diff --git a/src/core/unit.c b/src/core/unit.c
index aa6e71198b6..852926bcc9b 100644
--- a/src/core/unit.c
+++ b/src/core/unit.c
@@ -1406,11 +1406,13 @@ int unit_load_fragment_and_dropin(Unit *u, bool fragment_required) {
                 u->load_state = UNIT_LOADED;
         }
 
+        u = unit_follow_merge(u);
+
         /* Load drop-in directory data. If u is an alias, we might be reloading the
          * target unit needlessly. But we cannot be sure which drops-ins have already
          * been loaded and which not, at least without doing complicated book-keeping,
          * so let's always reread all drop-ins. */
-        r = unit_load_dropin(unit_follow_merge(u));
+        r = unit_load_dropin(u);
         if (r < 0)
                 return r;