As Snake left the Valorite Empire and towards his next firefight he was listening in on a conversation between Emperor Frederick and Empress Johanna. 

-Do you think Valerie can handle being Empress? (Johanna) 

-Don't worry dear, Valerie managed to handle both Henkel and Stephan. (Frederick) 

-Well Stephan did stab Henkel. But I'm still worried about her adventurous spirit. (Johanna) 

-Who do you think pushed Stephan to such desperate acts, besides don't worry about that, she's shown a surprisingly good eye for talent. After all she did hire those bodyguards. (Frederick) 

-I guess your right, he is one of the two things we didn't plan for. Like when you ate that undercooked boar. (Johanna) 

-Haha, yeah we were planning on disappearing for a few months to see what happened but i guess i had a happy little accident. (Frederick) 

-you made me so worried you know! (Johanna) 

-Haha! Don't worry dear I'm sturdier than you think. (Frederick) 

-We've been married for 25 years, i know how sturdy you are. (Johanna) 

-And i know how beautiful you are. (Frederick) 

Snake decided to leave the Imperial couple alone and change feed to the second spyder drone he tasked with watching Princess Valerie. 

-Princess is it really a good idea to go into the Hidden archives? (Michelle) 

-We have to find out the truth Michelle. Besides no one will know we stole father's key. (Valerie) 

-But still Princess, the Hidden archives are only for the Emperor, it's where the their personal journal and diaries are stored. (Michelle) 

-That's exactly why we have to go in. (Valerie) 

As Princess Valerie and her maid Michelle entered the Hidden archives they find the first Emperor's diary and read his plan for deciding successors. It details how to pit his children against each other to find the most worthy successor. 

-I... I didn't think they would deliberately pit us against each other. 

-Calm down Princess we don't know if the other Emperors were like this. 

They decide to check the other Emperors diaries to see if they did the same. Turns out they did, even expanded and added methods to ensure their descendents would have to fight each other. 

-I knew that fights over the throne would happen every generation, to think that they deliberately make us fight each other. I thought i could at least i could let Brother Henkel take the Throne. (Valerie) 

-Well now you know the truth... 

-Father?! 

-don't worry Valerie i won't punish you, in fact i was hoping you would find out, but to think you would figure it out so quickly. You always did exceed my expectations. 

-But why father? 

-To ensure the Empire had an Emperor who could handle it. Someone who is both capable and willing or at least motivated to rule. 

-But Henkel had both of those qualities!

-But he was soft on his relatives, he didn't prepare for Stephan's coup. But you, you had the foresight to gather intel on the nobles to weaken Stephan's position. What's more you effectively manipulate the nobles into supporting Henkel. 

-But he still died!

-But you still prepared for it, after all you hired those skilled bodyguards to protect you. 

-I hired them to stop Stephan! 

-Exactly, you were selfless enough to do what you thought was best for the empire. Henkel wouldn't have prepared for it while Stephan would have left the entire imperial court to die if it meant his survival. 

-I... I.... 

As Valerie couldn't think of a rebuttal as Emperor Frederick left. 

As Snake watched he thought to himself. 

-Fucking Politics.