Professor Gottfried Philipp Spannagel therefore recommends to deepen the upbringing of the firstborn Maria Theresa in order to prepare her for a possible reign.

Count Nikolaus I Esterhazy discovers her by chance and makes it public: Spannagel ends up temporarily in prison and Maria Theresa is to be sent to a monastery.

Maria Theresa learns that Prince Eugene wanted to sell her to Prussia; however, he is already dying, and on his deathbed he recommends Count Philipp Kinsky as his successor.

Franz Stephan is planning to set up a cotton factory based on the English model and is successful in finding investors interested in it.

Kinsky arrives to Tuscany to bring them the news that Charles VI has suffered a serious hunting accident, resulting in his death.

He has fun with the ladies at court, especially with Elisa Fritz; as an entrepreneur, he deals with the trade in cotton and silk and the establishment of a cloth manufacture.

She makes Count Kinsky, whom she had previously despised because of his supposed closeness to the late Prince Eugene, as her political advisor.

Friedrich II proposes to Maria Theresa that he could support Franz Stephan in the election to emperor, and asks for Silesia in return.

After the invasion of Prussian troops is welcomed with joy by the population in Silesia, Maria Theresa tries to alleviate the hunger among the soldiers in order to increase their motivation.

Maria Theresia presents herself in front of the Hungarian Diet as a defenseless mother and wife who appeals to the courage of men.

Behind the back of Maria Theresa, Franz Stephan of Lorraine does business with Prussia and Friedrich II in his Palace [de] in Wallnerstrasse, selling him uniforms and tents among other things.

Maria Theresa also pays a personal price for her commitment as head of state, because her husband Franz Stephan turns to other women.

Maria Theresa suspects that her mother-in-law, Élisabeth Charlotte d’Orléans, at the moment in Vienna under the pretense of visiting her grandchildren, is actually an informant for the French king.

While Franz Stephan initially does not believe in the accusations against his mother, she exposes herself to her sons, scolding them for having chosen the wrong side and later fleeing from Vienna.

Contrary to the advice of her advisors, she seeks military support from Baron von der Trenck, who is known for his boldness, but also for his cruelty.

Moreover, Trenck does not take prisoners, who could serve as objects of exchange for Austrian's captured nobles, but instead has them executed immediately, against the common rules of war.

On the orders of the Papal Nuncio, Father Johannes send spies also to the Palace [de] of Franz Stephan in Wallnerstrasse, who is suspected of being the Grand Master of the Freemasons.

After Maria Theresia proposes to Franz Stephan a private separation, so that they should only meet on official occasions, he confesses to her that he is the Grand Master of Freemasons.

Trenck is brought before the Imperial Court for murdering nobles, hiding booty, colluding with the enemy, accepting bribes, rape and looting.

In a letter to Maria Theresia Trenck writes that he had no regrets and that he could fully enjoy his life in battle, but did not want to live in prison.

Blackmailing Maria Theresia, Father Johannes becomes then a permanent member of the war council and field vicar of the Habsburg army.