ad_hoc
(she/her)
I don't fudge dice often, minimally at most, and I've never done it to preserve some pre-written narrative that I prepared. But when I did, I never really thought of it as lying, but I can see how some would see it as such. I can't ever remember discussing this at session 0, it just seemed like something everyone just assumed happened every so often, and I never had players accuse me of it, or say they felt their fun of the game was compromised. Character death was always an expected possibility at any given time. My campaigns aren't particularly deadly either, and in combat I roll out in the open for the most part. If I fudge a roll or give a player a mulligan it's because I didn't clearly explain the situation, the player didn't understand fully what I explained, the rule involved in the situation resolution, or I followed a rule too much to the letter and it made for a really bad or stupid outcome. So, for me it's a case-by-case basis, if I screwed up, I'll tell the players but if it's something rather insignificant that has little impact on the overall game, I don't bother and just keep on going.
I would not consider correcting a rules mistake or misunderstanding as fudging.