diff --git a/cmd/erasure-delete-marker-purge-response_test.go b/cmd/erasure-delete-marker-purge-response_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..774cb8347
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/erasure-delete-marker-purge-response_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,109 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2026 Feng Ruohang
+//
+// This file is part of Silo Object Storage stack
+//
+// This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+// it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by
+// the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+// (at your option) any later version.
+//
+// This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful
+// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+// GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
+//
+// You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+// along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+package cmd
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/minio/minio/internal/auth"
+	"github.com/minio/minio/internal/bucket/replication"
+	xhttp "github.com/minio/minio/internal/http"
+)
+
+// An exact-version DELETE without a replication decision physically purges
+// the version. Its response must describe the stored version: a data version
+// is not a delete marker even while pending-purge metadata makes the lookup
+// expose it as deleted, and a stored marker stays a marker.
+func TestDeleteMarkerPurgeResponseIdentity(t *testing.T) {
+	ExecObjectLayerAPITest(ExecObjectLayerAPITestArgs{t: t, endpoints: []string{"DeleteObject"}, objAPITest: func(obj ObjectLayer, backend, bucket string, router http.Handler, creds auth.Credentials, t *testing.T) {
+		defer replicationTestCapacity(obj)()
+		ctx := t.Context()
+		if _, err := globalBucketMetadataSys.Update(ctx, bucket, bucketVersioningConfig, enabledBucketVersioningConfig); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		// Seed the purge state the DELETE handler would record for a target.
+		const arn = "arn:minio:replication::test:bucket"
+		pendingPurge := ReplicationState{
+			VersionPurgeStatusInternal: arn + "=PENDING;",
+			PurgeTargets:               map[string]VersionPurgeStatusType{arn: replication.VersionPurgePending},
+		}
+		for _, tc := range []struct {
+			name           string
+			marker, purged bool
+		}{
+			{name: "data"},
+			{name: "data-pending-purge", purged: true},
+			{name: "marker", marker: true},
+			{name: "marker-pending-purge", marker: true, purged: true},
+		} {
+			name := "purge-response-" + mustGetUUID()
+			oi, err := obj.PutObject(ctx, bucket, name, mustGetPutObjReader(t, bytes.NewReader([]byte("data")), 4, "", ""), ObjectOptions{Versioned: true})
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			version := oi.VersionID
+			if tc.marker {
+				opts := ObjectOptions{Versioned: true, VersionID: mustGetUUID(), DeleteMarker: true, MTime: UTCNow(), ReplicationRequest: true}
+				opts.SetReplicaStatus(replication.Replica)
+				if _, err := obj.DeleteObject(ctx, bucket, name, opts); err != nil {
+					t.Fatal(err)
+				}
+				version = opts.VersionID
+			}
+			if tc.purged {
+				if _, err := obj.DeleteObject(ctx, bucket, name, ObjectOptions{Versioned: true, VersionID: version, DeleteReplication: pendingPurge}); err != nil {
+					t.Fatal(err)
+				}
+			}
+			before, err := obj.GetObjectInfo(ctx, bucket, name, ObjectOptions{Versioned: true, VersionID: version})
+			if tc.marker || tc.purged {
+				if !isErrMethodNotAllowed(err) || !before.DeleteMarker {
+					t.Fatalf("%s: seeded version not exposed as deleted: %+v %v", tc.name, before, err)
+				}
+			} else if err != nil || before.DeleteMarker {
+				t.Fatalf("%s: seeded data version: %+v %v", tc.name, before, err)
+			}
+			if tc.purged && before.VersionPurgeStatus != replication.VersionPurgePending {
+				t.Fatalf("%s: purge state not seeded: %+v", tc.name, before)
+			}
+			req, err := newTestSignedRequestV4(http.MethodDelete, "/"+bucket+"/"+name+"?versionId="+version, 0, nil, creds.AccessKey, creds.SecretKey, nil)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			rec := httptest.NewRecorder()
+			router.ServeHTTP(rec, req)
+			if rec.Code != http.StatusNoContent {
+				t.Fatalf("%s: status=%d: %s", tc.name, rec.Code, rec.Body.String())
+			}
+			// The handler sets these headers by map key, not canonical name.
+			if got := rec.Header()[xhttp.AmzVersionID]; len(got) != 1 || got[0] != version {
+				t.Fatalf("%s: response version %q, want %q", tc.name, got, version)
+			}
+			if got := len(rec.Header()[xhttp.AmzDeleteMarker]) == 1 && rec.Header()[xhttp.AmzDeleteMarker][0] == "true"; got != tc.marker {
+				t.Fatalf("%s: x-amz-delete-marker=%v for a stored marker=%v", tc.name, got, tc.marker)
+			}
+			if _, err := obj.GetObjectInfo(ctx, bucket, name, ObjectOptions{Versioned: true, VersionID: version}); !isErrVersionNotFound(err) && !isErrObjectNotFound(err) {
+				t.Fatalf("%s: version not purged: %v", tc.name, err)
+			}
+			t.Logf("%s %s: purged with x-amz-delete-marker=%q", backend, tc.name, rec.Header()[xhttp.AmzDeleteMarker])
+		}
+	}})
+}
diff --git a/cmd/erasure-object.go b/cmd/erasure-object.go
index 0db86e3bc..8ab3d17a1 100644
--- a/cmd/erasure-object.go
+++ b/cmd/erasure-object.go
@@ -2199,8 +2199,10 @@ func (er erasureObjects) DeleteObject(ctx context.Context, bucket, object string
 	oi := dfi.ToObjectInfo(bucket, object, opts.Versioned || opts.VersionSuspended)
 	if purge {
 		// Preserve the DELETE response's identity without reusing it as a disk
-		// instruction to create a marker.
-		oi.DeleteMarker = goi.DeleteMarker
+		// instruction to create a marker. The lookup also exposes a data
+		// version pending purge as deleted for visibility; only a stored
+		// marker, which carries no erasure layout, is reported as one.
+		oi.DeleteMarker = goi.DeleteMarker && goi.DataBlocks == 0
 	}
 	return oi, nil
 }