She used to say “Also, I love you” — what does that really mean? (45M, 40F)

Hi everyone,
English is not my first language, so I’m trying to understand the nuance here.

Whenever I said “I love you” to my ex-girlfriend (40F), she would usually respond, “Also, I love you.”
It always felt a little… off. So I asked ChatGPT what it might mean, and it said: “It sounds a bit artificial, maybe like it was said after thinking it over rather than spontaneously.” That actually captured my feeling perfectly.

We broke up a while ago. I’m 45M. One of the reasons was that she always evaluated our relationship from a rational point of view, while I was fully emotional.
In the beginning, she was more like me — she followed her feelings and did what felt right within the relationship. But over time, she completely shifted to the rational side, while I remained in the emotional space.
We both needed to find balance, but we couldn’t, and eventually it ended.

This morning, that one word — “Also” — popped into my mind again. It feels symbolic in a way.

Do you think that phrase reflects a kind of emotional distance? Or am I reading too much into it?

TL;DR:
I (45M) used to say “I love you” to my ex (40F), and she’d often reply with “Also, I love you” instead of “I love you too.” It felt emotionally distant. We eventually broke up because she became fully rational while I stayed emotional. This morning, that “Also” came back to my mind, and now I’m wondering if it meant more than I realized.