The difference showed in small things first.
Julian stepped into the corridor without checking his pace, without scanning the space the way he had grown used to doing. He did not pause to measure who was nearby or how close anyone stood. He walked as if the tension that had followed him before no longer sat on his shoulders in the same way.
It did not mean the guards were gone.
It meant he was no longer moving around them.
Two of them shifted as he passed, adjusting their positions out of habit, but Julian did not slow down for them. He kept walking, hands relaxed at his sides, attention forward, not deliberately ignoring them, just no longer reacting to their presence.
That alone was enough to draw a glance.
He reached the main floor and stopped near the far side of the room, his hand brushing lightly against the edge of a table as he turned. There were people here, some seated, some standing, all of them aware of movement even when they pretended not to be.
