@frubam
Yeah but it doesn't make it any less disturbing. The author doesn't need to completely adopt the medieval standards and what they deemed acceptable in that era into her story. Despite their closeness in age, it's not romantic or cute for a 12 year old to be in a romantic relationship with a 16 (?) year old, especially when the child looks younger than 12. Besides, she literally just turned 12 lol.
To put it bluntly, it's disgusting and for some of us, it can even ruin the entire story. So I hope the author isn't setting up their relationship towards that direction, and if she is, hopefully she introduces the romance between them when Leslie is at least a little more grown up, preferably when she isn't at the pubescent age.