Bon Appetit Your Majesty- Episodes 9-10
Episode 9 of Bon Appétit, Your Majesty picks up right where the second round left us hanging, and honestly, the scoring drama did not disappoint. Yi Heon gives the Ming side a solid 8, while Yu Kun throws a petty score of 1 at Joseon’s dish. Yi Heon immediately calls him out, and the tension in that room is thick. When neither team wants to judge their own food, Yi Heon finally settles it as a tie, keeping the competition alive.
Afterward, Yi Heon asks Ji-young to meet him, but instead of more strategy talk, he sits her down with a warm cup of tea and lets her rest. He even admits that betting the kingdom’s fate on a cooking contest may have been a terrible idea. Ji-young, of course, refuses to back down. She’s determined to see the final round through, and he makes sure her injured wrist gets proper care.
The third round kicks off, and Ji-young’s team begins working on their ogolgye samgyetang. The only problem is that the entire dish depends on the pressure cooker and Chun-saeng still hasn’t shown up with the lid. Just when Ji-young is ready to switch to Plan B, Chun-saeng suddenly arrives on a jerry-rigged flying machine and saves the day.
Meanwhile, the Ming chefs pull out all the premium ingredients for their Buldojang, making the stakes even higher. When the dishes are finally served, both sides impress the room. To keep things fair, the cooks have to taste and score each other’s work. The only hiccup is that Kong Wenli, one of the Ming chefs, never eats...his own food included. Ji-young hands him a mixed bowl that reminds him of a dish from his childhood, and for the first time, he actually eats. His emotional reaction is one of the sweetest moments of the episode.
The scores are revealed: Joseon gives the Ming 27 points, and the Ming gives Joseon 28. Ji-young wins the entire competition. Yu Kun, refusing to go quietly, demands Ji-young as tribute for the Ming emperor. Yi Heon completely loses his temper and head-butts him, which instantly escalates the room, until Dowager Queen In-ju walks in and shuts everything down with a devastating reveal. Her letter proves Yu Kun has been lying to his own emperor. Yu Kun folds immediately and flees the palace.
After scolding Yi Heon for his outburst, Queen In-ju makes a request: the young Grand Prince Jin-myeong wants to taste Ji-young’s cooking. Yi Heon agrees, unaware that Consort Kang and Prince Jesan are already plotting to use this opportunity to poison the prince and frame Ji-young.
The next day, Yi Heon checks on Ji-young, gifts her a new cook’s uniform, and asks her to meet him later. She heads off to say goodbye to the Ming cooks, and Bai-long quietly warns her to tell Yi Heon to bolt his doors at night.
But before she can deliver the warning, everything goes wrong. Prince Jin-myeong suddenly falls terribly ill after eating the meal Ji-young prepared. His mother has Ji-young seized and tortured for a confession while Yi Heon waits alone at the Jangwonseo, not knowing that Ji-young is fighting for her life.
Episode 10 of Bon Appétit, Your Majesty is an emotional rollercoaster from the moment it begins. Yi Heon is waiting in the greenhouse, completely unaware that Ji-young is being tortured elsewhere. He’s even practicing how he’ll hug her once he surprises her with the chilli powder she needed. But the mood shifts fast when the cooks alert Eunuch Yoon, and Chang-seon rushes the news to the king.
Yi Heon’s calm shatters instantly. He demands the prison key from Queen Ja-hyun, who refuses even as he threatens her life. It’s Ji-young who ends up grounding him, urging him to prove her innocence instead of acting out of rage. Before leaving, Yi Heon makes it very clear to Ja-hyun that Ji-young must not be harmed.
Meanwhile, Lord Han Min-sung warns Dowager Queen In-ju that Yi Heon has been digging into the old draft about his mother’s death, raising fears that Jin-myeong’s illness is tied to the king’s investigation into the Han family.
Yi Heon continues examining every angle, but the royal physicians claim Ji-young’s ingredients are harmless. When he visits Jin-myeong’s quarters, he notices some suspicious medicinal herbs and demands they be analyzed.
Back at the palace, Dowager Queen In-ju retrieves the prison key herself and frees Ji-young, but with a chilling condition. Ji-young has only three days to uncover the truth or die a painful death. She quietly hands her a silver dagger for protection and warns her that rumours about her and Yi Heon could endanger him.
Ji-young goes to serve Yi Heon his meal, and he freezes the moment he hears her voice. He immediately pulls her aside for a desperate hug. She pushes him away, remembering the Dowager Queen’s warning, but Yi Heon refuses to back down. He kisses her and admits he likes her, then insists she eat with him, going so far as to take her dagger away.
With the clock ticking, they investigate together. Yi Heon finds a bitter bean-like ingredient in Jin-myeong’s herbs. The next day, Gil-geum identifies the same ingredient and claims it smells like rat droppings. On the third day, Yi Heon collapses with the same symptoms as Jin-myeong, and the physician reveals that the ingredient is oryeongji, made from squirrel droppings. Harmless on its own, but poisonous when combined with ginseng, exactly what both boys had eaten.
Yi Heon orders an antidote to be prepared immediately. Song-jae tracks down the physician responsible for adding the oryeongji, Eo Yeo-bun, who has mysteriously disappeared. Yi Heon sends Gong-gil after her, but Consort Kang orders Chu-wol to eliminate the problem first. Chu-wol is about to kill Yeo-bun when Gong-gil arrives, leading to a brutal fight. Chu-wol reveals the truth about her sister’s death and Consort Kang’s role, but before Yeo-bun can expose the rest, an arrow takes her life. The shooter turns out to be one of Prince Jesan’s men.
Chu-wol is arrested, insisting she acted alone. Yi Heon confronts Consort Kang, who denies everything and challenges him to bring proof. Later, Ji-young admits she suspected Consort Kang and had already asked Gong-gil to watch her.
Once the antidote is ready, Jin-myeong is too weak to take it. Ji-young realizes he’s suffering from hypoglycaemic shock and quickly prepares a nourishing dish with the other chefs. Yi Heon even tastes it himself to ease the queen’s fears before Jin-myeong begins to recover.
Later, Yi Heon summons Ji-young, and she assumes it’s about the Mangunrok. Meanwhile, Consort Kang visits Chu-wol in prison, promises to free her, then silently kills her.
As night falls, Yi Heon shows Ji-young the cheoyongmu dance he’s preparing for his grandmother’s birthday. She watches him while recalling all the moments they’ve shared.
Elsewhere, Prince Jesan reveals his most twisted plan yet. He’s captured Yi Heon’s maternal grandmother and the drafter Yi Jang-gyun. He claims to have a bloodstained cloth from the night Yi Heon’s mother died, planning to use it to push the king into a rage during the celebration and trigger his downfall.
The episode closes with Yi Heon confessing that he knows Ji-young is from the future, he figured it out from her cooking. Even knowing that, he asks her to stay by his side, offers her a ring, and leans in to kiss her.
DramaZen's Opinion
Episodes 9 and 10 were absolute heart-stoppers! The cooking competition finally reaches its climax, and Ji-young proves once again why she’s a culinary genius, even under insane pressure. Watching her pull off the ogolgye samgyetang with the pressure cooker was thrilling, and Chun-saeng’s dramatic arrival just added to the excitement. The Ming cooks didn’t know what hit them!
But the tension isn’t just in the kitchen, these episodes hit hard on the intrigue side too. The poisoning plot, Yi Heon’s relentless determination, and Ji-young’s quick thinking kept me on the edge of my seat. And of course, the sweet moments between Ji-young and Yi Heon balance all the drama perfectly; his confession, the cheoyongmu dance, and that ring moment were just so satisfying.
Overall, these episodes blend suspense, romance, and culinary genius in a way that keeps you hooked from start to finish. Ji-young isn’t just saving meals...she’s saving lives, hearts, and the entire kingdom!
