"THWACK!"
Just before Noah was about to answer Mark, a loud smacking noise from nearby flinched him a bit. Abruptly all the servants surrounding him shifted their attention towards their left side from where the noise came. Following them, Noah also noticed a young little boy, around 10-12 years old, got slapped quite aloud by another middle-aged male royal servant, who seemed furious from his expression.
That little boy had a small face and fair white complexion, but most of his body parts were covered in swollen red bruises, probably from getting beaten up. Even a part of his tiny face was puffy and swelled up. That middle-aged guy was screaming and slapping the child frantically but he didn't object a bit and stayed completely still.
