diff --git a/paper-api/src/main/java/org/bukkit/configuration/MemorySection.java b/paper-api/src/main/java/org/bukkit/configuration/MemorySection.java
index 09f1debef5..a6ac5d4534 100644
--- a/paper-api/src/main/java/org/bukkit/configuration/MemorySection.java
+++ b/paper-api/src/main/java/org/bukkit/configuration/MemorySection.java
@@ -251,10 +251,14 @@ public class MemorySection implements ConfigurationSection {
         int i1 = -1, i2;
         ConfigurationSection section = this;
         while ((i1 = path.indexOf(separator, i2 = i1 + 1)) != -1) {
-            if (section == null || !section.contains(path.substring(i2, i1), true)) {
+            final String currentPath = path.substring(i2, i1);
+            if (!section.contains(currentPath, true)) {
+                return def;
+            }
+            section = section.getConfigurationSection(currentPath);
+            if (section == null) {
                 return def;
             }
-            section = section.getConfigurationSection(path.substring(i2, i1));
         }
 
         String key = path.substring(i2);