Tl;dr - When Demerzel talks about “serving Empire” she means the Genetic Dynasty. She killed s1 Dawn because his existence was a threat to the dynasty.

Summarising what we know about Demerzel now, after watching the episode AND listening to the official podcast (seriously go listen to it!)…

Backstory:

• Demerzel led the robot revolution.
• Demerzel was imprisoned for 5000 years until young Cleon I discovered her.
• Through the decades she manipulated him to get her freedom (appealing to his childish curiosity, his adolescent need for recognition and his adult eroticism).
• She was finally freed by an elderly Cleon I.
• She thought about killing him for a split second (confirmed in the podcast) but eventually affection / hope took over. This gave Cleon the opportunity to implant a device inside her that basically hacked her code.

Consequences of her programming:

• She must protect Empire, which means the Genetic Dinasty (this was confirmed by Laura and David!).
• She was able to kill s1 Dawn because she needs to protect Empire, not the individual Cleon. Killing Dawn was like “cutting a diseased limb” because he was a threat to the dynasty (from the podcast). Ripping her face off after killing him was an expression of the grief she felt for the act, the atrocities she’s had to commit because of her programming, and her state of enslavement (from the podcast).
• Loyalty to Empire supersedes every other law
• She is programmed to love Cleons / cannot refuse to love them. She had a messed up relationship with Cleon I - she loved him, but to what extent was that genuine or forced, we don’t know. Probably a bit of both

Misc:
* Her signature hand pose is actually a defensive position (from the podcast). She does it for the first time when she is compelled by her programming to accept Cleon I’s proposal. That’s also why she drops the pose the moment Cleon walks away in s2e1 * She does not love Cleon 17 in a sensual / sexual way. That was always a manipulation. * In fact while she’s able to feel emotions, it seems she is not able to feel sensory stimuli (she simulated pain and tears for her captor, just like she simulated sexual pleasure for Cleon 17) * She loves the Cleons and she wants them to listen to her and to learn from her, but she’s programmed to raise them in a specific way (David said, “she programs them as much as she was programmed” mmm), and they always turn out the wrong way (from the podcast)

What we don’t know: * We still don’t know to what extent she manipulates the clones’ memories and identities in order to “protect Empire”.