so, as far as this one can tell, based on details in the story, mary is definitely trans. raised as a boy by rich, possibly royal, parents in that village. she studied alchemy at that alchemy college place in the big city, and used her knowledge to change her body to that of a girl, and also a doll. the professors got *super* upset, claiming they thought she was using forbidden magic, but really they were just upset a boy became a girl because theyre bigots. mary left, returned home to to the village, and found a gf there, and acted as their doctor/medicine woman while her wife worked as a tailor. eventually, the villagers men got upset that a woman was showing them up in medical skill, and burned down mary and her gfs house with them both inside, killing the gf. but because mary's body was a doll, she survived. the bowl with the plant supplies and bezoar might imply mary was trying to help her gf become like her, but the house got burned down before she could and the gf died. so mary moved a bit away, made a new home, and kept practicing alchemy/herblore, but in the woods now, only occasionally going into the village that so hurt her to trade for supplies. mad with grief, she starts latching on to new girls to try and fill the void of losing her gf, but they all leave her because lets be real, mary is a *lot*. she gets more and more unhinged as time goes on with her immortal doll body, until hazel comes along.