Elina studied herself closely in the mirror for another few minutes before sighing and turning away.
Pulling her knees up to her chest, she wrapped her arms around them and started unraveling the tangled situation that she found herself in. On the bright side, she hadn't been kidnapped and wouldn't have to find a way to escape her captors. On the other hand, her situation was more complicated than she could even begin to fathom.
Just because she'd seen the fastest ever mental slideshow of the situation and still had access to her memories didn't mean that she suddenly understood everything and knew exactly how to understand. No, it was like being handed the walkthrough guide to a video game. While it told you all the info you needed, she wouldn't be able to actually use it until she started playing the game.
So, time to assess what she actually knew and what assets she had.
First, she was the eldest, legitimate daughter of the King of Arrenrose. Since there were no sons in this generation, she should've been named the crown princess. Indeed, she had memories of studying hard as a child in order to inherit the throne, hours upon hours of slaving over every possible subject, determined to be the best possible ruler to her people.
However, she had never been granted that title. Instead, the king had declared when she was ten that the title would go to whomever was the most worthy amongst his three children, by merit instead of by bloodline, like it had for thousands of years. The Elina of then had been puzzled but had accepted the decree and worked even harder.
Elina scoffed aloud. That Elina might not have known the truth of the situation but she did. This wasn't some noble scheme to improve the country and make sure that his favored bastard child inherited the throne. Elina had two siblings, both sisters, well, half sisters. She had been born to the king and his first queen, who had passed when she was five. That was the year that her father had decided to bring his illegitimate daughter home, Rosina Angelina Alane. She was the same age as Elina was and the child hadn't grasped the true meaning of what that meant. Her father told her that her mother had also passed away and Elina had felt compassion for her, welcoming her warmly when she become Rosina Angelina du Brandt.
Rosina had appeared to accept her just as warmly but she was nothing but a scheming viper. Hah! Half if not more of her woes could be traced back to that vicious woman. And her mother wasn't even dead. After five years had passed, her father had brought his long-term mistress into the palace under an assumed identity as a foreign noblewoman and married her. They'd had a second daughter three years after that, although her youngest half-sibling truly was meek and mild mannered. She was also largely ignored by her parents. Elina had felt protective of her and had sought to give her guidance and care.
Although Selene wasn't the warmest to her, too timid to go against her parents, neither was she an active enemy. She was also very young still and even if she wanted to move against Elina, she probably didn't have the resources to do so. Their parents had put all of their resources into trying to make sure that Rosina was the favored heir for the throne and had both neglected their youngest daughter and tried to keep her wings trimmed so that she wouldn't prove a threat to her sister's throne down the line.
Sad to say, but her future was most likely a political marriage to a distant country, an exile with a fancy name. Worst part was, they probably wouldn't take her into consideration at all, just ship her off to whatever country would prove to be most advantageous to Arrenrose at the time when she came of age.
They probably would've done the same for Elina if they thought they could've gotten away with it. However, they probably feared that whatever country they allied with would rebel and place Elina on the throne as their puppet, since she was the legitimate heir to the throne, even if the king tried to declare otherwise.
A smile curved up her lips. They had tried to hard to pave the way for their daughter, to make everything work out perfectly for her, but with a bit of digging anyone could see it for what a sham it was. Anyone who bothered to think, that is.
With a sigh, her smile dropped away. Even if she was the heir to the throne and the eldest legitimate daughter, those truths carried little value in the current political clime. She had no allies, the king and queen having worked hard to isolate her from anyone who would offer her support or help. Her maternal family were also of no help, they had always held a position of non-intervention in any politics unless a devastating war or famine was imminent. It was the reason that her mother was chosen as queen, because her family wouldn't try to gain favors or influence policy through her position. Her poor mother had been a sacrificial pawn and nothing more.
Had she died, Elina wondered, because of a weak constitution and because she was unable to bear the truth of how powerless she truly was? Or had that evil couple conspired to murder her in order to bring in that outsider woman? She would have to investigate it but that truly was a problem for a later date.
Right now, she had to figure out how to survive. The original Elina had wanted nothing more than to vanish, to disappear into darkness and just live a life in peace. Given a choice, she would've never wanted to be born into royalty. Hers had been a peaceful and dutiful personality. She most likely would've voluntarily exiled herself when she figured out the way the wind was blowing in the royal court. However, her mother on her deathbed had made her promise to watch over the people of Arrenrose, which was why she had worked so hard to learn all that she had.
Which, could possibly be a useful asset. After all, knowledge was never a mistake and could be a weapon in the right hands. When the original Elina was exiled, that was the moment that she had crumbled, had given up. She had stopped fighting in that moment, resigned herself to her fate, and look where it had brought her. An unnoticed death in a decaying mansion filled with both malicious and lazy people who would rejoice if they knew that she was gone.
So, she had the knowledge she would need, a healthy albeit weak body, no allies but also very minimal oversight out here on the very edge of the kingdom. She also had determination, she was not going to go softly into that good night, she was not going to give in without a fight, she was going to take back everything that had been stolen from her one by one until they were driven to the same despair and dead end that the Original Elina had been.
If they had already been that cruel to their blood relations, she couldn't imagine them caring for the people under their oversight either, so this would be better for the people of the kingdom as a whole. In her other life, living her early life as an orphan had taught her how the people at the very bottom of society were treated. Since she had the power, or potential power, to make a better society, she was going to run with it.
Still, in order to make this happen, she had to be strong enough to deal with all the attacks that would undoubtedly start coming her way once she started making her bid for power. She would need to start finding allies and building her base of power and resources so they couldn't cut off her supply lines. So basically, she would have to conquer all the land between here and the capital if she were going for a more conqueror style approach. Or would it be better to do a strategic approach and hop all over the board like a chess match, gradually drawing closer to her true objective and weaving a net around them that they'd be unable to escape in the end?
The final option would be to flee Arrenrose entirely and ally herself with a stronger nation to help her regain her country. But if she went that route, the people would undoubtedly suffer and Arrenrose would become a vassal state instead of a sovereign kingdom, so that was the absolutely last resort, only if every other method absolutely failed.
She laughed quietly, pushing slowly to her feet. She had occupied this body for less than an hour probably, all told, and she was already feeling protective and possessive of this land and these people that she had never met. Looked like her new life was going to be interesting, at least.
Swaying weakly, she wrinkled her nose as she caught a whiff of herself. She smelled horrible and her clothes were still soaked through from the memory onslaught. Planning to take over a kingdom was all fine and well, but first, she needed to take care of her body and get herself strong first.
She had time, best to lay a strong foundation first.
Patience would be key to her success.