i didn't want to the characters to be closer in age, the story is meant to be a little scandalous
fortunately i am very nice and i was very upfront about the age gap present in the story so people who find such themes uncomfortable can choose to not engage with this work. isn't that kind of me? 😊
Like I said, the story is meant to be a little scandalous. The story is told from Arthur's POV and he had a lot of guilt and neuroses about getting so close to a former student which makes up the emotional core of the story. The age gap being as substantial as it is was a deliberate writing decision, and I would like to think I handled the subject with a degree of nuance and tact. Of course, you are free to disagree 🙏