⚠️ Major spoiler warning: This is a personal review of the complete manhwa, including the 117th life, Karen and Raymond's relationship, the secrets of the repetitions, pregnancy loss, and the ending. The story also contains graphic violence, abuse, and psychological horror. If you haven't finished The Crimson Lady, I recommend reading it first: its mysteries are worth experiencing for yourself.

I waited days after finishing The Crimson Lady, also known as Resetting Lady, before I could bring myself to write this review. I didn't have the feeling to start. It was as though writing about the ending would make saying goodbye to Karen and Raymond real.

The funny thing is, I only started reading it because I saw Karen holding an axe on the cover. She looked cute, but there was something menacing about that image. I wanted to know what kind of story would have a female lead like her.

Well, I got my answer. And I was not ready for it.

This story set a new benchmark for dark and twisted manhwa for me. Some scenes genuinely scared me enough that I stopped reading and waited until I had cooled off. Yet every time I took a break, I couldn't stop thinking about what might happen next.

By the final chapter, I wasn't thinking about axes or murder anymore. I was watching two parents smile at their daughter, and I felt completely hollow when it was over.

This is the best manhwa I've read in 2026. My rating is 11/10. ❤️🩸

The 117th Life: Karen Woke Up and Chose Violence

Imagine dying and waking up at seventeen. You change your decisions, try to find love, try to avoid the people who hurt you—and still end up dead. Then you wake up at seventeen again.

By the time we meet Karen in her 117th life, she has tried so much that her sense of reality and morality is completely damaged. She believes the people around her are characters in a novel and that everything will return when the next life begins.

So Karen wakes up and chooses violence. 😭🔪

I know how horrible that sounds, but the way she makes this decision is almost absurdly funny. She has spent so long trying to survive by following the rules that, this time, she decides to throw the rules away altogether.

What made her unforgettable to me was that she wasn't just a cool, ruthless heroine. Sometimes she was frightening. Sometimes she was hilarious. Other times I wondered how someone could suffer enough to stop seeing the people around her as real.

I also loved that Raymond initially sees her as a dangerous murderer and tries to stop her. Imagine meeting your future partner under those circumstances. These two were never going to have a normal romance.

And here's our running joke: Karen tried everything else, then chose violence. Somehow, violence finally changed things.

The Mystery Made Me Doubt Karen Herself

For a while, I genuinely suspected Karen might be delusional about repeating her life. The revelation about Nancy and the medicine that altered Karen's memories made me question whether we could trust what she remembered at all.

What if the repetitions weren't real? What if the people around her had manipulated her so badly that she could no longer tell the difference between a past life and a false memory?

That uncertainty made the story even scarier. The numbered coin, Catherine, Nancy, and Dulan all seemed to hold pieces of an answer, but every new clue made the nightmare larger.

Then we learned that Karen hadn't entered a novel at all. This was her world. She had always been Karen. The idea that her life was someone else's fictional story was another part of what had been done to her.

I love mysteries that force me to reconsider earlier scenes. The Crimson Lady did that again and again. Even after I thought I finally understood one part of Karen's life, another revelation made me look at it differently.

Gueuze's Room: The Scene That Genuinely Scared Me

I have read dark stories before. But there were points in this one when I actually put my device down and waited before continuing.

The moment I remember most clearly is Karen screaming after Gueuze kidnaps her and she sees the murdered women in his room. That scene was horrifying. Even knowing how much Karen had already survived, I wasn't prepared to see her react like that.

I hated Gueuze from the bottom of my heart. His power let him treat women as disposable, and every new detail about his cruelty made me want to see him finally face consequences.

But the horror of this manhwa wasn't only about obvious monsters like Gueuze. It also came from people who smiled at Karen, claimed to be helping her, and quietly controlled the choices she was allowed to make.

That is why this story became my benchmark for darkness. It didn't rely only on blood or shock. It made me feel how terrifying it would be to have your life, your body, and even your memories taken out of your control.

Karen and Raymond: Two Broken People, One Impossible Love

One of my favorite stretches was the life when Raymond quickly dealt with the people threatening Karen and the two of them finally spent peaceful time together at the mansion. After so much suffering, even a little happiness felt like pure bliss.

And then we learned that Karen could still die even when she tried to do nothing. For a moment I had believed they might have found an answer. The story took that hope away almost immediately.

The scene where Raymond desperately tries to save Karen as she falls from a building broke my heart. Watching him cry while reaching for her made me understand how helpless he was, no matter how strong he seemed.

Then came the revelation about his memories: Raymond had accumulated more than 7,000 years of remembered life.

BRO. Our Raymond was a 7,000-year-old grandpa. 😭

I laughed at that thought, but the truth behind it was devastating. Karen kept dying and returning. Raymond's different lives kept going after he lost her. When those memories came back to him, he had to carry all those years of surviving without her.

Karen was broken because she kept dying. Raymond was broken because he kept living after she died.

He had once been a man who represented justice. Later, his world narrowed until keeping Karen beside him mattered more than almost anything else. His actions became terrifying, and I don't think their relationship should be mistaken for a healthy romance.

But within this story, I desperately wanted these two broken people to find peace together. Raymond didn't magically cure Karen. He became the person who could say, in effect, I remember too.

After all those lives, Karen finally had someone who understood that her suffering was real.

Dulan 🍩: Eternity Sounds Beautiful Until You Have to Live It

Oh, Dulan. You absolute 🍩. 🌋

The more I learned about him, the angrier I became. While Karen wanted to escape the repetitions, Dulan became obsessed with preserving them. His interference with her medication and ability to have a child made him one of the characters I hated most.

Catherine wanted Karen to wait until she found genuine love before conceiving, rather than having a child simply to pass on the burden and escape. Dulan twisted that into a desire to prevent Karen from having a child at all. His idea of eternity mattered more to him than what Karen wanted for her own life.

The consequences were devastating. When Karen finally discovered that she was pregnant with Raymond's child, it felt like something genuinely new had entered her endlessly repeating world. Then we learned that the damage caused by years of medication meant their baby could not survive.

Karen telling Raymond about the pregnancy—and breaking down because their child could never be born—was one of the moments that hurt me most. After everything, even that small hope had been taken away.

Later, Dulan was forced to experience the accumulated memories of the repetitions himself. The man who had treated eternity like something precious finally learned what it had meant to Karen.

It wasn't a gift. It was hell.

I understand that he later regretted his actions and tried to repair the damage he had caused. I can recognize that change without forgiving him.

For me, Dulan and Gueuze still have a shared reservation at the eternal lava bath. At least the two 🍩 will have company. 🤝🌋

Isella: I Never Expected to Love Her This Much

I never truly hated Isella. She could be spoiled and frustrating, but there were lives when I genuinely felt sorry for her. Watching her suffer—especially when Raymond's violent choices left her at Gueuze's mercy—made it difficult to see her as just a romantic rival.

I also remember the life when Isella went missing and Verdic was devastated. It showed me how deeply he loved his daughter, even though he was still responsible for terrible things he did to Karen. Loving Isella didn't make the way he controlled her future—or hurt other people—acceptable.

Then came a development I never expected to enjoy so much: Karen and Isella became actual friends. ❤️

I loved seeing them work together with Raymond and Zion to save Karen from Gueuze. I loved Isella finally pushing back against Verdic and making decisions for herself. And I loved that her story didn't end with losing Raymond; she found happiness with Zion.

Even the later arguments between Verdic and Zion made me smile. After so much darkness, seeing Isella have an ordinary, loving family was a relief.

And the final little gift? Isella's daughter and Karen's daughter became friends too. Their mothers' story began with rivalry and other people's expectations. Their daughters got to begin with friendship.

Little Prince Lewis Finally Got His Future

Lewis broke my heart in a completely different way. He was a child who admired Raymond, yet in so many lives he died before he ever had the chance to grow up.

It hurt even more knowing how far Raymond's obsession could take him. The knight Lewis admired could make terrible choices involving the boy when he was trying to control the outcome of a life.

That is why seeing Lewis finally become king in the successful timeline felt so good. Gueuze lost his power, and the little prince got a future that the repetitions had stolen from him again and again.

And when we saw the grown-up Lewis? Bro, our little prince had become one handsome king. 😭👑

I also loved that he later supported Rebecca's dream of joining the military, even when her protective parents weren't exactly thrilled. The boy who once looked up to Raymond had grown into a man who could help Raymond's daughter choose her own path.

Rebecca: Karen's Greatest Happiness and Her Greatest Fear

When Karen gave birth to Rebecca, I wanted to celebrate. But Karen was afraid to even hold her daughter because she feared the curse might pass to her.

That reaction hurt to read. After so many lives of trying to escape the repetitions, Karen was terrified that the child she loved might have to experience the same suffering.

Then we saw Rebecca growing up with Raymond's golden hair. I felt such relief. Maybe this little girl really would be free of the fate that had haunted Karen's maternal bloodline.

Rebecca herself was hilarious. She grew into a tomboy who wanted to join the military, while Karen and Raymond reacted like the worried parents they had finally become. Watching them argue over their daughter's future was such an ordinary family problem—and after everything, that ordinariness was beautiful.

Still, one fear remained. They couldn't know for certain that the curse had ended until Rebecca grew past the age when it might begin again.

Rebecca's Birthday: The Ending That Left Me Hollow

I honestly didn't believe a story this dark could give me such a beautiful ending. After the murder, cruelty, obsession, and heartbreak, I thought one more awful twist might be waiting for us.

Instead, we got Rebecca's birthday party.

Karen and Raymond had raised their daughter together. They had watched her grow into her own person. But a part of them was still waiting, afraid that her eighteenth birthday might bring the same curse that had destroyed so many lives before hers.

Then Rebecca looked across the room at her parents. She was smiling, and she waved at them.

Karen and Raymond stood together and waved back. They looked like two proud parents thinking, We raised her well. Look how much she's grown.

And nothing happened.

No regression. No return to seventeen. No daughter trapped in the same nightmare.

I can't explain how much that small moment meant to me. After a story where death kept tearing the future away, the greatest victory was simply a girl reaching her birthday and getting to live the next day.

At the beginning, Karen treated the people around her as disposable because she believed everything would reset. At the end, she was smiling at a daughter whose life would continue beyond hers, full of choices and ordinary tomorrows.

I was so happy for Karen and Raymond. They had waited for this moment together, and now they could finally stop being afraid.

But when I finished the chapter, I felt completely empty inside. I had wanted Karen to escape for so long that, once she finally did, I wasn't ready to leave her world behind.

The story had to end. For once, Karen's life didn't. 😭❤️

The Two Things That Disappointed Me

Giving this manhwa an 11/10 doesn't mean I loved every single detail. I have two criticisms, and the first is the biggest one for me: the ultimate origin of the repeating-life curse never received the clear explanation I wanted.

We learn about Karen's maternal bloodline, the saintesses, and the one-million-death burden. But I still wanted to understand exactly why this curse existed and how the repetitions began. For a story that made me investigate every mystery, that question felt too important to leave so uncertain.

My second criticism is the artwork. I personally felt that the early chapters had stronger detail and a more unsettling atmosphere. As the story went on, some of that visual intensity seemed less consistent to me.

Neither issue erased what this story made me feel. I can wish it had answered more and still love the journey more than almost anything else I've read.

Final Thoughts: Goodbye, Karen. You Finally Get to Keep Living.

I started The Crimson Lady because an axe-wielding girl on a cover looked cute and menacing. I stayed because I needed to know whether Karen would ever find a way out.

I laughed when she chose violence. I was genuinely frightened by Gueuze. I hated Dulan with a passion. I cried for the baby Karen and Raymond lost, and I felt proud when Isella and Lewis finally got the futures they deserved.

But the image I will carry with me is much quieter than any murder or revelation: Karen and Raymond smiling and waving at Rebecca from across a birthday party.

A woman who had died again and again finally got to watch her daughter grow up. A man who had lived thousands of remembered years after losing her finally got to stand beside her and stay.

I waited days to write this because finishing the story left me hollow. Now that I've written it, I think I understand why: I didn't want another twist or another life. I just wanted more time with the people who had finally found peace.

Every story has to end someday. I'm glad this one ended with Karen, Raymond, and Rebecca together, with the next day waiting for them.

The Crimson Lady (Resetting Lady) is my favorite manhwa of 2026. My rating is 11/10. ❤️🩸

Goodbye, Karen.

You finally get to keep living. 🌹❤️