Shortly after her encounter with the Lasarilia family, Synsuous is back on the street, unsure of what to do with her new title and house. She wanders into the Maiden's Whisper and orders a spiced wine.
She then sings a song and one customer in particular takes interest in her. They begin to talk and really hit it off. They go to a booth and continue to talk. At one point, she finishes her drink and he, Aelfred, goes to fetch her another one without even asking her what she is drinking. When he returns with a spiced wine, she is astounded! She asks how he knew and he replies that he overheard her order it the first time. She is impressed that he bothered to remember such a trivial detail.
She is a bit afraid of Aelfred when she learns he is a noble, but remembering that she is one now too, she tells him of her problem and he agrees to help her. They begin to spend more time together and he offers her a spare room while she deals with selling her family home. She agrees; she has nowhere else to turn at this point and she is quite drawn to Aelfred, even though he is a man and men scare her.
Synsuous really begins to open up to Aelfred and tell him of her life. Once, after a particularly brutal tale of what her father had done to her, he hugged her and Synsuous freezes. He looks at her and touches her cheek and she breaks away tells him he can't touch her. Aelfred is hurt, but he doesn't pry.
Their friendship grows and they begin to spend more and more time with each other. Synsuous begins to fall in love with Aelfred, but she still hasn't told him her worst secret and she still can't let him touch her.
Aelfred has troubles of his own and has one meaningless relationship after another. He is frequently drunk and maudlin. Synsuous tries to comfort him as best as she can and she can tell that he loves her very much. The two are frequently depressed and look to each other for comfort, although Aelfred tries to hide his pain from Synsuous whereas she tries to be as open as she can with him.
One day, Aelfred takes Synsuous to a lovely spot overlooking the city. He holds her hand, which is the most she can allow him to do, and he hints at his feelings for her. She tells him that she cares for him deeply, but she can't tell him of why they can never be. Not yet. Aelfred is hurt, but understanding and the part ways - him to go drink and her to go cry.
During all of this, life goes on and Synsuous has many trials and tribulations to endure. One day, she goes walking with Raiden, a pirate captain who hired her to sing for his crew. He is telling her of his latests exploit when suddenly, he puts his arms around her and kisses her! She freezes and then screams! Aelfred, who had been following her, interrupts and Synsuous runs off in tears, finally collapsing behind some bushes where she proceeds to cry even more.
Aelfred (and possibly Raiden) come looking for her and finally find her. She hugs Aelfred and finally tells him of the brutal rape at the hands of her father, although she leaves the more graphic details out. Aelfred carries her home and tucks her into bed, where she remains for the rest of the day.
A week or so later, Aelfred comes upon Synsuous and Sentryna walking hand-in-hand. She embarrassedly admits that she is involved with Sentryna. Aelfred looks very upset with Synsuous and she runs off in tears. Aelfred manages to catch up with her and explains that he is hurt because he loves her and he knows that she loves him. Synsuous admits her love for Aelfred, but doesn't see any hope for them because he can't even touch her face without her crying. Aelfred professes his undying love for Synsuous and says he will think of something.
A few weeks later, Synsuous breaks up with Sentryna. This, combined with several other bad events, send her spiraling into a deep depression and she attempts suicide. Her Goddess saves her and her friends finally realize how troubled she is. She manages to find a therapist who begins to help her out of her depression and to deal with her rape issues. She finally begins to have hope that she could be with Aelfred, but alas, Aelfred is involved with another - Hikari.
Aelfred to Synsuous one day and learns how much better she has become. He then tells her that Hikari means nothing to him and he wants to be with Synsuous. Synsuous is unsure of how to respond, not wanting Hikari to be hurt and worried by what she considers to be fickle behavior on Aelfred's part. Aelfred confesses that he has had issues and that he has only come to terms with them after almost losing Synsuous forever. He says that he will leave Hikari and wishes Synsuous to marry him. He gives her an engagement gift, but before he can really propose, they are interrupted by several of Synsuous' friends and Aelfred leaves.
The next afternoon, Hikari confronts Synsuous and tells her that she knows that Aelfred is going to leave her for Synsuous. She is sad and also worried about how her mother will take things. Synsuous is upset and tries to console Hikari. One thing leads to another and Hikari demands to see what Aelfred is dumping her for. Synsuous sees no other response, so she sleeps with Hikari to appease her.
The next morning, Aelfred comes to visit Synsuous while she and Hikari are having breakfast. Aelfred leaves and later returns to confront Synsuous. She explains the whole situation, seeing nothing wrong with her behavior. Aelfred explains how upset he is because when he gave her the engagement gift, he had said to her 'You are my girlfriend now' before he left. Synsuous did not even consider that binding and since he had not actually proposed to her, she felt free to handle Hikari as she saw fit. She promises not to sleep with another woman unless Aelfred is present and Aelfred accepts that.
Later that day, he sends her a note asking her to meet him at the the Statue of Melandru, where Synsuous took him to talk when they met for the 2nd time. She is on her way when Sentryna bumps into her and tells her she should visit Lilly because Lilly is in trouble.
She goes to visit Lilly, who appears listless and looks like she hasn't slept in days. She tries to comfort Lilly and get her to sleep, but Lilly refuses all aid. Aelfred, having been given the same message, shows up and decides to propose to her there on the spot.
Synsuous accepts happily and shows the ring to Jade and Lilly. Aelfred and Synsuous leave and Aelfred escorts her home, where she begins to plan her wedding.
Things finally seem to be going right for Synsuous! She is getting happier and her nightmares are becoming less and less frequent. She plunges headfirst into the process of planning her wedding, talking with Aelfred about all of her plans. He is a bit worried that she is focusing too much on the day and not the meaning behind it, but she assauges his fears and tells him how much this day will mean to her: it is a bright and shining star to blot out the darkness of her past. She makes lists for every little detail and makes her three sisters her Maids of Honor and makes three close friends her bridesmaids.
Aelfred is gone frequently on business and when she misses him, she looks at her engagement ring, a white gold band with a large sapphire surrounded by diamonds or opens her engagement gift and gazes at that. Aelfred showed how creative and thoughtful he was when he chose the gift: inside an ornately carved wooden box (with 'Will You Marry Me' engraved on the inside cover) was a large jeweled egg lying on crushed red velvet. When the egg was opened, a miniature replica of Synsuous was revealed. After a moment, music would begin to play and the figure would twirl about slowly, waving one hand.
One day, there is a knock on the door and she rushes to answer, hoping that it will be Aelfred who has been out of contact for a week. Instead, she sees Aela, Aelfred' sister, wearing a somber dress and a veil. She lets Aela in and Aela tearfully tells her that she has bad news and that Synsuous should sit down. As Synsuous does so, dread fills her because she realizes that it was really unusual for Aelfred not to have written her at least once during his absence. Aela bursts into tears as she tells Synsuous that Aelfred is dead. She had received word that the ship he was on had been lost at sea during a storm. When the ship never made it to port after a severe storm, a search was started, but no trace of the ship was found. It turned out that Aelfred had recently created a will leaving all of his estate to Synsuous. Synsuous is beside herself with grief, but still kind enough to think of poor Aela. She offers to share the estate with her, but Aela is too torn with grief after having lost the last of her family. She says she is going to go to a monastery and become a Bride of Grenth. She leaves in tears and Synsuous runs to her bedroom to cry.
When Sofiyeh, Synsuous' hadmaid/head of household/bodyguard returns, Synsuous tells her the bad news and orders her to fetch her wedding dress from the tailor immediately and to ahve it died black. When that task has been accomplished, Synsuous dons the dress and that is all that she wears while she is in mourning.
Synsuous has Aelfred's name carved on an empty crypt in his family mausoleum and goes there every day to mourn. She is beside herself with grief and it is hard on her friends. She stops seeing her therapist and her mood becomes darker each day. She secretly begins to cut herself but this is quickly discovered by Sofiyeh and Emily, her head of security, who search her and her room, removing all the sharp objects they find.
Sofiyeh scolds her severely and Emily vows that if Synsuous harms herself again that Emily will cut herself three times for each cut she finds on Synsuous. Sofiyeh also suggests that perhaps Synsuous has been mourning too strenuously and that she needs to lighten up a bit for her own sanity; that Aelfred would not wish to see Synsuous harm herself.
Synsuous realizes that Sofiyeh is right and gradually eases out of mourning and finds a new therapist, her last therapist refusing to help her after her relapse.