diff --git a/benchmarks/NPOI.Benchmarks/MergedRegionsBenchmark.cs b/benchmarks/NPOI.Benchmarks/MergedRegionsBenchmark.cs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e689f141e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmarks/NPOI.Benchmarks/MergedRegionsBenchmark.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+using BenchmarkDotNet.Attributes;
+using NPOI.SS.Util;
+using NPOI.XSSF.UserModel;
+
+namespace NPOI.Benchmarks;
+
+[ShortRunJob]
+[MemoryDiagnoser]
+public class MergedRegionsBenchmark
+{
+    private XSSFWorkbook _workbook;
+    private XSSFSheet _sheet;
+
+    [Params(100, 1000, 5000)]
+    public int RegionCount { get; set; }
+
+    [GlobalSetup]
+    public void Setup()
+    {
+        _workbook = new XSSFWorkbook();
+        _sheet = (XSSFSheet)_workbook.CreateSheet("test");
+        // Add non-overlapping merged regions (each row merges columns 0-1)
+        for (int i = 0; i < RegionCount; i++)
+        {
+            _sheet.AddMergedRegionUnsafe(new CellRangeAddress(i, i, 0, 1));
+        }
+    }
+
+    [Benchmark]
+    public int ReadMergedRegions()
+    {
+        // Simulates repeated reads (e.g., during row copy, auto-size, validation)
+        int count = 0;
+        for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
+        {
+            count = _sheet.MergedRegions.Count;
+        }
+        return count;
+    }
+
+    [Benchmark]
+    public int AddMergedRegions()
+    {
+        // Simulates building a sheet with many merged regions (validated)
+        var tempSheet = (XSSFSheet)_workbook.CreateSheet();
+        for (int i = 0; i < RegionCount; i++)
+        {
+            tempSheet.AddMergedRegion(new CellRangeAddress(i, i, 0, 1));
+        }
+        int count = tempSheet.MergedRegions.Count;
+        _workbook.RemoveSheetAt(_workbook.GetSheetIndex(tempSheet));
+        return count;
+    }
+
+    [GlobalCleanup]
+    public void Cleanup()
+    {
+        _workbook?.Dispose();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/ooxml/XSSF/UserModel/XSSFSheet.cs b/ooxml/XSSF/UserModel/XSSFSheet.cs
index b2313596d..fb807b585 100644
--- a/ooxml/XSSF/UserModel/XSSFSheet.cs
+++ b/ooxml/XSSF/UserModel/XSSFSheet.cs
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@ public partial class XSSFSheet : POIXMLDocumentPart, ISheet
         private bool _worksheetLoaded = false;
         private readonly object _loadLock = new object();
         internal int _parseCount = 0;
+        private List<CellRangeAddress> _cachedMergedRegions;
 
         private CT_Pane Pane
         {
@@ -504,20 +505,23 @@ public List<CellRangeAddress> MergedRegions
             get
             {
                 EnsureWorksheetLoaded();
-                List<CellRangeAddress> addresses = new List<CellRangeAddress>();
-                CT_MergeCells ctMergeCells = worksheet.mergeCells;
-                if(ctMergeCells == null)
+                if(_cachedMergedRegions == null)
                 {
-                    return addresses;
-                }
+                    var addresses = new List<CellRangeAddress>();
+                    CT_MergeCells ctMergeCells = worksheet.mergeCells;
+                    if(ctMergeCells != null)
+                    {
+                        foreach(CT_MergeCell ctMergeCell in ctMergeCells.mergeCell)
+                        {
+                            string ref1 = ctMergeCell.@ref;
+                            addresses.Add(CellRangeAddress.ValueOf(ref1));
+                        }
+                    }
 
-                foreach(CT_MergeCell ctMergeCell in ctMergeCells.mergeCell)
-                {
-                    string ref1 = ctMergeCell.@ref;
-                    addresses.Add(CellRangeAddress.ValueOf(ref1));
+                    _cachedMergedRegions = addresses;
                 }
 
-                return addresses;
+                return new List<CellRangeAddress>(_cachedMergedRegions);
             }
         }
 
@@ -2819,6 +2823,8 @@ public void RemoveMergedRegion(int index)
             {
                 worksheet.UnsetMergeCells();
             }
+
+            InvalidateMergedRegionsCache();
         }
 
         /// <summary>
@@ -2833,6 +2839,7 @@ public void RemoveMergedRegions(IList<int> indices)
             EnsureWorksheetLoaded();
             if(!worksheet.IsSetMergeCells())
             {
+                InvalidateMergedRegionsCache();
                 return;
             }
 
@@ -2860,6 +2867,8 @@ public void RemoveMergedRegions(IList<int> indices)
             {
                 ctMergeCells.SetMergeCellArray(newMergeCells.ToArray());
             }
+
+            InvalidateMergedRegionsCache();
         }
 
         /// <summary>
@@ -4951,6 +4960,7 @@ private int AddMergedRegion(CellRangeAddress region, bool validate)
                 : worksheet.AddNewMergeCells();
             CT_MergeCell ctMergeCell = ctMergeCells.AddNewMergeCell();
             ctMergeCell.@ref = region.FormatAsString();
+            InvalidateMergedRegionsCache();
             return ctMergeCells.sizeOfMergeCellArray() - 1;
         }
 
@@ -5015,6 +5025,11 @@ private void CheckForMergedRegionsIntersectingArrayFormulas()
             }
         }
 
+        private void InvalidateMergedRegionsCache()
+        {
+            _cachedMergedRegions = null;
+        }
+
         /// <summary>
         /// Verify that candidate region does not intersect with an existing
         /// merged region in this sheet
diff --git a/testcases/ooxml/XSSF/UserModel/TestXSSFSheet.cs b/testcases/ooxml/XSSF/UserModel/TestXSSFSheet.cs
index 0aa23c92e..1d4e3cede 100644
--- a/testcases/ooxml/XSSF/UserModel/TestXSSFSheet.cs
+++ b/testcases/ooxml/XSSF/UserModel/TestXSSFSheet.cs
@@ -624,6 +624,50 @@ public void TestRemoveMergedRegion_lowlevel()
             workbook.Close();
         }
 
+        [Test]
+        public void TestMergedRegionsCacheReturnsFreshList()
+        {
+            // Verify that mutating the returned list does not corrupt the cache
+            XSSFWorkbook workbook = new XSSFWorkbook();
+            XSSFSheet sheet = (XSSFSheet)workbook.CreateSheet();
+            sheet.AddMergedRegion(new CellRangeAddress(0, 1, 0, 1));
+            sheet.AddMergedRegion(new CellRangeAddress(2, 3, 2, 3));
+
+            var regions1 = sheet.MergedRegions;
+            ClassicAssert.AreEqual(2, regions1.Count);
+
+            // Mutate the returned list — this should NOT affect subsequent calls
+            regions1.Add(new CellRangeAddress(10, 11, 10, 11));
+            regions1.Clear();
+
+            var regions2 = sheet.MergedRegions;
+            ClassicAssert.AreEqual(2, regions2.Count, "Cache should not be corrupted by mutating a previously returned list");
+            ClassicAssert.AreEqual("A1:B2", regions2[0].FormatAsString());
+            ClassicAssert.AreEqual("C3:D4", regions2[1].FormatAsString());
+
+            workbook.Close();
+        }
+
+        [Test]
+        public void TestRemoveMergedRegionsOnEmptySheet()
+        {
+            // Verify RemoveMergedRegions on a sheet with no merge cells does not throw
+            // and does not leave stale cache state
+            XSSFWorkbook workbook = new XSSFWorkbook();
+            XSSFSheet sheet = (XSSFSheet)workbook.CreateSheet();
+
+            // Call RemoveMergedRegions when there are no merged regions at all
+            sheet.RemoveMergedRegions(new List<int> { 0, 1 });
+            ClassicAssert.AreEqual(0, sheet.NumMergedRegions);
+
+            // Now add some regions and verify the cache works correctly after the no-op remove
+            sheet.AddMergedRegion(new CellRangeAddress(0, 1, 0, 1));
+            ClassicAssert.AreEqual(1, sheet.NumMergedRegions);
+            ClassicAssert.AreEqual("A1:B2", sheet.MergedRegions[0].FormatAsString());
+
+            workbook.Close();
+        }
+
         [Test]
         public void TestSetDefaultColumnStyle()
         {