Mise and Octavia made their way to the top of the stairs. The hallways were as lavishly designed as the rest of the house.

Large Persian rugs lined the floors, the walls had pictures of Mise’s long passed family members, statues and busts.

“Mise, how much did it cost to build all this?” Octavia asked

“Well I won’t lie but it nearly bankrupt my grandfather, but somehow he managed to stay afloat and provide for his family and leave enough for his descendents.” Mise said as he walked down the hall

“How did he do that?” Octavia asked

“None of my living family members know, or so they claim. But whatever it was he sure did a good job of keeping it a secret.” Mise said

“Interesting…” Octavia said

“Indeed, well here is the bedroom where we’ll be staying.” Mise said as he opened the door

The two stepped into a room with lush carpeting, gilded chairs upholstered with velvet and laden with gold leaf. The tables were made of exotic and rare woods. The walls were brilliant white with gold piping. The bed was covered in silk sheets with gold thread and stuffed with animal fur and pillows were stuffed with goose down. The entire bed was surrounded with had a marble railing surrounding it with a conjoining marble canopy with small murals on the front of the canopy.

“Mise this beautiful, this place just keeps getting more amazing.” Octavia said in amazement

“Oh you haven’t seen anything yet, will still have to see the billiard room, which also the entertainment room and the dining room. I'm going be preparing a meal that my grandfather and his guests would’ve enjoyed back when this mansion was in full swing.” Mise said leading Octavia out of the room

“Oh I can’t wait, what are we having?” Octavia asked eagerly

“Ah ah ah, that’s a surprise…” Mise said teasingly

“Fine, but I know it’ll be good, everything you make is always good.” Octavia said lovingly

The two made their way down the hall to a room which Mise opened

“This is the billiard room; it’s where we’ll entertain our friends when they come over.” Mise said

The room had tile flooring, the walls were lined in marble slabs, with contrasting alabaster arches, throughout the room there is an assortment of semi-precious stones, and billiards balls on the top walls. In the middle of the room there was a large mahogany billiard table with ivory billiard balls in the middle. Off to the side was a large pool cue holder and tables, chairs, and couches lined the walls

“Mise the guys and probably some of the girls are going to love this room, I can’t wait to have them over.” Octavia said

“Same here, come on I’ve saved the best for last.” Mise said leading Octavia back down stairs and around the corner to a set of large double doors

“This is the dining room, this where we’ll be eating tonight. As well as where we’ll be hosting large dinner parties when the time comes.” Mise said opening the doors

The room was absolutely astounding, clearly the nicest in the entire house. The room had freestanding rose alabaster columns and beautiful fireplaces on either end of the room. On the ceiling, was a marvelous ceiling painting. A large table of carved old growth wood with enough seats to seat all their friends. Two crystal chandeliers light the room and the walls were lined with gold, silver, and crystal.

“Mise, this has got to be the most beautiful room I’ve ever been in.” Octavia said

“Well it’s going to get even better, I’ve got all the ingredients I need in the kitchen. Give me about an hour.” Mise said as he disappeared into the kitchen.

Timeskip: 1 hour

“Madame Melody, I hope you brought your appetite because you are going to need it.” Mise said as he came out of the kitchen pulling a cart full of food

“Oh believe me I'm starving.” Octavia said sitting down

“Well for the first course, we have Vermicelli Soup. Bon appétit.” Mise said as he started eating

The two quickly finished their soups and moved onto the second course

“Next we have Broiled Salmon, Turbot in Lobster Sauce, and Lobster Rissoles. Dig in..” Mise said as he continued eating

The two finished their second course with ease and moved on the 3rd and final course

“Lastly we have baked Quail, Roast Duck and lamb.” Mise said as he placed the food down and began to eat

The two finished their meal and Mise took the dishes away into the kitchen.

“Mise that was the best meal I’ve ever had in my life. Thank you so much.” Octavia called out from inside the dining room

“I'm glad you liked it, I certainly feel accomplished.” Mise called from the kitchen

“Well you really out did yourself, hey what’s this” Octavia said as pushed a small inconspicuous button on the wall

“Thank you and what’s wha-” Mise said but was cut off by the sound of something loud coming from the dining room

Mise dropped what he was doing and ran out to the dining room to see a portion of the wall had shifted to the side to reveal a large dark corridor leading down

“Octy, what did you do?” Mise asked

“Nothing, I was just looking around a saw what looked like a button and pressed it” Octavia said

“Well I don’t know about you but I'm going down to see where it leads.” Mise said grabbing a candelabra off a nearby table and lighting it

“I'm coming with you, and a candelabra, really, what is this a 1930’s horror film?” Octavia asked sarcastically

“Ok and just go with it.” Mise said as the pair made their way down the steps

The two kept walking down the stairs until they reached the bottom

The room was pitch-black outside of the candle light, the room clearly hadn’t seen the light of day in many, many years. Octavia stayed close behind Mise as he moved forward. Mise closed in on the other side of the room feeling around for a switch of any kind to turn on some kind of lighting system. He finally found a cord hanging from the ceiling attached to a light bulb.

“Ah hah, here we go. Let there be light.” Mise said as he pulled the cord

Suddenly the whole room lit up like high mass and revealed something astounding, something neither of them ever expected.

“Oh, my, god, I cannot believe what I'm seeing.” Mise said looking around

“Mise, what is all this?” Octavia asked

“It’s the source of my grandfather extra wealth, I heard legends and stories but I didn’t think it was true.” Mise said

“What are you talking about Mise, what does a bunch of old liquor bottles have to do with your grandfather’s fortune?” Octavia asked clearly unaware of what they discovered

“By the time this house was finished and in full swing, it was the heart of Prohibition. And growing up, I heard stories about our family being in the smuggling and rum running business. This is the cache they left behind and that was forgotten about when my grandfather died.”
Mise said picking up a unopened bottle of rum

“So wait, this is illegal liquor?” Octavia asked

“Well technically no, it was at one point but when Prohibition was abolished it became legal again. And single bottles have been known to sell for hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions of dollars!!” Mise said excitedly

“Mise are you saying what I think your saying?” Octavia asked

“I am, we’ve struck velvet gold!” Mise said

“Oh my god that’s great, what are you going to do with the money?” Octavia asked

“Two things. First I'm going to give you a portion for obvious reasons and because you found it.” Mise said

“Aww Mise thank you, and what about the second thing?” Octavia asked

“I'm going to give it to my parents, so that way they can use it to pay off their house, their bills and raise my new siblings.” Mise said

“Awwww, Mise that is so incredibly selfless of you.” Octavia said

Author's Notes:

in case anyone is wondering, I modeled the mansion after the gilded age mansions here in my hometown of Newport, Rhode Island. and Mise's stories of rumrunning and smuggling, those too are based of my hometown and my family. my dad's family were rumrunners during prohibition here in Newport.