This whole arc is probably my favorite, but I really love this part especially. It's fantastic writing. All of these people, the butler, her father, her older brother, they want to feel like they're good people. They don't actually give a damn about her and how much she suffers. Once she shoved her misery into their faces, then they all start tripping over themselves to fix it. But when they come to brag about how much they've done, it's always with an implication of "Be happy with this. Stop complaining". And that's the attitude that made the original her and Penelope put up with so much misery for so long. She just wanted to make her family love her, and she thought they would if she just beared with it. I honestly worry about the author, because this reads far too close to real life child abuse for comfort.
I started loving the story after "Too late". Because she won't let them get away with it. They can't gaslight her into thinking they're good people after all the things they've done. She holds them accountable for each and every thing, and her family will never get her love. It's far too late for that. But it's also extremely tragic that because she's not a fool, because she won't just forgive and forget everything, she'll never feel the familial love she craves so badly. This chapter brings to light the horrible reality that she's already broken, no matter what they do now she may never love again. If she ever does find it in her heart to trust someone, it could take years of healing, if ever.
Honestly I just want poor Penelope to find a guy who's parents just adopt her and treat her as their own daughter. She doesn't deserve to be stuck with a family this awful. And good lord, get her out of this hellish house.