Please stop excusing the boys' behaviors like some everyday sibling shenanigans.
It's like saying "boys will be boys".
They have a deep-seated anger/hatred for her existence within their family. It's not a personal grudge (maybe) against her but a grudge against the fact that she's been brought in as some replacement to the sister they lost.
It's not some petty thing that they're doing. They genuinely want her gone.
They may not always be big stuff but like
@definitionofinsanity said
Y'know, my siblings and I didn't always get along, but not once did we ever do anything to each other that was almost fatal like with them getting Hari to go outside and nearly freeze to death.
That's just one example of how cruel they've been to a young girl. And she's had to endure just that one event TWICE already.
Yeah, she got the older brother slapped (which took me by surprise) but her actions to protect herself does not mean she's
responsible for what the dad did to reprimand his son. His way of disciplining is not her decision. Plus, if the brothers think that they can always lay a hand on her, why can't they be dealt with a heavy hand in return?
Bullying is bullying.
Not once, I believe, has the MC returned the gesture of their bullying in the same manner. It has always been to protect herself and not some meditated retaliation.
Also,
@Jessicazors -what's wrong with her feeling bitter that she was never treated as family? She was taken in as a young child who was probably gonna die out in the streets. She probably had this false hope that she was being saved only to be placed in another harsh environment where she is constantly tormented not by one but three people. And now she has to go through all of that again. That rejection shapes a child.