Most of the Vor or any other Barrayarans aren't there for him, either. The only person on the planet who doesn't see him in a class by himself is Cordelia, and that's because she's Betan and all their castes are optical illusions to her. Maybe that's what's so comforting about Adele. She, like Cordelia, would look at a child emperor and see the child rather than the emperor.

"I'm always isolated." He tries for a fleeting smile and fails. "Now there's a Barrayaran here, and I have to be his emperor when the situation calls for it. When..." He swallows. "When I talked to King Arthur--I can't believe I said that--he seemed to think being here made him...not-king. But our oaths don't really work that way. If all three planets of the empire blew up in some freak cosmic mishap, all the survivors would still be the Imperium, and I'd still be Emperor. Even if it was just me and one other. I ran into another dimension and I can't even run from that. Demonstrably. Don't mistake me, I couldn't be happier he's here. But here, I don't even know if I can uphold his rights the way I'm sworn to. I don't have limitless power over anyone here but him, and if I'm forsworn..."

No one will know back home. But he'll know, here.