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 3b92c64420..1f4c8ce461 100644
--- a/paper-api/src/main/java/org/bukkit/configuration/MemorySection.java
+++ b/paper-api/src/main/java/org/bukkit/configuration/MemorySection.java
@@ -180,6 +180,10 @@ public class MemorySection implements ConfigurationSection {
             String node = path.substring(i2, i1);
             ConfigurationSection subSection = section.getConfigurationSection(node);
             if (subSection == null) {
+                if (value == null) {
+                	// no need to create missing sub-sections if we want to remove the value:
+                    return;
+                }
                 section = section.createSection(node);
             } else {
                 section = subSection;