fix: remove defaulting before validation

[henrysecond1]

Which issue(s) this PR fixes (optional, in Fixes #<issue number>, #<issue number>, ... format, will close the issue(s) when PR gets merged):
Fixes #1628

[google-oss-prow]

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[github-actions]

This pull request has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[github-actions]

This pull request has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.