diff --git a/astrai/inference/scheduler.py b/astrai/inference/scheduler.py
index 510b256..0d67651 100644
--- a/astrai/inference/scheduler.py
+++ b/astrai/inference/scheduler.py
@@ -118,12 +118,27 @@ class PrefixCacheManager:
                 if len(self.lru) <= self.max_capacity:
                     break
 
-    def _remove_node(self, node: RadixNode) -> None:
-        """Remove node from tree (simplified implementation)."""
+    def _remove_node(
+        self,
+        node: RadixNode,
+        parent: Optional[RadixNode] = None,
+        child_key: Optional[int] = None,
+    ) -> None:
+        """Remove node from tree, including empty parent nodes."""
+        # First, recursively remove all children
+        for child_key, child_node in list(node.children.items()):
+            self._remove_node(child_node, node, child_key)
+
         # Clear the node's leaf properties
         node.slot = -1
         node.hash = None
         node.token_sequence = []
+        node.children.clear()
+
+        # If this node has no children and has a parent, remove the reference from parent
+        if parent is not None and child_key is not None and len(node.children) == 0:
+            if child_key in parent.children:
+                del parent.children[child_key]
 
 
 class TaskStatus: