Ok spoilers are free for all I guess.

She specifically refers to herself in terms of "when I was a young girl", AFTER the battle, when Nael is free of Bahamut's control. I was told this by someone, and went to check it myself. While I'm not overly fluent in Japanese, there's no mistaking the shoujo jukugo. If anyone who knows the language better wants to look it up that would probably settle the case.