1885, I came to save Greece

Chapter 190 Corruption is the only capital offense

Beside the judge's bench, a simple wooden gallows had already been erected. It stood like a silent exclamation mark, bringing this momentous trial to a close.

Amidst the deafening cheers of the crowd, two executioners dragged the limp Gunaris from the ground and carried him toward the platform that symbolized death.

He was shouting something incoherently, but his voice was quickly drowned out by the roars of the crowd.

As he was led up the steps to the gallows, his gaze passed through the throng of heads and met that of Stavros at the very front of the crowd.

Eyes facing each other.

Stavros simply looked at him calmly.

Those eyes, once filled with encouragement, trust, and pride, now held no hatred, no anger, only a bottomless sorrow.

That is the sorrow of watching a sapling you planted with your own hands, on which you placed high hopes, eventually grow into a poisonous weed.

Gunaris's body jolted violently.

That calm gaze was sharper than any blade, instantly piercing through his last line of psychological defense.

He remembered that poor but hopeful afternoon when Stavros patted him on the shoulder and, limping, led him step by step into the union's gate.

He recalled how Stavros had pushed him forward in the palace, offering his entire reputation as a guarantee for the Crown Prince.

He recalled how he had solemnly promised this man, who was like a brother and a father to him, that he would never let him down and would pave a bright path for all ordinary people.

"ah--!"

In his final moments, Gunaris completely broke down.

He broke free from the executioner's restraints, knelt down, and frantically kowtowed towards the direction of the palace.

"Your Highness! I was wrong! I was really wrong! Please spare my life! I'm willing to be your slave, I'm willing to mine, I'm willing to build roads! Please give me another chance!"

He cried out, snot and tears mingling together, leaving two messy furrows on his dusty face.

He then turned to the peasants in the audience, and to Stavros.

"I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry everyone! I'm a bastard! I'm an ungrateful beast! I deserve to die! I really deserve to die!"

The more pitiful his cries, the more indifferent the expressions of the people below the stage became.

There was no sympathy, no pity.

For a traitor, any repentance seems cheap and laughable.

The executioner stepped forward expressionlessly and placed the rough noose around his neck.

The cold touch abruptly silenced Gunaris's cries.

He took one last look at the world. He saw the angry crowd in Larissa Square, the familiar fields in the distance, and Stavros's face, etched with sorrow.

The executioner pulled the wrench.

"Crunch—"

The trapdoor beneath their feet suddenly opened.

Gunaris's body convulsed violently in the air a few times, his legs kicking wildly, and then he became completely still, like a tattered sack, hanging in mid-air, swaying gently in the autumn wind.

A once-promising star ended his sinful and short life in the most shameful way.

The deafening cheers in the square gradually subsided.

Instead, there was only deathly silence.

Everyone was deeply shocked by this ruthless and cold-blooded scene. They had witnessed firsthand how a meritorious official, personally promoted by the crown prince, was mercilessly sent to the gallows because of corruption.

Just then, a figure stepped onto the high judge's platform.

It's Crown Prince Constantine!

He had arrived here at some unknown time. At this moment, he was wearing a black military uniform without any extra decorations, and he walked step by step to the front of the judge's bench.

He didn't look at the corpse swaying in the wind, but instead slowly swept his deep blue eyes over the thousands of people below the stage.

In the square, everyone instinctively straightened their backs.

"Today, standing here, my heart is heavy with sorrow."

Constantine spoke, and his voice, amplified by the loudspeaker, resonated clearly throughout every corner of the square.

"Dmitri Gunaris was once my hope, the hope of all of us. He came from among you, and he should have been the pride of the new Greece. But he betrayed you, betrayed the country, and betrayed my trust in him."

"It's not terrible that one Gunaris has fallen. What's terrible is what he represents."

Constantine's voice suddenly rose in pitch and became full of power.

"It's a plague! A plague more dangerous than the Ottoman bayonets, more dangerous than the Bulgarian cannons! It's invisible and intangible, yet it can silently corrode everything we've built from within! It can turn our heroes into termites! It can turn our hopes into despair!"

He opened his arms as if to embrace all the people.

"Today, we are not just hanging a man named Dmitri Gunaris!"

"What we are hanging is betrayal! It is the sin of placing personal desires above the interests of the nation and its people!"

"Here, on this newly reborn land of Thessaly, I, Crown Prince Constantine of Greece, solemnly promise to all the people of Greece:"

His voice, like thunder, exploded above everyone's heads!

"From this day forward, for this country, corruption will be the only capital offense!"

"I don't care who he is! Whether he's an old nobleman wearing ancient badges or a new commoner rising from among us! Whether he's a decorated general or an unknown village official!"

"Anyone who dares to steal the interests of the nation and the people! Anyone who dares to tarnish the purity of the new policy!"

"There's only one outcome for them all!"

Constantine pointed to the corpse swaying in the wind.

At this moment, his voice echoed not only in Larissa Square.

Through newspapers printed at breakneck speed, his speech, like a sharp sword carrying a chilling wind, spread throughout every city, village, and island of Greece.

Below the stage, the old nobles who were eager to make their move and thought that there was no one suitable for the crown prince turned pale and broke out in a cold sweat upon hearing the crown prince's voice.

Inside the government building in Athens, the newly appointed officials sat upright, their expressions solemn.

The officers, invited from the border camps to Larissa, listened quietly.

They all understood one thing.

In the hands of this young crown prince, there is not only a carrot that can create a new world, but also a gleaming sword that can sever heads at any moment.

This sword hangs high above everyone's heads.