Once the carriage arrived to the gate, the guards went first to open the carriage door for Ludwig.
The gesture was practiced and quick, the kind done for people who mattered. Metal clinked as one of them moved the latch, and the door swung open with a smoothness that screamed preparation rather than courtesy.
Ludwig stepped toward it and paused for a fraction, not because he needed help, but because the change in treatment was too obvious to ignore.
The last time he had used gates like these, he had been another traveler with a weapon and a face no one remembered.
Now he was being handled like a piece of state business. Ludwig's mouth tightened slightly, the kind of expression that wasn't anger, just annoyance.
The coachman noticed and said, "The last time you came here, you were a young warrior; today, everyone knows of you, Viscount Ludwig."
'Ah, nobility…' Ludwig shook his head and moved out of the carriage.
He didn't correct the coachman or accept the compliment.
