There has never been any assertion anywhere that the divine dragon was male, granted that the beast king has also very much explained that the way humans use terms like "lord" or "king" differs very much from those who arent human. So no, there was never any definitive gender for the divine dragon. The one that had a definitive gender was the otherworlder who fought against the giants in the gigantomachy, which is also probbly his ancestor.
The romance part was probably always there but was just never the main focus.
Also, nonhumans not assigning a gender to titles like "lord" or "king" isnt even new in any fantasy setting. It's happened too many times across many different platforms.
Why is the divine dragon kinda suddenly a female?
Nearly all facts have pointed towards them being male
Also I'm tired of female jungle kings
She didn't need to be human ccor one and for 2 , people keep over using the "oh no one expects the king to be a female do nobody will know that's it's a woman running the jungle " do much it's become a cliche and actually expected over the latter which is s male jungle king
And the engagement? The romance?
Literally where on fucking earth did that come from?