The inaugural episode of "Bon Appétit, Your Majesty" unfurls amidst the intricate tapestry of the Joseon Dynasty. A woman named Yeon Ji-young is escorted before King Yi Heon, where the royal guards expectantly await the king's decree condemning her to death. To their astonishment, instead of issuing a sentence of doom, Yi Heon appoints her as the esteemed head chef of the royal kitchen. In her heart, Ji-young harbors a silent resolve: to survive long enough to reclaim her path back home.
The narrative then retreats into a vivid flashback, transporting us to a French culinary competition in the futuristic year of 2025. Ji-young stands among a sea of talented chefs, her stove malfunctioning in the crunch moments of the final five minutes. Undeterred, she conjures a makeshift stove from rice straw, turning adversity into ingenuity, and completes her dish with seconds to spare. Her assignment—to recreate a royal meal inspired by King Yi Heon's era—culminates in a venison steak dish, a masterpiece that secures her victory and the esteemed role of head chef at a Michelin 3-star restaurant.
Exhilarated, Ji-young shares her triumph with her father over the phone. He, in turn, reveals that a professorial acquaintance in Paris has dispatched a rare book from the Joseon Era, entrusted to her for delivery. The package arrives, but fate takes a whimsical turn when a fellow passenger accidentally spills coffee upon it. Scrambling to salvage the ancient tome, Ji-young retreats to the lavatory. She discovers it to be a cherished recipe book, its pages bearing an inscription expressing a heartfelt wish for a beloved's return.
Simultaneously, a solar eclipse casts its mystical shadow over the skies, endowing the book with an otherworldly glow. Before Ji-young's captivated eyes, she is enveloped by a swirling vortex, plummeting her into the heart of a dense forest. She crashes into an animal trap, suspended in a net atop a tree, her situation as perilous as it is surreal.
Elsewhere, King Yi Heon embarks on a royal hunt within the same forest, heedless of Chang-eon's cautionary tales of past rebel ambushes. Back at the palace, anxiety gnaws at his grandmother, Queen Dowager In-ju, and his consorts, who deem it inauspicious for the king to venture into the woods during an eclipse, a time sacred to ritualistic observances.
Elsewhere in the dense woodland, Ji-young awakens entangled within a net, her heart pounding with panic. Yi Heon, in pursuit of a fleeing fox, unleashes his arrows, which inadvertently pierce the net and free Ji-young. As he approaches her, mistaking her for a gwinyeo—a female apparition—Yi Heon raises his sword to strike. Just then, a rebel concealed among the trees takes aim at the king, releasing an arrow that finds its mark. The force of the impact sends both Yi Heon and Ji-young tumbling over a cliff, plunging into the waters below.
Ji-young stirs awake on the rocky shore beside Yi Heon, who lies unconscious and bleeding. With deft hands, she binds his wound, only to have him awaken and lunge at her with a knife once more. Amidst a struggle, Ji-young manages to incapacitate him yet again, tying him up securely. She then guides him through the forest, in search of an escape route.
Meanwhile, we encounter Kang Mok-ju, Yi Heon's junior consort, whose presence seems to cast a shadow of blame over the king's erratic conduct. Worried by his prolonged absence, she reflects on her past—seven years earlier, she was imprisoned for murdering a nobleman to whom her mother had sold her. It was Prince Jesan who offered her a pardon in exchange for her unwavering loyalty. In the present, the prince and his advisors deliberate on the king's mysterious disappearance.
As Yi Heon and Ji-young continue their contentious journey through the woods, they stumble upon a cluster of abandoned huts, an area that Yi Heon had evacuated to expand his hunting grounds. Ji-young's mind flashes back to a tyrant named Yeonhuigun who enforced such evacuations; little does she realize that Yi Heon and Yeonhuigun are one and the same. She also mentions Yeonhuigun's infamous chaehon practice, which saw women from across the realm summoned to the palace.
Suddenly, Ji-young discovers a girl hiding within one of the huts, a former resident of the place. Ji-young shares her plight and offers to prepare dinner for them all. Using the scant ingredients at hand and supplementing with butter and gochujang still stashed in her coat pocket, she crafts a bibimbap. Initially, both Yi Heon and Gil-geum find the dish overwhelmingly spicy, but soon they find themselves savoring its unique flavor. In fact, the meal evokes a poignant memory of Yi Heon's mother, moving him to tears.
After their meal, Ji-young and Gil-geum venture out to locate the cliff where Ji-young had inadvertently left her bag. Along their journey, they pause beside a crystal-clear stream, allowing Ji-young the opportunity to rinse her hair under its refreshing waters. It is amidst this serene setting that Gil-geum reveals to Ji-young the astonishing truth: they are in the Joseon Dynasty. Meanwhile, Yi Heon is discovered by his men, who promptly receive orders to search for Ji-young. The first episode of "Bon Appétit, Your Majesty" concludes on a tense note, with Yi Heon's men finally tracking down Ji-young and Gil-geum by the idyllic stream.
