"I'm interested," the emperor said. "Tell me more of this revolutionary design."
Adam nodded humbly. "It's made using a rare type of silk worm. This worm was discovered by us in our journeys to the Savage East, and as far as we know, we are the only ones in the civilized world to own a living specimen. When sung to, these worms create a silk finer than any other known to man."
"Really? Fascinating," said the Emperor. He was leaning forward, his hand on his chin.
"Yes. When the strings of silk are made into clothing, the material is so beautiful and delicate that it can only be seen by those who aren't stupid or incompetent. You see, stupid people are too simple to appreciate the quality of the fabric, so it doesn't reveal itself to them. Here, Your Majesty. We brought a sample for you."
Adam reached into his bag, and acting as though he was pulling out a delicate robe, he pulled out nothing.
"See, Your Majesty?" he asked, as he showed the emperor his empty hands.
"Look at the fine weave, the bright colors, the way it shimmers! Is it not the best robe you've ever seen?"
The Emperor stared at the man's empty hands. There was nothing there.
He looked around to his ministers and advisors. All of them were looking at the man's invention, smiling and nodding.
Peasants waiting their turn to petition him craned their necks to get a better look.
He made eye contact with his chief advisor, raising an eyebrow questioningly. "What do you think of this... invention?" he asked.
The man looked around the room nervously as everybody stared at him expectantly. "Well, uh... obviously it's spectacular!" the advisor pronounced. "I've never seen such a fine cut cloth."
Others in the room nodded in agreement.
Edgar's heart stopped for a second. Everybody could see it except for him. Oh no. He was stupid. He couldn't let anybody find out.
"I agree with you," he said. "It is a very fine job. I shall be very happy to purchase a robe made of this fine material, so that I may be the best dressed in the land."
"Excellent, Your Majesty," said the eldest brother, Adam. "I am glad we have pleased you. We shall begin measurements at your convenience."
As the Ballard brothers left the great hall, they fought to contain their grins. It was only once they had safely made it into a side alley that they burst into laughter, chuckling in surprise and sheer joy.
Just like Adam had suspected, everyone pretended to be able to see the imaginary robe for fear of looking stupid.
Their con had worked.
The next few days of Emperor Edgar Beaumont's life were the most painful days he had ever experienced. He felt like a human pincushion.
If he didn't know any better, he would have wondered whether the Ballard brothers had ever even measured somebody before.
But the brothers were professionals and inventors with great skill, everybody in the realm knew it except for him, and so he had to act like he was wise enough to understand their ways. So he stood there silently, gritting his teeth and flinching with every pinprick.
When the Ballard brothers had been ushered into the Emperor's private chambers for the first time, they had been disgusted by the opulence and waste. Growing up, they had watched people waste away due to hunger, whereas here people simply threw food away.
The Emperor was spending on a single item of clothing more money than the boys had expected to make in their entire life!
When they felt that they had put on enough of a show pretending to measure him, the brothers took their leave with the promise to return as soon as possible with the Emperor's new clothes.
They waited for two months to give the illusion that they had worked laboriously on the robe, before they presented it to one of the emperor's advisors.
The man had licked his lips and looked around nervously, before proclaiming, "It's a masterpiece! I’ll tell the Emperor at once."
As the man hurried ahead to announce their arrival, Adam and Roger looked at each other and grinned.
It had all happened just as they knew it would. Nobody wanted to look stupid.
They approached the Emperor's chambers, listening as the advisor announced their arrival.
"Your Majesty," the advisor was saying, "It's simply spectacular. I've never seen a robe so fine, I'm sure you'll agree!"
And he did. When the Emperor himself laid eyes on the nonexistent robe, he gave a wide smile and thanked the brothers for a job well done. He promised to wear it for his next public appearance, two weeks from now.
"I am very lucky," the Emperor said. "Not only do I have this fine robe, I also have the opportunity to discover which of my citizens are stupid and incompetent. Because as we all know, stupid and incompetent people cannot see it. But how can I find out who can't see it?" he mused.
A devious smile crossed his face. "You two!" he barked at the Ballards, "I want for you to make a dress for my wife. When she wears it, she will appear naked to any fools. It will be easy to tell who is looking at her naked body, for surely they will not be able to stop looking. I want for her to wear it on the same day I wear my robe. Will you be able to finish her dress in two weeks?"
Adam furrowed his brows, pretending to be deep in thought. "I suppose so, Your Majesty. If we work through the night, and hire assistants."
The emperor clapped his hands together. "Excellent!"
Adam grinned cheekily. "But we'll need extra payment, to cover the wages of our assistants."
Two weeks later, the big day arrived. The Emperor made his big entrance to rapturous applause from his people (none of whom wanted to admit that they were stupid and couldn't see the material), and was followed by the Empress, who was also dressed in an invisible outfit.
A little boy cried out, "The Emperor is naked!"
Nobody paid any attention to him, except for his mother, who went red with embarrassment and hissed for him to be quiet.
"The Emperor is naked!" the little boy yelled again, louder this time.
He was ignored once again. Foolishness was okay in little boys, but any adult that dared to repeat the boy's declaration would be in a lot of trouble, both for speaking ill of the Emperor and for being too stupid to appreciate the fabric.
Besides, nobody was even looking at the Emperor. The eyes of all the adult men in the crowd were fixated on the Empress, whose perfect body was completely exposed.
Her pert nipples hardened in the cool air.
As The Empress stood next to him, the Emperor's eyes were sweeping across the audience, looking for anyone stupid. He was looking for someone staring at the Empress.
Aha! There, in the front row. A peasant man stood watching the Empress with his mouth agape, and the cock between his legs slowly swelling, big enough that it was visible through the man’s breeches.
He pointed at the man, and some guards took him away.
After their grand entrance, the Emperor made a speech to his citizens. Once he had finished and they had all applauded him, he and Empress left.
The Ballard brothers were satisfied. They now had enough money to live reasonably comfortably for the rest of their lives.
Their con would have ended there, were it not for a scheming noblewoman in the audience.
The Howards were nobility, but inconsequential at best. They were a lesser house, one that had been left off guest lists more than once for the simple reason of the host having forgotten they existed at all.
For her entire life, Nicoline Howard had always dreamed of being rich and powerful.
When she was a child, she would play in the ancestral home, a crumbling castle, or in the gardens, overrun with weeds, and dream of someday returning them to their former glory.
She had dreamed of riding back into town, all grown up and beautiful and successful, and with such influence that all it took for the castle to be fixed up was her expressing the desire it should be so.
And she had had a plan how to do it.
When she had turned twenty, she had packed he
r bags and gone to the capital city.
Her vision had been to become the Emperor's paramour. To make him fall madly in love with her, so that she could command him to do as she wished. She would be the true ruler of the Empire.
The mission had been an embarrassing failure.
Her attempt at seducing the Emperor had been successful, but he had not loved her.
She had been just one in an endless parade of beautiful women desperate to get into his bed.
She had been cast aside in under a week, when a doe-eyed lady from the South had batted her impossibly long eyelashes at the man.
Once Nicoline had lost the Emperor’s favor and protection, the Empress had shunned her, and she was no longer able to enter the palace.
All in all, a complete failure.
Regardless, her memories of getting fucked in the Emperor's bedroom still brought a thrill of pleasure to her. Of gyrating her hips on top of him and knowing that, just for a moment, he would do anything she wished him to. Of hearing a man grunting as he spilled his seed inside of her and knowing that it was the most powerful man in the Empire.
Nicoline had always loved sex.
Since her first quick fumble with a stableboy at the Howard manor at seventeen, she had had an insatiable curiosity about what lay beneath a man’s clothes.
Some men may dress in their fancy clothes and sigils, but beneath that they were all the same - people with an animalistic need to fuck.
She found it arousing to think about that, and often wondered what would happen if people would dispense of their clothing, and walk around naked, like humans had at the beginning of time.
She imagined the streets full of naked men, their cocks bouncing between their legs as they walked, stiffening when they saw something attractive - that would be her, of course - and she, who was also naked, would be able to invite them inside her for a quick fuck.
Nicoline's tryst with the Emperor had been around one year ago. Since then, she had remained in the capital city.
She had failed to snag the Emperor, but there were still many important noblemen about the place. She was charming, and she knew she could score one eventually.
Many minor nobles had already proposed marriage to her, but she had refused. She was waiting for a big fish to come along. She needed somebody with wealth. Wealth could buy influence. Mere titles did nothing, she knew that much already.
She attended all the important functions, except for those held in the Emperor’s palace. The Empress still refused Nicoline entry in punishment for spreading her legs and letting the Emperor pound her pussy. She could have contested the ban, but that could have gotten very public and messy, and nobody wants to be a part of a sex scandal. Yes, it was easier to just steer clear of the palace.
She still went to all of the Emperor’s public appearances, though.
And so it was that she was in the crowd on the day the Emperor’s new clothes were unveiled.
She had smiled in sadistic pleasure as the Emperor walked onto the stage with all his usual pompousness, but no clothes. When he realized the con he had been a part of, this would be quite an embarrassing memory.
She looked around the audience, wondering who would be the one to end this farce.
Nicoline heard a little boy yell out that the Emperor was naked.
He was completely ignored, even when he repeated himself even louder.
She looked around in disbelief. Everybody was going along with the scam! Unbelievable!
In trying to prove that they were not stupid, everyone in the audience had proved that they were undoubtedly so.
She looked admiringly at the two young men standing near the Emperor’s chief advisor. She had never seen them before. They were the inventors of the Emperor’s clothes, no doubt.
She stared at them curiously. They were rather handsome, she noted. They had the same strong jawline and chestnut colored hair. Perhaps they were brothers.
She wondered what their story was. In conceiving this scam, they had displayed an ingenuity rarely found among the upper class.
But as she examined them more closely, she decided that they probably weren’t from the upper class.
Yes, they had fancy clothes, but they lagged the confident swagger of noblemen.
She could see the younger one fidgeting uncomfortably in his tunic.
She was disrupted by a commotion going on nearby. Some commoner was being arrested for looking at the Empress’s bouncy tits.
The crowd began to disappear as they realized how dangerous it was to stare at the Emperor or Empress for too long.
Nicoline ducked out of sight too, but kept the tailors in her sight.
She didn’t need some boring, wealthy nobleman for a husband. In fact, she didn’t need a husband at all any more.
She had a new plan.
That night, Adam and Roger were drinking their second bottle of celebratory wine when they heard a light tapping at their door.
Adam opened the door and gaped in surprise at the beautiful woman standing there. She had long, black hair, and striking green eyes.
She was dressed in a beautiful silky green dress, with a velvet cloak draped over her shoulders. She was definitely a noble. But no nobles came to this dodgy neighborhood, full of whores and drunkards.
Adam frowned. "Are you lost, my lady?" he asked.
A small smile curved on the woman's lips.
"I know what you’re doing,” she said, arching an elegant eyebrow. “And I want to be a part of it.”
Adam felt his heart begin to race. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said unconvincingly.
The woman laughed, and pushed her way past him, into the house. "Don't play stupid," she said. "You just conned the Emperor into buying nothing. For a great sum of gold, I presume?"
Adam stared at her wordlessly. He heard Roger enter the room behind him.
"Anyway, as I said before, I wish to be a part of this scheme," the woman continued.
"The scheme's over. Mission accomplished. We're about to leave the city," said Adam.
"No!" shrieked the woman.
Adam and Roger flinched at her piercing tone.
She continued in a much quieter tone. "What I mean is, why stop there?" she said. "We could create a fashion trend. Have every noble in the land buying our imaginary clothes. You'd be rich beyond your wildest dreams."
Adam looked over his shoulder at Roger, who was leaning against a table. "What do you say, Roger?" he asked.
Roger shrugged. "I don't know how we'd begin the trend. Nobody wants to be the first to wear nothing."
The woman smiled. "That's where I come in. My name is Nicoline Howard. I come from a noble house up North. I will begin this trend by being the first to wear nothing, at the Duke's ball in two weeks. After, the orders will come flooding in. I guarantee it."
"And what do you ask in return?" asked Roger.
"We split the profits into three equal parts. One part for each of us."
Adam nodded slowly. "That seems fair." He looked at Roger questioningly.
Roger smiled. "Deal."
She eyed the door, but hesitated before leaving. She glanced at the wine bottle still clutched in Adam’s hand.
“It looks like you’re having a good time,” she said. “Mind if I join you?”
Hours later, they were sitting around the table, playing a game of cards.
Unlike when he used to play cards for a living, Adam didn't cheat. He was still winning though, closely followed by Nicoline.
In the past few hours, he had discovered that she was an excellent card player. She was full of surprises. He wondered what other surprises were in store.
"How did you think of such a clever scheme, to turn the invisible clothes into a trend?" he asked her.
"I could ask you the same question," she smiled. "Your idea was genius."
Adam shrugged. "We've struggled to get by for so long," he said. "After being poor for a while, you begin to dream of absurd ways that
you could suddenly get rich. One day I had this idea, and I decided it was worth the risk. It paid off," he said modestly. "I'm surprised you thought of such a clever idea, of making this into a trend, though," he continued. "After all, you're a noblewoman, and such a beautiful one at that. You don't need to use your brains to get ahead."
Nicoline paused, trying to figure out whether she should be flattered or insulted.
"I didn't mean any offense!" Adam added hastily. The tips of his ears turned red. "All I was trying to say is that you're pretty."
She smiled. He was quite endearing, in a bumbling sort of way.
She wondered what his cock looked like.
Without warning, she stood up and made her way over to his chair. She pushed the table back, giving her room to straddle his legs.
He was looking at her with a startled, disbelieving expression on his face.
She pulled his head to hers, bringing him into a passionate kiss.
He wrapped his burly arms around her petite frame.
"Um, guys? I'm right here," came Roger's voice from behind them.
"Then leave," murmured Nicoline as she brought a hand down to Adam's pants, brushing it against his cock.
She heard the front door slamming as she quickly undid Adam's pants. She gasped as his stiff cock sprang free. It was the biggest she'd ever seen. Her hand could barely fit around it.
Nicoline wanted to wrap her mouth around the long, fat cock.
It wasn't perfect though. It was a strange shape - it curved slightly. She wondered if some other men were like that too, or if it was just Adam.
He groaned as she touched his dick with the tip of her tongue. She ran it up the shaft, before swirling it around the head of his cock and lapping up the pre-cum that had formed there.
The cum didn't taste good, but it didn't taste particularly bad either.
It was well worth the look of disbelief and arousal that came on Adam's face after watching her do it.
She wondered if anybody had ever done that for him before. She doubted it. Oh, this was going to be fun. She serviced his cock with her mouth for several minutes before she withdrew, worried that he may cum if she continued.
Group Encounters 2 (Public Indecency, Cuckolding, Black Studs, Demons) Page 4