diff --git a/.changeset/weak-trees-perform.md b/.changeset/weak-trees-perform.md
index 1750103fb..17175301d 100644
--- a/.changeset/weak-trees-perform.md
+++ b/.changeset/weak-trees-perform.md
@@ -2,4 +2,4 @@
 'mermaid': patch
 ---
 
-In State Diagram refactored getDirection to retrieve the direction from rootDoc, defaulting to DEFAULT_DIAGRAM_DIRECTION and Updated setDirection to modify the existing direction if found or prepend a new entry if not.
+fix: `getDirection` and `setDirection` in `stateDb` refactored to return and set actual direction
diff --git a/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/state/stateDb.js b/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/state/stateDb.js
index 1080451c2..029db9c6f 100644
--- a/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/state/stateDb.js
+++ b/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/state/stateDb.js
@@ -657,13 +657,21 @@ export class StateDB {
     }
   }
 
-  getDirection() {
-    const doc = this.rootDoc.find((doc) => doc.stmt === STMT_DIRECTION);
-    const direction = doc ? doc.value : DEFAULT_DIAGRAM_DIRECTION;
-    return direction;
+  /**
+   * Finds the direction statement in the root document.
+   * @private
+   * @returns {{ value: string } | undefined} - the direction statement if present
+   */
+  getDirectionStatement() {
+    return this.rootDoc.find((doc) => doc.stmt === STMT_DIRECTION);
   }
+
+  getDirection() {
+    return this.getDirectionStatement()?.value ?? DEFAULT_DIAGRAM_DIRECTION;
+  }
+
   setDirection(dir) {
-    const doc = this.rootDoc.find((doc) => doc.stmt === STMT_DIRECTION);
+    const doc = this.getDirectionStatement();
     if (doc) {
       doc.value = dir;
     } else {