Using C# DataContractJsonSerializer to deserialize a string property that contains a json. Throws XmlException

Question

I'm trying to deserialize a class that has a string property called Metadata that contains a json.

I don't want to deserialize whatever is in that json, I just want to copy that text to my string property. I don't have a say how the jsonString looks like because it's being returned by a web service.

I'm getting an exception:

XmlException: End element 'metadata' from namespace '' expected. Found element 'key' from namespace ''.

Code sample:

[DataContract]
public class YourClass
{
    [DataMember(Name = "metadata", IsRequired = false, EmitDefaultValue = false)]
    public string Metadata { get; set; }
    
    [DataMember(Name = "anotherProperty", IsRequired = false, EmitDefaultValue = false)]
    public int AnotherProperty { get; set; }
}

internal class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        // Your JSON string
        string jsonString = "{\"metadata\":{\"key\":\"value\"}, \"anotherProperty\":42}";

        // Create a MemoryStream from the JSON string
        using (MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(jsonString)))
        {
            // Create an instance of DataContractJsonSerializer for your class
            DataContractJsonSerializer serializer = new DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof(YourClass));

            // Deserialize the JSON string to your class
            YourClass obj = (YourClass)serializer.ReadObject(stream);

            // Access the deserialized property
            Console.WriteLine(obj.Metadata);
        }
    }
}

How can I do this correctly?