I'm so glad you enjoyed it! A few fun facts about Leigh: they're twenty-nine years old (three years older than the protagonist), their sun sign is Taurus, and they enjoy doing embroidery on their days off (hence why they're so good at mending clothes!). Post-ending one, a certain competitive servant gets very invested in getting better than Leigh at embroidery, though Leigh remains oblivious to the one-sided rivalry. 😂
There's actually a funny story regarding Cyril's orientation. When he was still just a side character, before I made him a love interest, I'd decided he was gay. So when I decided to turn him into a love interest, I briefly had a crisis over whether or not to make him bisexual (for broader appeal), or let him stay gay as intended. I nearly caved and had gotten through writing most of chapter one of his route writing him as bisexual until my dear editor said he should stay gay because it suited him better in general. And I'm glad we went with that, because as you said, the nuance hits better. 🙂↕️
But as for the rest of your comment, generally speaking, I consider the player character's gender to be as much of a choice that effects the story as any other choice, especially in a setting based on the real world. I wanted to put in the effort to make sure that the consequences of all of the player's choices are noticeable and present, and that included the protagonist's gender! So it's very gratifying to hear that it all hit in a satisfying way! 😭 Thank you so much! 💕