Choi, Hyeyong, Essie. Cover Art, I Thought My Time Was Up!, Webtoon.
I Thought My Time Was Up! – Information
Author of Story: Original work by Ari Choi. Webtoon art by Essie, adaptation by Hyeyong.
Chapter Count: 100 episodes + side stories
Status: Completed
Content Warnings
These content warnings do not reflect the contents of the review below; only the literary work itself.
- SH, SI
- Blood, violence, war
- Abuse, torture
- Death, dying, murder
- Cruelty towards animals and children
- Injury
- Trauma
- Illness
- Mature content
- Disturbing imagery / topics
- Alcohol
- Fanservice
Spoiler Disclaimer
This recommendation post may contain small plot spoilers for review purposes. Any major spoilers are hidden by default and are able to be revealed via click or tap.
I Thought My Time Was Up! – Plot Summary
I Thought My Time Was Up, also known as I Thought I Didn’t Have Long to Live, follows the beautiful Lariette Blanche (a.k.a. “Rie”), the daughter of a duke and family lineage of witches. She doesn’t have a great relationship with her family, since they only want to marry her off for profit.
She has an even worse relationship with her brother, known as the family treasure (who received extra magic lessons and more support than Lariette). Despite all of this, she puts up with them.
However, after being told she has only three months left to live due to a terminal illness, Lariette decides she’s going to fulfill a bucket list of happy experiences and live her last three months for herself!
She has only ever been used and neglected by her family, and doesn’t want to end things with just unhappiness.
Her list is pretty simple:
- Give a gift to her family maid Anne (who is the only one who supported her)
- Break off the engagement that her family wants to force on her
- Become financially independent
- Date a hot guy
- Travel
After leaving her hateful family, Lariette tries to find work on her own as a purification witch (which can be used to heal people). During her job search, she runs into the rumored “monster” Duke Asrahan Kandel; who has a unique sickness of his own—actually, a curse!
Not only does he hold an intimidating status politically in the empire, but he’s also known as an incredible swordsman (also nicknamed the “war lord”).
Duke Kandel is avoided by many because of his unique curse, scary personality, and high status. He has a cold and harsh demeanor, but a handsome face. Simply due to his looks, Lariette immediately asks to date him for three months (without revealing her impending doom).
This starts the unique romance for I Thought My Time Was Up! However, keep in mind there is more to this webtoon than what it seems!
Why You Should Read I Thought My Time Was Up!
Plot:
Although I Thought My Time Was Up may just seem like a cliché manhwa story (and there are indeed many clichés), I still really enjoyed it. The interactions and slow build up between Lariette and Asrahan were exciting. I easily fall for slow burns, although this story isn’t what I’d consider a super slow burn.
The romance is actually paced well and doesn’t take forever to get interesting. It’s fun, with a bit of a push-and-pull trope, but not to an annoying extent—it’s more like a playful tug of war between a tsundere and a go-getter.
I love tsundere characters like Asrahan, he’s the perfect example of the best type of tsundere: Shy and dismissive, but secretly full of feelings.
The romance between these two slowly becomes very sweet, romantic, and even a bit exciting as they grow closer! Asrahan opens up so much later on, too; which makes his character even more cute as things progress in I Thought My Time Was Up.
Their romantic interactions make the start of this series seem super sweet, but you can’t help but feel like something bad will happen eventually due to the premise. Sure, they’ll date for three months—but then what?!
The excitement of the plot really builds the suspense properly before it begins to reach a huge turning point. Be prepared for lots of story, which all sort of revolves around the romance!
Choi, Hyeyong, Essie. Lariette Blanche, I Thought My Time Was Up!, Webtoon.
Luckily, this story has an appropriate amount of comedic relief. For example, Lariette approaches Asrahan confidently and is completely unfazed by the rumors that surround him; which is so hilarious and really keeps the ML on his toes.
The author often draws their contrasting personalities in very creative and hilarious ways.
The comedic relief is a bit necessary for this webtoon, as I Thought My Time Was Up isn’t all butterflies and happiness. There are some interestingly dark things lurking in the background plot about Lariette’s magic and her relationship with her family (as well as Asrahan’s past, too).
The romance in the story is often balanced with action, suspense, and a bit of mystery. Season two of this seemingly innocent romance takes quite a turn, revealing more of the character’s personalities and more eventful plot points. Look forward to it!
Overall, the plot of I Thought My Time Was Up is fun, interesting, exciting, and romantic. It’s mostly romance-focused, although it often circles back to magic, Asrahan’s curse, and Lariette’s illness often enough to keep the main plot relevant and exciting.
It’s an engaging story with really fun characters and a nice art style to admire as you read!
Characters:
As exaggerated manhwa tropes typically feature, the two main protagonists have strong personalities in I Thought My Time Was Up. Asrahan desperately wants to rid of his curse and will do anything (even very bad things) to get rid of it.
He has endured sad and lonely experiences, including mistreatment from a young age, and even his overall vibe is dark and scary. He’s also known throughout the empire for being a violent war lord.
But, even he has a heart and desires happiness, too. Luckily, Lariette isn’t very judgemental—but once Asrahan gets a taste of love, he becomes quite attached… (He sort of gives off yandere vibes, but not entirely!)
On the complete opposite side of the coin, Lariette is bright, outgoing, and positive. Even after being told she’s going to die, she still has such a happy and sunny personality, trying to enjoy the last of her days. She swoons over Asrahan regardless of his ailments, and works very hard to carve a place for herself into his heart.
Speaking of the romance, I love how these two characters hold the opposite traits typically portrayed in their relationship roles. Lariette is much more forward and takes all the steps to capture Asrahan’s heart! Meanwhile, Asrahan is more shy, hesitant, and extremely cute. They have a very fun dynamic!
Choi, Hyeyong, Essie. Asrahan Kandel, I Thought My Time Was Up!, Webtoon.
There is also a second male lead character who is mysterious and kind of suspicious. He plays a more significant role in the magical side of this story and background plot, which slowly gives us more information about Lariette.
This character sort of gives off weird evil vibes, but his walls and intentions are slowly brought down by Lariette’s kind personality. He has his own backstory too, which is slowly revealed to the readers over time. It’s hard to explain how I feel about this character here without spoiling the story—I talk about his role more in the in-depth section, if you’re interested.
Art:
Both of the protagonists in I Thought My Time Was Up are drawn beautifully, and the artist does a nice job including beautiful floral or sparkly backgrounds to match their lovely character designs.
The romantic scenes are also super cute (and a bit suggestive at times—as much as a webtoon can be, anyway).
Additionally, the clothing designs in this webtoon are lovely. Lariette’s dresses are always pretty, flowy, and unique; perfect for her character’s bright personality!
The artist does a great job creating fresh, new clothing for these characters often. Even Asrahan has an impressive wardrobe that makes him look so handsome and sometimes a bit gothic, which totally suits his vibe.
However, not every reader may like every aspect of the art style, which I elaborate on in the cons section below.
Any Cons?
Unfortunately, I have a lot of cons for this webtoon.
The main con I have for I Thought My Time Was Up is that there are a few plot holes and strange events in this series with little to no explanation.
Firstly, there’s no background provided about why Lariette’s family hates her. It feels like a massive, yet common manhwa plot hole. They are very dramatic with their hate for her, and I felt sort of confused the whole time. I think I would have preferred more backstory that would allow me to understand their strange relationship better.
Secondly, the main leads are introduced to each other very quickly due to random, convenient circumstances. Lariette chases after the very hesitant and sort of cold ML, yet never tries to date anyone else even though she’s got only a few months to live.
Instead, she just keeps trying harder to pursue him. She also conveniently has magical powers, perfect for addressing his illness. It’s very set up, haha.
I also didn’t really like the length of the main relationship. I personally think that 3 months is a bit too short of a time for love to bloom so strongly between two people. It would feel more realistic or dramatic to me if the time period was longer; but this webtoon doesn’t exactly scream “realistic” anyway.
Choi, Hyeyong, Essie. Inner Panel Art, I Thought My Time Was Up!, Webtoon.
In terms of the characters, I’ll first warn that the ML is a bit violent; mostly in the way that he doesn’t hesitate to use his swordsman skills and high status to cut down others. He’s also super possessive.
However, these personality traits are a part of his character design: A man who was mistreated and made into an outcast for so long. Even Lariette recognizes this more problematic side of Asrahan, but doesn’t let it completely disrupt her attraction to him.
I wanted to mention this because I know not all readers are into the yandere-ish characters (although he didn’t feel like a true yandere to me, so I didn’t label this review with that tag).
I personally don’t mind flawed characters, and actually thought it kept things interesting. His “rough” personality, combined with his possessiveness (doing whatever it takes to keep his new lover safe) turned out to be an interesting gap moe when compared to how he acts romantically—but I understand if it isn’t your cup of tea!
Speaking of character personalities, Lariette has a problematic side, too. She constantly ignores Asrahan’s boundaries and seems to disregard his extreme attachment to her. I understand she thinks she’s going to die soon, but that doesn’t justify her doing whatever she wants to him.
However, this becomes a major aspect of the plot that helps build suspense later on—so again, character flaws keep things interesting. But I will say sometimes her decisions throughout the story are frustrating.
And lastly, as I mentioned earlier, many readers may dislike the art style, at least in terms of fanservice. There’s a lot of fanservice in this series, and sometimes it can seem a little… off.
Having a shirtless ML that’s incredibly ripped but also has a baby face can be sort of off-putting. So if this sort of thing occurring often in a webtoon bothers you, maybe beware. I’ll reaffirm that the art outside of the fanservice is fine, though.
More In-Depth Review (Warning: Spoilers!)
I understand a lot of readers don’t like this story—it is a bit unhinged and very dramatic in that well-known manhwa style. But, I love the relationship between the two protagonists, their twisted personalities, and the crazy plot developments that occur later in the story. Messy stories are fun, too!
Although Lariette (in the early chapters) mentions she just wants a casual relationship to fool around with a hot man during her last three months to live, it is a questionable act—allowing someone to become attached and fall in love with you only to leave them forever (and not telling them why) is really cruel.
But, at the same time, she was a young woman who hardly experienced love or happiness, so I also sort of don’t blame her for wanting to make happy memories before death. She also eventually realizes that she has led him on, and that she was the only one who thought they’d actually date for only three months.
I loved seeing Lariette realize all her wrongdoings once she finds out she isn’t going to die. It forces her to face her feelings and love for Asrahan without frivolity, and shows a very big change in her personality.
Rather than playing around and having fun before her inevitable death, she now must face the reality of her choices and make things right with her lover. She gains a new and refreshing level of seriousness!
We also get a very sudden plot shift after that realization, going from cute innocent romance to everything hitting the fan quick. While the story is full of some pretty sad emotions as Asrahan feels abandoned and Lariette realizes all the horrible things she’s done, you can’t help but enjoy the chaos and climax of this exciting story.
Asrahan desperately runs to find Lariette after she runs away to “die,” but the couple experiences many (melodramatic) challenges in meeting each other once again. Amongst all their desperation, Doha even has the gall to try and sabotage Lariette and Asrahan’s relationship. However, we do get to learn more about his backstory during this arc.
Additionally, the purpose of his character becomes more evident, since we know Lariette never grew feelings for him: Although his meddling is a bit annoying, it helps Lariette realize how she had made Asrahan feel through her actions.
Ultimately, he helps her character grow in a way that was necessary to form the final relationship between Asrahan and Lariette.
To be honest, I thought Asrahan would go berserk at this point, but instead he was just very desperate to find his lover who changed his life for the better. Even though Asrahan could have turned to rage at that point, I think it’s much better in the end that he didn’t; for the sake of their relationship and his character development.
Lariette was a little afraid of him, so it’s good that he reacted to her mistakes with love and understanding—something she had needed all along. Asrahan originally seemed like a freaky yandere, but he actually turns out to be the dedicated lover that Lariette deserved!
I expected the story to end after all this (like somewhere around episode 80) but there was actually a bit more to read!
Lariette has some developments that gives her a position of power, Asrahan deals with the royal family and solves the question of succession, and Doha sort of goes berserk—but rids the community of the temple (which as we know was super shady and evil).
Lariette has some sort of conclusion in terms of her family name, Asrahan has a silly side adventure of being terrible at coming up with a suitable proposal, and Asrahan’s staff begins to accept Lariette.
And of course, us readers get to see the main couple get married, hooray! Just when the plot started to feel like it was being dragged, the story wraps up with all of these different aspects.
Although I’m glad the main couple got their happy ending, I can’t help but feel like Doha’s entire side of the story just cruelly used him. He shows up, falls in love with the FL, and even has a whole arc where he follows Lariette during her little excursion (where she runs away from Asrahan).
Then, because of his feelings, he even intentionally tries to split her relationship with Asrahan. He gets rejected, goes crazy and “removes” everyone in the temple—the end! I felt like he didn’t really get a good conclusion, especially with all the sad backstories we got to see for his character.
He mostly just meddles in the main relationship throughout the entire story, but I still couldn’t hate him completely. I had really hoped he would have had a more thorough ending than what he received.
But regardless, this webtoon was still enjoyable. It turned out to be a very melodramatic story with lots of romance! It isn’t perfect, but the drama was definitely fun and I really liked the dynamic between Asrahan and Lariette. (´｡• ᵕ •｡)
Final Thoughts
Overall, the characters in I Thought My Time Was Up are pretty, their personalities are interesting, and their interactions are exciting, romantic, and suspenseful.
The plot is dramatic and cliché, but still really engaging—you may find yourself wondering what’ll come next with each chapter. You’ll definitely want to root for the main two and their unique relationship, so I think it is worth the read.
If you enjoy crazy, dramatic plots and manhwa clichés—as well as some interesting character personalities—this webtoon could be a great pick for you!
Disclaimer: Any images used for this blog are for illustrative purposes only, are not owned by me, and are under ownership of the artist or publisher.
Images Credit: Ari Choi, Hyeyong, and Essie. I Thought My Time Was Up!, Webtoon, 2023.
