xymnovel Chapter 189 The Eyes of the People
Chapter 189 The Eyes of the People
Dawn came earlier than usual in Thessaly. The sky was just beginning to lighten, and a thick morning mist still shrouded the sleeping fields.
Inside Dmitri Gunnaris's residence, the lingering smell of last night's alcohol mixed with the cloying sweetness of cheap perfume emanating from women still hung in the air. He tossed and turned on the soft bed, his head throbbing. The revelry of the previous night had continued late into the night. Now that the alcohol had worn off, Dmitri Gunnaris sat alone in his dark study, toying with an old copper coin—a gift from Stavros before his departure for Athens, a reminder to never forget that he too had started out as a dockworker carrying sacks.
He looked out the window at the luxurious mansions belonging to the old landlords, then at the mountain of gold coins piled on his table, a painful struggle on his face. He muttered to himself, "Just one last time... If I can get this money again, I can completely crush them under my feet, and then... then I'll compensate those farmers double..." He clutched the copper coin tightly in his hand, as if seeking a last bit of strength, but in the end, he threw it deep into the drawer.
"Bang!"
With a loud crash, the heavy oak doors of the official residence were violently slammed open from the outside.
Gunaris sat up irritably, about to angrily berate which ignorant servant dared to be so presumptuous.
Immediately following, a series of uniform, heavy, and powerful footsteps approached from afar, as if stepping on his heart.
The bedroom door was flung open with a "whoosh".
In the dim light of dawn, a group of soldiers dressed in black uniforms and wearing helmets with royal insignia swarmed in like ghosts. They moved swiftly and silently, their rifles gleaming with a cold metallic sheen.
Gunaris's drunkenness vanished instantly with terror. He saw a familiar figure standing at the very front of all the soldiers.
Alexandros Dimitriopoulos.
His Highness the Crown Prince's most trusted aide, now the Director of the Royal Intelligence Bureau.
Alexandros, dressed in a crisp black military uniform, remained expressionless. He simply stared calmly at Gunaris, disheveled and terrified, on the bed, as if he were looking at a dead man.
"What...what are you going to do?" Gunari's voice trembled with fear. He instinctively grabbed the silk blanket beside him to cover his naked body. "I am the Thessalian Administrator personally appointed by His Highness the Crown Prince!"
Alexandros did not answer him. He simply raised his hand.
Two guards stepped forward and roughly dragged Gunaris off the bed to the ground.
Alexandros walked slowly to him, took a document from his pocket, and unfolded it in front of him.
At the top of the document were Constantine's handwritten signature and the Crown Prince's wax seal. Every word on that cold arrest warrant felt like a red-hot branding iron, searing into his eyes.
"Dmitri Gunaris," Alexandros's voice was devoid of any emotion, "by order of His Highness the Crown Prince, you are hereby formally arrested for treason under the Anti-Corruption Law of the Kingdom of Greece."
"No! This isn't true! It's a slander! I want to see His Highness! I want to explain to His Highness in person!" Gunaris completely broke down. He struggled frantically, but the guards held him down firmly, preventing him from moving.
Alexandros didn't look at him again and turned to walk away.
"take away."
The cold, hard order signaled the complete downfall of this rising political star overnight.
Three days later, in Larissa, the capital of Thessaly.
A large open space had been cleared in the city center square. Just a few months earlier, Crown Prince Constantine had distributed food to the starving people here, promising them land and a future.
Today, a tall courtroom has been erected in the same location. Behind the courtroom, the blue and white cross flag of the Kingdom of Greece and the golden double-headed eagle flag symbolizing the royal family flutter in the autumn wind.
News of the trial spread like wildfire throughout every village in Thessaly.
Before dawn, tens of thousands of farmers flocked to Larissa from all directions. They brought their families, young and old, abandoning their farm work and walking from dozens of kilometers away. They wanted to see for themselves whether His Highness the Crown Prince would keep his promise.
The square was packed with people, a dark mass. The air was thick with the mingled smells of sweat, dust, and tension. Thousands of farmers huddled together, yet eerily quiet, the only sounds being their heavy breathing and the rustling of flags in the wind. The pitchforks and sickles in their hands gleamed coldly in the sunlight, and their weathered faces were expressionless, save for pairs of eyes fixed intently on the high judge's bench, awaiting an answer.
Stavros Vlahopoulos also came. He didn't stand in any conspicuous position, but stood silently at the front of the crowd like an ordinary lame old farmer, leaning on a wooden cane. Behind him were hundreds of dockworkers who had spontaneously come from the port of Piraeus, forming a silent and solid human wall.
At exactly nine o'clock in the morning, the trial bell rang.
The entire room fell silent.
Gunaris was led onto the trial platform by two guards. He was dressed in prison clothes, his hair was disheveled, and his face was deathly pale. When he saw the thousands of eyes below him, those faces he once knew but now filled with anger and indifference, his legs went weak, and he almost collapsed to the ground.
The chief judge struck the gavel.
"The prisoner, Dmitri Gunaris!"
The trial has begun.
The judge read out Gunaris's charges in a completely emotionless tone.
"He abused his power to accept bribes totaling 200,000 drachmas in the land allocation process!"
"Forged documents and misappropriated a total of 30 hectares of farmland belonging to the families of martyrs!"
"They colluded with former landowners to extort 'gratitude fees' from farmers, with the amount involved reaching as high as 120,000 drachmas!"
……
Each charge was like a heavy hammer blow, striking the hearts of everyone in the square.
The evidence was presented one by one.
An elderly woman with white hair was helped up to the witness stand. With trembling hands, she took out the rejected loan application and tearfully recounted how the servants of Gunaris had repeatedly demanded "gifts" from her.
A middle-aged man, his eyes red, pointed at Gunaris and roared like a wild beast. He showed the judge a forged land contract in which his family's paddy fields had been allocated to a distant relative of a notorious old landowner in the area.
The crowd began to stir, and angry curses rose and fell.
Alexandros stepped onto the judge's bench. He didn't speak, but simply pointed a small recording device at the loudspeaker hanging in the square.
"...As long as you allocate that piece of land in the south of the city to my nephew, this amount is yours."
"That's too little. That piece of land is worth at least that much."
"My lord, your appetite is far too great..."
"Hmph, think it's too big? There are plenty of people willing to pay that price. My power was given to me by His Highness the Crown Prince, but how I use that power is my own decision."
Gunaris's familiar yet unfamiliar voice, filled with greed and arrogance, resounded clearly through the loudspeaker to every corner of the square.
The proof is like a mountain!
The square was deathly silent.
All the farmers looked at Gunaris on the stage with the eyes of someone looking at a monster. This "one of their own," whom they had once trusted and loved, turned out to be such a despicable person behind the scenes.
Gunaris was ashen-faced and trembling violently. He knew it was all over.
But he was not willing to give up.
"No! Your Honor! I'm innocent!" he suddenly shouted hoarsely. "I did all this to better implement the new policies!"
He attempted to make a final defense of himself.
"Those old landlords are deeply entrenched. How can the new policies be implemented if we don't appease them? I'm taking money to infiltrate their ranks, to 'unite all forces that can be united'!"
"I admit I made a mistake, but my intentions were good! I did it for His Highness the Crown Prince's cause! I've shed sweat for Greece! I'm a hero of the new government! You can't treat me like this!"
His sophistry appeared so pale, powerless, and laughable in the face of the angry gazes of the people and the overwhelming evidence.
Stavros watched the man on stage making a complete fool of himself, then slowly closed his eyes. His brother, whom he had once been so proud of, had rotted to the core.
The chief judge ignored his roar and simply stared at him coldly.
"Defendant, is your defense finished?"
Gunaris opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but under the judge's cold gaze, he couldn't utter a single word.
"The court will adjourn for ten minutes, and the panel of judges will deliver its final verdict."
The gavel fell with a dull thud.
Ten minutes felt like an eternity.
When the judge stepped back onto the bench, everyone held their breath.
The chief judge picked up the verdict and, in a loud and solemn voice, announced the final judgment to the entire square and to all of Greece.
"Following a trial by the Supreme Court of the Kingdom of Greece, the criminal Dmitri Gunaris has betrayed the trust of the people and violated the laws of the land; his actions constitute treason under the Anti-Corruption Law of the Kingdom of Greece!"
The judge paused, each word carrying immense weight.
"This court hereby pronounces its verdict: Dmitry Gunaris is sentenced to death! Immediate execution!"
The moment the verdict was announced, the entire square fell into a deathly silence, followed by thunderous applause and deafening cheers!
The anger that had been suppressed for so long was finally released at this moment!
"Long live the King!"
"Long live His Highness the Crown Prince!"
The farmers shouted, and some of the elderly even shed tears of emotion.
They saw that His Highness the Crown Prince had not lied to them!