue in my other comment to you. It's more personal to Suzaku and related to his conditioning within Britannia. Suzaku was not protect Nunnally and Lelouch just for Euphie. It was why he was in school, but everything he did with them, it was for them. I don't think there's anything to suggest Suzaku's relationship with the Lamperouges was solely for his princess. Again, I don't think they spent that much time together before she made him her knight. He probably wasn't allowed to. Lelouch wasn't angry that Suzaku was doing this for someone else; he was angry that Suzaku had chosen Britannia over him and Nunnally. He was angry that Suzaku had ruined all his plans. He was angry that Suzaku left him. I would daresay Lelouch was jealous. But not just toward Suzaku. Also, once he knew of Suzaku's place in Britannia, it was even more risky to try revealing himself and testing that friendship.
They are both liars and manipulators. They are sinners. And they betrayed each other even as they looked out for each other. Theirs are crimes of omission and whether one is more justified than the other is irrelevant. Suzaku ultimately betrayed Lelouch by not standing by his side as he had always promised him since they were children, and Lelouch ultimately betrayed Suzaku by shattering the one thing Suzaku had left to hold: his faith in those he loved.