diff --git a/src/Merger/SchemaMerger.php b/src/Merger/SchemaMerger.php
index e19d4fa..bbbebed 100644
--- a/src/Merger/SchemaMerger.php
+++ b/src/Merger/SchemaMerger.php
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ private function removeSchemaLevel(string $embeddedDefinition): string
         $arraySchema = json_decode($embeddedDefinition, true);
         unset($arraySchema['schema_level']);
 
-        return json_encode($arraySchema) ?? '';
+        return json_encode($arraySchema, JSON_THROW_ON_ERROR | JSON_PRESERVE_ZERO_FRACTION);
     }
 
     /**